Alan started off with a nice set of examples of where computing was 40 years ago.[Using an iBook, along with about 3 other laptops]. He made the point that the printing press did not really take off until the next generation after it was invented by Gutenberg. The original generation used the press for looking backwards. The next generation realized you could use the press for discussing 'current' ideas.
Some great videos of where we were in 1960s. Some amazing stuff on time-shared, 192K machine. They got sub-second response because they WANTED it to be. Today we are willing to accept much, much less. They were doing collaborative work at SRI in 1968.
We have people using computers today that are barely able to do more than ones developed 40 years ago. Several generations of kids who would most likely 'get' much of this. [Maybe they have but just through video games not through computers?] Kay implied the same, indicating that kids can use two-handed inpur - game pad.
He showed some excellent uses of computers and kids. Doing real science. Kids can learn about real science by proper use of computers. Great demos and video of understanding gravity.
Internet was designed to solve N-squared problem. But group collaboration is a 2 to the N which increases faster. Looked at pre-alpha attempt to make it work. Lots of applause. Used a variety of computing power. All written in smalltalk. Did some 3-D rendering of quickly drawn items. All done using TCP/IP. Squeak is on 25 platforms, bit identical.[There are some great downloads at Squeakland.] 9:38:12 AM
|