6 ms·
The Demo
- math0ne 13y agoLooks cool, too bad the vids don't work.
- LAMike 13y agoWow hearing him explain the concept of a mouse to a room full of people who may or may not be convinced that computers are the future is really interesting. One of the most important demos in tech next to the invention of fire and the iPod
- hkmurakami 13y agolove the wit posting this before someone inevitably rails against your obviously genuine belief that the iPod was the greatest invention ever. X_X
- PanickedOmlette 13y agoThat's sarcasm.
- drcode 13y agoWay more important than iPod
- nooneelse 13y agoWhenever I've watched this, I've stopped it several times and just tried to think of/like the people in the audience. What were they thinking? What previous and familiar techniques and technologies were they using as the lens to see this through? If you had them brainstorm in small groups about how they could use this if they had it for the next year, what would they think it was good for? Is it something they saw as useful for themselves or just for record-keepers and report writers?
- hkmurakami 13y agoMain Engelbart discussion going right now on HN (in case it drops off): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5986307 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5986307
- danso 13y agoI read "1968" as "!986" and when looking at it again, still read "1986"...as in, the mouse was a pretty big deal back in 1986, from what I barely remember. But 1968? My mental picture is just circuit boards and punch cards. How amazing this technology must have seemed.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoWell....Sutherland's SketchPad demo was done in 1963.
- aidos 13y agoThe SketchPad demo is just amazing. Whenever I work with a crappy interface I think about SketchPad and wonder how we collectively haven't set higher standards for the way we interact with computers.
- InclinedPlane 13y agoThe interesting thing is how much this was straining technology at the time, and how it predated the innovations (such as microprocessors) which would make this sort of thing not just feasible but inexpensive enough for many folks to make use of it in the home.
- neona 13y agohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv-zdhzMY ^ Youtube link to the demo, as I can't get the video on the site to work. EDIT: better quality version
- teej 13y agoReflecting on the fact that this video was recorded before the unix epoch was humbling.
- roryokane 13y agoThis led me to wonder why 1970-01-01 is the Unix epoch. Answer: http://stackoverflow.com/q/1090869/578288 http://stackoverflow.com/q/1090869/578288. In short, Unix was developed in 1969 and first released in 1971.
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- mortehu 13y agoThis reminded me of the original presentation of the iPhone, which I didn't watch until recently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUIxyE2Ns8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUIxyE2Ns8 Points of similarity: 1. Both presentations happened in San Francisco (at the same convention center?) 2. Both demonstrate major advances in user interfaces 3. Both include demonstrations of remote communication :)
- glurgh 13y agoOther than the fact that they are both demos and happened in SF (in different locations, Brooks hall has been closed for many years), they're almost entirely dissimilar. One is a demonstration of new technologies, previously unseen by many in the audience. The other is the introduction of a new product integrating many existing technologies. You could buy an iPhone a few months after that introduction. Computers with mice didn't become generally available to consumers till 1984. You're either underestimating the impact of Engelbart's demo, overestimating the importance of the iPhone or both.
- gfodor 13y agoI'm going to disagree and say that Jobs' unveiling of the iPhone will be up there with The Demo in terms of watershed moments in computer, and indeed human history. It wasn't the iPhone per se, but what the iPhone represented and the clear inflection point it has proven to be for realizing much of the vision originally hatched by those at PARC.
- cubancigar11 13y agoThat is ridiculous. Please, have some imagination. In preparation of The Demo, just think about the algorithms that were discovered and technologies that were invented. Unveiling of iPhone was a marketing gimmick. And please look outside America before talking about human history, and indeed computer. I really don't want to sound rude but this kind of vanity gets to me.
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- sowhatquestion 13y agoDid anyone else notice that the "word processor" demoed here is really more of a flexible outliner, like WorkFlowy ( http://www.workflowy.com http://www.workflowy.com )? Actually, the more features he ran through, the more I was struck by the similarity.
- jared314 13y agoIt is things like this that show why every college should have a history of CS course.
- roryokane 13y agoArchive.org has this video, too, and lets you download it: http://archive.org/details/XD300-23_68HighlightsAResearchCntAugHumanIntellect http://archive.org/details/XD300-23_68HighlightsAResearchCnt... Also, this demo has a Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos
- marcosscriven 13y agoI absolutely love all the buzzing and whirring in the video. Combined with the fairly heavy reverberations of his voice, it's almost ethereal.
- voidlogic 13y agoI was actually thinking about writing something to generate these computery sounds as I work. :)
- marcosscriven 13y agoDrop everything, and do it now. I need this :)
- laacz 13y agoAnd reflecting on this demo, today's XKCD is nice: http://xkcd.com/1234/ http://xkcd.com/1234/