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From: forbes@sp11.csrd.uiuc.edu (Michael Scott Forbes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: "Innovative software like Hypercard" [sic]
Summary: Innovative?  Software???
Keywords: Hypercard useless software white elephant
Message-ID: <1990Jul7.050240.21181@csrd.uiuc.edu>
Date: 7 Jul 90 05:02:40 GMT
References: <1990Jul3.113921.1299@d.cs.okstate.edu> <77516@aerospace.AERO.ORG>
Sender: usenet@csrd.uiuc.edu (news)
Organization: Univ of Illinois, Center for Supercomputing R&D, Urbana, IL
Lines: 29

In article <77516@aerospace.AERO.ORG> doner@spot.UUCP (John Doner) writes:
>       The money for all that R & D, developing and improving user interfaces,
>innovative software like Hypercard, etc., let alone the hardware, has to come
>from somewhere.  The only way Apple could sell computers at PC-clone prices

I've been trying to avoid posting follow-ups to *any* of the children of the
offspring of the spawn of "Rumor:  Loss of Mac's 20% over Windows 3.0"
(the thread that ate comp.sys.mac.misc; the resulting loss of productive
Mac-related conversation has narrowed the Mac/Windows gap by 11%   ;-),
but I have to take exception with the phrase "innovative software like
Hypercard".

I've just spent an afternoon of clearing space on hard drives at a friend's
place of work; the most effective method of doing this so far, freeing up
three to four megabytes of unused space, is to remove Hypercard.  No one
uses it; there's barely enough memory on these Mac SE's to run it; and
the mystery question of the day is "What is it?"  It seems to be a piece of
software in search of a practical use; unlike databases, spreadsheets, page
layout programs, etc., there is neither a high demand for hypermedia engines
nor a lucrative untapped market in them.

If development costs for Hypercard are driving up the costs of making a Mac,
then I think we can safely ax this project.  Most users could live without
Hypercard and be richer as a result.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Forbes                    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
forbes@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu     Center for Supercomputing Research & Development
DISCLAIMER:  They wanted to hire someone who knew nothing about computers...