Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!dftsrv!amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov!pease
From: pease@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Pease)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Claris HyperCard Version 3.0
Message-ID: <3528@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Date: 1 Oct 90 19:24:57 GMT
Sender: news@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov
Reply-To: pease@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD, USA
Lines: 48
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

My first reaction to the recent change of HyperCard being "sold-out" to Claris
was dissappointment.  I believed that Apple had produced a product which made
it much easier for a user with little programming background to enter,
organize, and retrieve information in a way that is most useful to the user
(i.e.; made programming much easier).  Now it seems that those management types
(who probably have never written a stack of their own) have decided to make it
harder for the novice to write their own stacks.  Yeah, it seems that those of
us who are already HyperTalk programmers will still be able to create/update
our stacks; but what about those new purchasers of a Macintosh? 

Apple used to have a better product and people purchased the Mac because they
wanted this better product, even though it costs more than an IBM-PC.  So now
Apple has decided to make a few extra $$ by agreeing to reduce the "power" of
their basic product. 

The HyperCard that will be bundled with the Mac is NOT the same thing as the
old HyperCard.  It seems to me that this this new Mac/HyperCard is more like
the Radio Shack, IBM-PC clone, with its "Deskmate" which has a built-in
calendar, notepad, etc. (i.e.; to the novice user this appears to be all that
he will see of HyperCard). 

Now that I've expressed my feelings about this announcement; I wonder if I will
be surprised by what great things might result from this un-bundling?  

Is Bill Atkinson upset enough that he will go thru with his threat to give
HyperCard away to the public domain or how about teaming up with the folks at
MIT and making HyperCard part of X-Windows? (this could make things exciting
for HyperCard development)? 

Did Claris think so highly of HyperCard that they actively tried to get such a
deal to enable them to enhance and promote this tremendiously powerful product?
Will they turn the HyperCard information management system into the number one
use of a personal computer.  

Does Claris have the right (and are there any plans) to port HyperCard to
other platforms such as IBM-PC or UNIX (again, running under X-Windows).  

Will Claris come up with some really wonderful additions which will be sold at
such a reasonable price that everyone will say I need to have it.

So, while currently I think the Apple - Claris deal is a step backwards for
making the power of the computer more available to the people; we will have to
wait and see what comes out of this move.

Phil Pease 
My witty disclaimer - everything I perceive, through either sensory or
extrasensory means, has been filtered to such an extent that you had better not
attempt to attribute anything I say to anyone else.