Re: [NTLK] Digital Hub (was iPod!)

From: Joel M. Sciamma (joelsciamma_at_compuserve.com)
Date: Thu Oct 25 2001 - 19:55:29 EDT


Jon,

> Let me put this to rest. There is one major problem with the component
> concept, and the major hurdle that killed OpenDoc--memory.

Memory is no longer an issue but essentially the technical limitations of
OpenDoc are as you stated but the concept was valid - functionality follows
the task - not the other way around.

I was aware of distinct antagonism from some of the major developers like MS
and Adobe towards OpenDoc because it directly threatened their way of doing
things. They had no model for making money in a component world so this was
not something to encourage. This was not the reason for the demise of
OpenDoc but it was a factor that was not lost on Apple.

> The problem is that we, as people, like our computers compartmentalized into
> proprietary formats. If we didn't, in the end, things would change.

I fundamentally disagree here because no real choice is available. We allow
ourselves to be manipulated and disadvantaged by the current system.
Interestingly, the greater integration of the MS Office suite shows, if not
very convincingly yet, that people work well and accept the concept of
moving the application into the background in favour of the data. Jon, there
is no mileage is promoting the status quo as the best possible solution. If
it were then computing would cease to evolve from it's primitive origins.
Perhaps this _is_ what's happening.

I personally don't want to be marooned in some 20th Century computing ghetto
as defined by the current legacy PC operating systems. The Newton is the
only piece of sanity in my computing environment.

Joel.

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