Aucbvax.6394
fa.works
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!works
Fri Mar 5 23:25:18 1982
Innovation
>From BUSH.USC-ISIE Fri Mar 5 23:10:27 1982
Hohum indeed. There's no real technical innovation in putting a 16-bit micro
in a box with a tube and maybe a network interface. It's interesting from a
marketing/business standpoint to see how IBM manages as an Intel OEM, but
that's not where the technical challenges are. All this personal hardware is
not too useful, certainly not very advanced, without sophisticated software.
I want a personal computer system, not just an expensive terminal.
Apollo is a case of the hardware without the software. They've always had
a bit-mapped display with overlapping windows, but until recently all their
windows were full-screen width with no identifying information, so it was
difficult to parse the screen and figure out which windows were partially
obscured. Now they have Alto-like windows of varying widths with a thick bar
at the top with information about the window (for example, which file is being
edited in it), so now there's a real reason for the display. Innovative
products, like the Star, will be defined by their software.
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