Re: [NTLK] The "iMoleskine" ?

~~~ On 2008/05/20 00:10, Joel M. Sciamma at joel@inventors-emporium.co.uk
wrote ~~~

> Mac OS is moribund. There has been no innovation of any real
> significance for a very long time and all the major behaviours and
> principles are unchanged other than in tiny details. Swapping out
> processors and the OS underpinnings do not constitute innovation
> other than the sort of housekeeping necessary to keep up with
> hardware developments (which _are_ genuine progress) and the need to
> keep the product looking fresh while not really changing anything. As
> Mac OS has ambled down the decades we have lost as much as we have
> gained. Dotting Is and crossing Ts is not progress when so many new
> problems and bugs are constantly being created.
...etc.

I'm inclined to agree, Joel, but let's face it, if you talk to anyone who
can (in theory) do anything, and if you talk about anything truly
revolutionary, their first response will be to dismiss you as something of a
weirdo -- politely of course, lest they alienate a paying customer. Their
second response will be along the lines of "that might work if we were just
starting out fresh, but we have to maintain backward compatibility, and
cross-platform compatibility, and enough continuity of interface and user
skills so that we don't lose customers, and we have to protect our market
share. It's just not feasible in today's market".

But always the bottom line will be: leave me alone, don't rock the boat,
don't threaten our market share, and don't stop writing cheques as we churn
out the same ol' same ol', slap ever more exciting names and exhorbitant
price tags on it and tell you how much you'll love it.

My dream computer OS would take up where NOS left off as regards the use of
soups to allow complete sharing and linking of data, with all applications
being demoted in importance, solely seen as tools to let me use my data, and
not as the pampered prima donnas of computing, the way they are now.
Working with our data, after all, is why we use computers, not so we can use
this or that app. Continuing to feature and pander to applications instead
of data is like asking the musicians of the London Philharmonic to vacate
their chairs and give their instruments to the children of rich parents.

And the interface would still be GUI of a sort, but it would be a GUI
mindmap of my hard-drive (i.e., of my data), allowing me always to see my
data in terms of itself and my purposes for it (optionally in 3D), rather
than having to have an eye on which apps I need to use my data. Application
selection and use would be seamless, a function of the OS identifying what I
want to do with my data and handing me the tools to do it -- like a good
surgical nurse who always has the right implements ready for the surgeon.
And of course, being myself, I'd want to be able to choose how I operate the
GUI: keyboard (would we still need one?), mouse (ditto), touchscreen (both
with and without a stylus). I could go on, but there's no point. I'm even
less likely to get this than I am to get my Newton Mark II.

Well, that's enough dreaming for now. It's time to shut down my plodding
dinosaur of a computer -- sorry, Lady Pismo, you're very lovely to look at,
but essentially you're too full of old-fashioned ideas to be anything but a
dinosaur.

 
Shalom.
Christian

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

³Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a Newton.²
            -- what Arthur C. Clarke meant

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(With thanks to Chod Lang)
http://tinyurl.com/29y2dl
http://www.diyplanner.com/node/3942

~~~ ~~~ ~~~
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Received on Mon May 19 20:41:21 2008