7 ms·

> While it did have some recreational value, it did not provide a product that people could use that would enrich their lives. Because providing a 'product' is

> While it did have some recreational value, it did not provide a product that people could use that would enrich their lives. Because providing a 'product' is the sole criterion for success? The author is missing the point and doesn't understand TempleOS.

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
It may sound like the writer is implying lack of financial success is bad, but I don't think that's their intention. I think the word "product" is just a filler here - it could equally be "something" or "an executable".
- AlecSchueler 2y ago
  What's the recreational value without an executable? Just watching his videos? Then surely the videos are the product.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - rrssh 2y ago
    That's probably what they mean, only the videos have any worth.
    - AlecSchueler 2y ago
      In that case the videos are the product. But the author has since clarified here in the comments that they did actually mean the commercial value of OS itself.
zoky 2y ago
I think the author is just trying to say that the reason TempleOS didn’t receive widespread—or virtually any—regular use has more to do with its lack of inherent utility to most people, rather than a conspiracy to suppress its adoption as Terry apparently believed.
Gare 2y ago
> Where I disagree with him is in his insistence that there was a grand conspiracy to hold back his operating system, perhaps orchestrated by the CIA. Sound like Terry himself wanted it to be successful?
lukan 2y ago
"Because providing a 'product' is the sole criterion for success?" Wasn't the OS made to be used by people for real and not just as a toy? Could people use it for real? As a daily driver to get things done? (A real product) I do not think so, so what do you think what was the point of TempleOS then?
- codetrotter 2y ago
  > what was the point of TempleOS From what I’ve seen from videos where Terry was talking about TempleOS, it seems that a large part of the point of the OS and the programs that shipped with it was as a way of “talking to god”. Where he’d run a program and it would generate some random output and he said that those were words from god. I have to assume that this was very much because of his condition. Either way, a temple to god is part of what this OS was. TempleOS. Furthermore, TempleOS validated many of his ideas of how an OS could be built differently from how many other OSes are made. TempleOS is like a modern day Amiga or Commodore 64 operating system. And I could easily imagine a world in which TempleOS was distributed preinstalled on some kind of non-networked home computer that they could have in Sunday schools around the world, as a tool for bible study and as a way of learning about computers, engaging youth who are interested in technology.
  - xanderlewis 2y ago
    > he’d run a program and it would generate some random output and he said that those were words from god. I have to assume that this was very much because of his condition. I actually think that seems perfectly internally consistent from the perspective of someone who seriously believes in a god. If (pseudo)random numbers and therefore the output of that program aren’t controlled by god, what is?
    - jamesu 2y ago
      It amazes me how much terry latched onto that idea, even binding the "god says" functionality to the F7 key in TempleOS. Sometimes I wonder how he would have reacted to ChatGPT and LLMs.
skissane 2y ago
One thing that makes TempleOS less approachable is the extreme idiosyncrasy of some of its design decisions - e.g. limiting it to 640x480 with 16 colours even though supporting higher resolution and colour depth would have been little extra work, an intentionally very garish user interface, refusing to implement any networking support for ideological reasons. It was never going to be a mainstream OS, but it might have attracted a larger community of tinkerers if it were not for those decisions. (There are forks which improve some of these aspects, but a fork is never going to be as popular as the original.) That said, extreme idiosyncrasy is relatively common in schizophrenia.
- kqr 2y ago
  Well, that doesn't seem to stop users of fantasy consoles, so I'm not sure it's as a big problem for a userbase as you think.
- AlecSchueler 2y ago
  It's the idiosyncrasies that make it notable surely.
  - ahahahahah 2y ago
    It's not notable.
    - AlecSchueler 2y ago
      Then why is it frequently shared and discussed etc.? That is, frequently noted.
      - wiseowise 2y ago
        Because internet loves mystery and hype? Ask your colleagues if they heard about, and if they heard about it what is noticeable about it. Majority of internet see “Ooh, that’s not Linux, Windows, Mac and has a lot of custom things written from scratch”. And also funni racist genius schizo.
djaouen 2y ago
I am not saying that TempleOS wasn't a technical marvel. It was. I am merely stating the fact that its usage was (mainly) limited to recreation. Not that that's a bad thing, but my own ambition is to produce something with more than margi... small product-market fit. Edit: I'm sorry if I come across as arrogant. I still have the "decoration" (programming-wise) of my elite education I am trying to trim. :(
- ahahahahah 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - djaouen 2y ago
    Sigh.
  - VS1999 2y ago
    This is your third nearly identical post in this thread. Is it so important to you that people don't find value in something you think isn't notable?
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - wiseowise 2y ago
      I’m not them, but parroting something without having any substance behind it is how myths are born.
      - bheadmaster 2y ago
        How is replying with just "no, it wasn't" without any elaboration better? Or how will it help stop the spread of the myth? It won't change anyone's mind, that's for sure.
        wiseowise 2y ago

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago

It may sound like the writer is implying lack of financial success is bad, but I don't think that's their intention. I think the word "product" is just a filler here - it could equally be "something" or "an executable".

AlecSchueler 2y ago
What's the recreational value without an executable? Just watching his videos? Then surely the videos are the product.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- rrssh 2y ago
  That's probably what they mean, only the videos have any worth.
  - AlecSchueler 2y ago
    In that case the videos are the product. But the author has since clarified here in the comments that they did actually mean the commercial value of OS itself.

zoky 2y ago

I think the author is just trying to say that the reason TempleOS didn’t receive widespread—or virtually any—regular use has more to do with its lack of inherent utility to most people, rather than a conspiracy to suppress its adoption as Terry apparently believed.

Gare 2y ago

> Where I disagree with him is in his insistence that there was a grand conspiracy to hold back his operating system, perhaps orchestrated by the CIA. Sound like Terry himself wanted it to be successful?

lukan 2y ago

"Because providing a 'product' is the sole criterion for success?" Wasn't the OS made to be used by people for real and not just as a toy? Could people use it for real? As a daily driver to get things done? (A real product) I do not think so, so what do you think what was the point of TempleOS then?

codetrotter 2y ago
> what was the point of TempleOS From what I’ve seen from videos where Terry was talking about TempleOS, it seems that a large part of the point of the OS and the programs that shipped with it was as a way of “talking to god”. Where he’d run a program and it would generate some random output and he said that those were words from god. I have to assume that this was very much because of his condition. Either way, a temple to god is part of what this OS was. TempleOS. Furthermore, TempleOS validated many of his ideas of how an OS could be built differently from how many other OSes are made. TempleOS is like a modern day Amiga or Commodore 64 operating system. And I could easily imagine a world in which TempleOS was distributed preinstalled on some kind of non-networked home computer that they could have in Sunday schools around the world, as a tool for bible study and as a way of learning about computers, engaging youth who are interested in technology.
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  > he’d run a program and it would generate some random output and he said that those were words from god. I have to assume that this was very much because of his condition. I actually think that seems perfectly internally consistent from the perspective of someone who seriously believes in a god. If (pseudo)random numbers and therefore the output of that program aren’t controlled by god, what is?
  - jamesu 2y ago
    It amazes me how much terry latched onto that idea, even binding the "god says" functionality to the F7 key in TempleOS. Sometimes I wonder how he would have reacted to ChatGPT and LLMs.

skissane 2y ago

One thing that makes TempleOS less approachable is the extreme idiosyncrasy of some of its design decisions - e.g. limiting it to 640x480 with 16 colours even though supporting higher resolution and colour depth would have been little extra work, an intentionally very garish user interface, refusing to implement any networking support for ideological reasons. It was never going to be a mainstream OS, but it might have attracted a larger community of tinkerers if it were not for those decisions. (There are forks which improve some of these aspects, but a fork is never going to be as popular as the original.) That said, extreme idiosyncrasy is relatively common in schizophrenia.

kqr 2y ago
Well, that doesn't seem to stop users of fantasy consoles, so I'm not sure it's as a big problem for a userbase as you think.
AlecSchueler 2y ago
It's the idiosyncrasies that make it notable surely.
- ahahahahah 2y ago
  It's not notable.
  - AlecSchueler 2y ago
    Then why is it frequently shared and discussed etc.? That is, frequently noted.
    - wiseowise 2y ago
      Because internet loves mystery and hype? Ask your colleagues if they heard about, and if they heard about it what is noticeable about it. Majority of internet see “Ooh, that’s not Linux, Windows, Mac and has a lot of custom things written from scratch”. And also funni racist genius schizo.

djaouen 2y ago

I am not saying that TempleOS wasn't a technical marvel. It was. I am merely stating the fact that its usage was (mainly) limited to recreation. Not that that's a bad thing, but my own ambition is to produce something with more than margi... small product-market fit. Edit: I'm sorry if I come across as arrogant. I still have the "decoration" (programming-wise) of my elite education I am trying to trim. :(

ahahahahah 2y ago
[flagged]
- djaouen 2y ago
  Sigh.
- VS1999 2y ago
  This is your third nearly identical post in this thread. Is it so important to you that people don't find value in something you think isn't notable?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - wiseowise 2y ago
    I’m not them, but parroting something without having any substance behind it is how myths are born.
    - bheadmaster 2y ago
      How is replying with just "no, it wasn't" without any elaboration better? Or how will it help stop the spread of the myth? It won't change anyone's mind, that's for sure.
      - wiseowise 2y ago