Alan Kay Says iPad Betrays Xerox PARC Vision 387
harrymcc writes "Over at TIME.com, we've published David Greelish's interview with Alan Kay, the famously quotable visionary whose Dynabook proposal has provided much of the inspiration for advances in mobile computing for over 40 years now. Kay talks about his work, laments that the computer has failed to live up to its potential as an educational tool, and says that the iPad betrays the vision that he and others created at Xerox PARC and elsewhere in the 1970s."
Re:Not Sure I Understand the Post-PC Concept (Score:4, Interesting)
well, all the industry pundits who want to discard the pc are the one's that would be keeping pc's to create stuff for the replacements...
sold it all off (Score:5, Interesting)
Seems to me that Xerox got out of the market 40yrs ago and has no right to complain about its path now.
Re:DIY Education. (Score:2, Interesting)
"Hey third world kids - us first world rich kids are going to give you laptops! Well, not real laptops, that might let you actually learn skills that will help you get out of poverty and better your life. They're these tinkertoy bullshit things that you won't really get much use out of... but they look so modern and plastic! And really, it'll help us feel good about ourselves for "doing something," mostly. But we'll console ourselves by telling the world that it's going to 'help you learn how to learn and give you access to the works of Shakespeare,' or some shit like that."
In essence, first world people misunderstand the needs and wants of third world people living in abject poverty, and give them gifts that demonstrate that misunderstanding. I know I'm shocked by this development - aren't you?
I, for one, can't wait to see the Open Source Refrigerator designed for use by native tribes living above the Arctic Circle! And I hear RMS is working on a new brand of super-absorbent white cotton gloves, just PERFECT for protecting your hands while eating ketchup popsicles.
Re:Fanboy attack (Score:4, Interesting)
You can code on the iPad? This is news. Whats the environment you use? Not talking about scripts or a text editor with basic syntax highlighting tho. I'm talking about being able to code a full project, with all necessary files, and preferably being able to compile it too - but that can be worked around.
I tried this with the Asus Transformer when it came out. Was... KIND OF... doable, but in the end it was a LOT easier to just use a 13" laptop and code on that. No sacrifices were required, completely compatabile with my revision controls, etc.
Also, this is the second time I heard you could write and release iOS apps for free - can you share how this is doable? I admit I don't follow iOS much anymore since I didn't want to spend $100 a year just to write hobby level code, so this change is quite exciting. Unless this post is a day late, then Fool on me...
Licensed C64 Emulator Rejected From App Store (Score:4, Interesting)
People love to make the claim you can not create content on the iPad but its been proven time and again for the most part to be false beyond a few exceptions you can create just fine. People code on them
Several years ago, Apple pulled a Commodore 64 game from the App Store [slashdot.org] when it was discovered that the user could reboot the emulated Commodore 64 into the BASIC prompt. Apple didn't want a BASIC prompt because users could key in programs that Apple had not approved. What caused Apple to change its mind and allow things like Codea?
Apple doesn't in any way prevent a people from creating a good app uploading it to the store for free
How are a Mac and a developer license available "for free"?
and let people download it for free.
Of course it does. If your application falls into one of the banned categories [pineight.com], which you're not even officially allowed to see until you've already bought a $650 Mac and a $99 per year developer license, Apple won't let you distribute it.