pease@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Pease) (10/02/90)
My first reaction to the recent change of HyperCard being "sold-out" to Claris was dissappointment. I believed that Apple had produced a product which made it much easier for a user with little programming background to enter, organize, and retrieve information in a way that is most useful to the user (i.e.; made programming much easier). Now it seems that those management types (who probably have never written a stack of their own) have decided to make it harder for the novice to write their own stacks. Yeah, it seems that those of us who are already HyperTalk programmers will still be able to create/update our stacks; but what about those new purchasers of a Macintosh? Apple used to have a better product and people purchased the Mac because they wanted this better product, even though it costs more than an IBM-PC. So now Apple has decided to make a few extra $$ by agreeing to reduce the "power" of their basic product. The HyperCard that will be bundled with the Mac is NOT the same thing as the old HyperCard. It seems to me that this this new Mac/HyperCard is more like the Radio Shack, IBM-PC clone, with its "Deskmate" which has a built-in calendar, notepad, etc. (i.e.; to the novice user this appears to be all that he will see of HyperCard). Now that I've expressed my feelings about this announcement; I wonder if I will be surprised by what great things might result from this un-bundling? Is Bill Atkinson upset enough that he will go thru with his threat to give HyperCard away to the public domain or how about teaming up with the folks at MIT and making HyperCard part of X-Windows? (this could make things exciting for HyperCard development)? Did Claris think so highly of HyperCard that they actively tried to get such a deal to enable them to enhance and promote this tremendiously powerful product? Will they turn the HyperCard information management system into the number one use of a personal computer. Does Claris have the right (and are there any plans) to port HyperCard to other platforms such as IBM-PC or UNIX (again, running under X-Windows). Will Claris come up with some really wonderful additions which will be sold at such a reasonable price that everyone will say I need to have it. So, while currently I think the Apple - Claris deal is a step backwards for making the power of the computer more available to the people; we will have to wait and see what comes out of this move. Phil Pease My witty disclaimer - everything I perceive, through either sensory or extrasensory means, has been filtered to such an extent that you had better not attempt to attribute anything I say to anyone else.
SAS102@psuvm.psu.edu (Steven A. Schrader) (10/02/90)
In article <3528@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>, pease@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Pease) says: > >Is Bill Atkinson upset enough that he will go thru with his threat to give >HyperCard away to the public domain or how about teaming up with the folks at I think the real point is "Who cares if Bill gives it away?" We all have HIS version 1.2.x. What we want is HC 2.0, in which Bill had very little to do. at least I do not think he did (Is this right Steve?). Bill's threat is pretty much impotent right now. I also beleive that this argument on the net is getting a little stale. So far we have heard at least three things, one of them being "We have not heard from Claris yet" let's wait and see what happens when Claris releases it for real. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven A. Schrader (SAS102 @ Psuvm.Bitnet) Student Consultant Coordinater Student Support Initiative, The Center for Academic Computing The Pennsylvania State University
erich@crash.cts.com (Eric Hicks) (10/03/90)
In article <90275.092413SAS102@psuvm.psu.edu> SAS102@psuvm.psu.edu (Steven A. Schrader) writes: >In article <3528@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>, pease@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Pease) says: > >I think the real point is "Who cares if Bill gives it away?" We all have HIS >version 1.2.x. What we want is HC 2.0, in which Bill had very little to do. >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Steven A. Schrader (SAS102 @ Psuvm.Bitnet) > Student Consultant Coordinater > Student Support Initiative, The Center for Academic Computing > The Pennsylvania State University I care. The reason I care is that if Bill does give away the source to HyperCard 1.2.x, then I am confident that we in the public can, using the "paper in the drawer" method, put out a product that will do well. (well in the sense that it will be popular. Obviously it will make little, if any money for anyone.) If public enrichment of HyperCard 1.2.x causes Claris to lose money on HyperCard 2.0, perhaps they will no longer think that they can get away with this sort of thing in the future. (This assumes, of course, that my data concerning Apple's ignoring their contract with Bill are accurate.) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> < UUCP: {nosc ucsd hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!erich > < ARPA: crash!erich@nosc.mil > < INET: erich@crash.cts.com > < > < DISCLAIMER: My opinions are a figment of your imagination. > < > < "At last, after 2000 years of work, the Eludium PU-36 > < explosive space modulator." > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
gandalf@apple.com (Martin Gannholm) (10/06/90)
In article <4773@crash.cts.com> erich@crash.cts.com (Eric Hicks) writes: > I care. The reason I care is that if Bill does give away the source to > HyperCard 1.2.x, then I am confident that we in the public can, using the > "paper in the drawer" method, put out a product that will do well. (well > in the sense that it will be popular. Obviously it will make little, if > any money for anyone.) If public enrichment of HyperCard 1.2.x causes > Claris to lose money on HyperCard 2.0, perhaps they will no longer think > that they can get away with this sort of thing in the future. (This > assumes, of course, that my data concerning Apple's ignoring their > contract with Bill are accurate.) Apple owns the source and all versions of HyperCard, and has given them to Claris. Bill would only have maintained the rights to distribute HyperCard himself if Apple hadn't bundled HyperCard as per the contract between Bill and Apple. So enough speculation about whether Bill is going to bail "the users of the world" out or not -- it ain't happening... Martin Gannholm HyperCard 2.0 Engineer Apple Computer Exclaimer!!! I typed this myself = I speak for myself...