4 ms·

FWIW, Duff Kurland's post-mortem of Nelson & Xanadu at Autodesk jives with your analysis.

jazzyjackson 3y ago
In the spirit of xanadu, would you mind posting a link? In searching your keywords, I did come across a font of wisdom in the form of "The Autodesk File: Bits of History, Words of Experience" which contains some chapters on Xanadu and Autodesk's relationship and acquisition - which I've managed to be wholly unaware of despite being a xanadu enthusiast (in so far as buying a couple of Ted's books and watching his videos on youtube counts :) http://www.worldcolleges.info/sites/default/files/formpig_autodesk_file_bits_of_history_words_of_experience_walker.pdf http://www.worldcolleges.info/sites/default/files/formpig_au... (see ToC, Xanadu on page 416 and elsewhere)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- specialist 3y ago
  It was a personal conversation. No link, sorry. From memory, Kurland related that the Xanadu team did one or more complete rewrites, couldn't or wouldn't commit to releasing something (delays), and Autodesk finally lost faith/patience. Kurland's a great guy. He didn't name names or dog their effort. He was mostly disappointed, because he had also believed in the promise of Xanadu. But that's just my take.
- teddyh 3y ago
  Be sure not to miss the footnote on page 418: ‘Come 1992, the “resources of Autodesk” were still funding “talent of the Xanadu team” which had not, as of that date, produced anything remotely like a production prototype—in fact, nothing as impressive as the 88.1x prototype which existed before Autodesk invested in Xanadu. On August 21, 1992 Autodesk decided to pull the plug and give its interest in Xanadu back to the Xanadudes.’
  - kristopolous 3y ago
    I think 10 years on that part of the problem is the negative patterns that come with being overly committed and passionate to your own ideas. You need these people to be audacious and relentless in order to move the ball forward, like say, Richard Stallman. But then you get people that are overly audacious and relentless like say Richard Stallman. The balance here is to know when to put your foot down and when to take a backseat. I've got no answers on how to strike that balance. After meeting and listening to John Warnock of Adobe and PostScript earlier this year, I'm convinced that Steve Jobs didn't know how the first time at Apple but then figured out the second. I also get the feeling that Bezos and Gates learned this the hard way. (Guess where http://relentless.com http://relentless.com will take you...) I don't know if there's an easy way to learn it. If anything I'm way too passive.

In the spirit of xanadu, would you mind posting a link? In searching your keywords, I did come across a font of wisdom in the form of "The Autodesk File: Bits of History, Words of Experience" which contains some chapters on Xanadu and Autodesk's relationship and acquisition - which I've managed to be wholly unaware of despite being a xanadu enthusiast (in so far as buying a couple of Ted's books and watching his videos on youtube counts :) http://www.worldcolleges.info/sites/default/files/formpig_autodesk_file_bits_of_history_words_of_experience_walker.pdf http://www.worldcolleges.info/sites/default/files/formpig_au... (see ToC, Xanadu on page 416 and elsewhere)

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
specialist 3y ago
It was a personal conversation. No link, sorry. From memory, Kurland related that the Xanadu team did one or more complete rewrites, couldn't or wouldn't commit to releasing something (delays), and Autodesk finally lost faith/patience. Kurland's a great guy. He didn't name names or dog their effort. He was mostly disappointed, because he had also believed in the promise of Xanadu. But that's just my take.
teddyh 3y ago
Be sure not to miss the footnote on page 418: ‘Come 1992, the “resources of Autodesk” were still funding “talent of the Xanadu team” which had not, as of that date, produced anything remotely like a production prototype—in fact, nothing as impressive as the 88.1x prototype which existed before Autodesk invested in Xanadu. On August 21, 1992 Autodesk decided to pull the plug and give its interest in Xanadu back to the Xanadudes.’
- kristopolous 3y ago
  I think 10 years on that part of the problem is the negative patterns that come with being overly committed and passionate to your own ideas. You need these people to be audacious and relentless in order to move the ball forward, like say, Richard Stallman. But then you get people that are overly audacious and relentless like say Richard Stallman. The balance here is to know when to put your foot down and when to take a backseat. I've got no answers on how to strike that balance. After meeting and listening to John Warnock of Adobe and PostScript earlier this year, I'm convinced that Steve Jobs didn't know how the first time at Apple but then figured out the second. I also get the feeling that Bezos and Gates learned this the hard way. (Guess where http://relentless.com http://relentless.com will take you...) I don't know if there's an easy way to learn it. If anything I'm way too passive.