7 ms·

When it initially came out I thought it's amazing. The idea of immersive computing actually is, more than amazing, natural. And I think we're actually on the pa

When it initially came out I thought it's amazing. The idea of immersive computing actually is, more than amazing, natural. And I think we're actually on the path towards that, maybe just not through Dynamicland directly. It seems a bit like Ted Nelson's Xanadu - a vision without the end-to-end capability to realize it. Most inventions had a visitonary that had the ability to realize them to some extent or catalyze the talent to supplement it. Whether that's from being to early or not havign the right people around it, I can't brush of the exclusivist feeling that surrounds the project and last words on Bert Victor's note: "I'd appreciate if you don't as for my opinions on things". IMO you either build for yourself or for everyone else. Both are ok, but certain mixes of attitudes are incompatible.

gyomu 3y ago
Yeah, Bret always seemed quite defensive about Dynamicland being his Next Big Thing, incubating it in semi secret, sharing things only when they're ready, trying to follow some top-down timeline of the next 50 years, etc. I guess he genuinely believes(d?) that he's building the next printing press or something like that, and therefore any tiny bit of interference could be detrimental to his grand vision. For a while there were many, many more people excited and interested about Dynamicland than there were opportunities to actually try it and experiment with it. If you were genuinely excited about the vision, but 1) didn't live near Oakland and 2) didn't know people there who could let you in, there was no way for you to interact with the project. It's always a shame when that energy just dissipates without becoming productive. In my opinion, if Dynamicland had been open source from the start, shared with as many as possible, so that enterprising teachers/librarians/hobbyists could've had deployed it themselves, maybe it'd have had a greater chance of truly morphing into something big. More like what folk.computer is doing now, although maybe it's a bit too late now that that initial lift is gone. But what do I know, I'm just a guy on the internet.

gyomu 3y ago

Yeah, Bret always seemed quite defensive about Dynamicland being his Next Big Thing, incubating it in semi secret, sharing things only when they're ready, trying to follow some top-down timeline of the next 50 years, etc. I guess he genuinely believes(d?) that he's building the next printing press or something like that, and therefore any tiny bit of interference could be detrimental to his grand vision. For a while there were many, many more people excited and interested about Dynamicland than there were opportunities to actually try it and experiment with it. If you were genuinely excited about the vision, but 1) didn't live near Oakland and 2) didn't know people there who could let you in, there was no way for you to interact with the project. It's always a shame when that energy just dissipates without becoming productive. In my opinion, if Dynamicland had been open source from the start, shared with as many as possible, so that enterprising teachers/librarians/hobbyists could've had deployed it themselves, maybe it'd have had a greater chance of truly morphing into something big. More like what folk.computer is doing now, although maybe it's a bit too late now that that initial lift is gone. But what do I know, I'm just a guy on the internet.