ftdkl@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (LaSota Daniel K) (09/26/90)
Well the news of the Claris thing hasn't really hit the average Mac person yet. I know a lot of kids and teachers in schools throughout Alaska who will be very dissapointed when they learn that they might have to pay for a fully working version program of HyperCard. This particular subset of HyperCard users/doers is really getting heavily involved with HyperCard and scripting. There is a special keen interest in writing interactive front ends for laserDisks. A few groups have embarked upon the path of creating their own laserDisks (with of course their own front ends made in HyperCard). For the teachers HyperCard provides a nice tool. For the kids its a world of wonder. I have seen 4th and 5th graders sit down with HyperCard and in a matter of minutes be in complete control. The painting environment was fascinating to all but a large portion go directly into the HyperTalk part. These are tomorrow's programmers learning structured programming skills with a program that came FREE with every new Macintosh. A large part of the success here is that HyperCard did come with the Mac. It was something as nice and friendly as the interface itself. Many schools in Alaska (and of course elsewhere) will not be able to afford and will not bother to get a 'development' version of HyperCard 2.0. The development and learning that has and is taking place in these school environments will not proceed at the pace it is. And schools will have one less reason to purchase Macintoshes. Well now here is a thought for consideration: What versions of the 2.0 HyperCard will have the ability to convert 1.x.x stacks to 2.0 stacks? And will the marketing menaces go to lengths to stop people from using HyperCard 1.2.x for development and then use 2.0 for usage? [One advantage I could see from this would be background scripting under multi-finder]. Dan LaSota FTDKL%ALASKA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu (best) ftdkl@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (if you must)
DN5@psuvm.psu.edu (09/26/90)
In article <1990Sep26.035004.13530@hayes.fai.alaska.edu>, ftdkl@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (LaSota Daniel K) says: > >Well the news of the Claris thing hasn't really hit the average Mac >person yet. I know a lot of kids and teachers in schools throughout >Alaska who will be very dissapointed when they learn that they might >have to pay for a fully working version program of HyperCard. > >This particular subset of HyperCard users/doers is really >getting heavily involved with HyperCard and scripting. There is >a special keen interest in writing interactive front ends for >laserDisks. A few groups have embarked upon the path of creating their >own laserDisks (with of course their own front ends made in HyperCard). > >Dan LaSota >FTDKL%ALASKA.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu (best) >ftdkl@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (if you must) Well, I don't know about Alaska, but I am a Computer-Based Education developer for Penn State, and I have seen the power of HyperCard in the hands of teachers. This works because they can take their stack and go anywhere on campus (in the Mac labs) to work on it. Also, the fact that the complete developement system comes with each and every Mac gives the opportunity to every faculty member to become a developer. We at CBEL--Teaching & Leaning Technologies try to help our faculty members to program for themselves. This will become much more difficult if they have to buy it for themselves. Much of the lure of the Macintosh has been because of HyperCard. If a complete (and by this I mean HyperCard/Home/Help Stacks) version isn't included with each system, there will be less interest in the Mac. And please don't tell me that $75 or so per developer is a small price. I already know this, however it doesn't change the fact that many people who would become developers when the price is $0 won't become so when the price is higher. Just try to get a small purchace past the various committies whose job it is to say NO to such requests! I feel that Toolbook for the IBM will fail for this reason, also. A bundled application has large advantages both for the uses and the sellers. ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() D. Jay Newman ! All syllogisms have three parts, dn5@psuvm.psu.edu ! therefore this is not a syllogism. CBEL--Teaching and Learning Technologies Group
LB7@psuvm.psu.edu (Lorinda L. Brader) (09/28/90)
In article <90269.111300DN5@psuvm.psu.edu>, <DN5@psuvm.psu.edu> says: > >I feel that Toolbook for the IBM will fail for this reason, also. >A bundled application has large advantages both for the uses and >the sellers. > Toolbook comes bundled with new machine purchases in IBM's Educational Solutions offer. It comes bundled along with several other applications such as Windows 3.0, Word and Excel. Also a runtime version of ToolBook comes with the purchase of Windows 3.0. Lorinda Brader lb7@psuvm.psu.edu CBEL-Teaching and Learning Technologies Group