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From: Lou@cup.portal.com (William Joseph Marriott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: Look out Hypercard, its Supercard!
Message-ID: <12351@cup.portal.com>
Date: 9 Dec 88 01:18:39 GMT
References: <16310014@hpsmtc1.HP.COM> <21793@apple.Apple.COM> <12322@cup.portal.com>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 77

What's in it (HyperCard) for Apple?

I admire Silicon Beach for their decision to compete with HyperCard.
How would you like to be the one to propose competing with a virtually
free product? A virtually free product from a company with an
imaginative legal department? A virtually free product with a zealous
cult following?

I can remember what it was like working with the old Macs and the
software of the time. Remember the care-free days of three data
formats (MacWrite, MacPaint, PICT)? Programs that were less than 150K?
You certainly knew what to buy when you walked into a computer store.
Today, of course, we have a proliferation of different graphics, text,
sound, and even font formats (quick, what popular DTP programs will be
confused by NFNTs?) With that has come more power and flexibility, but
putting together software packages that cooperate has become as big a
hassle as configuring an MS-DOS machine.

Part of the reason that the old standards fell away was that the
defenders of the standard -- MacPaint, MacDraw, MacWrite -- retired
from the battle. Not just the applications, either. System software
components haven't kept up with the times. It's a crime that QuickDraw
is basically unchanged from what ran on the first Macs.

Boot a typical Macintosh and you'll see a testament to the (lack of)
real developments in Macintosh system software popping up in a row
across the bottom of the screen: Suitcase, QuicKeys, Laser"Quotes",
SuperLaserSpool, Tops... all are third-party hacks at system software
that SHOULD have grown up to handle fonts better, DAs better, keyboard
control better, print spooling better, and transparent file sharing.
You might be able to put a SuperDrive in your Mac SE one day, but
you'll have to buy a DaynaFile to get the Finder to support foreign
volumes.

If Apple had taken a meaningful leadership role by implementing a 
formatted text standard (you still can't cut and paste text with
formatting between applications), improved QuickDraw so applications
would not have to hack at printer drivers for decent output, etc.,
life as a Macintosh owner would be much more carefree.

So what is in it (HyperCard) for Apple? I think Apple views its
software as more of a marketing tool for hardware than an end to
itself. Apple, for instance, can say "We have WYSIWIG display, we have
multi-tasking, we can read non-Mac disks, we have this exciting new
development/information platform etc." without having to be truly
pioneering or putting the effort into enhancing these features.

HyperCard _is_ a truly pioneering product that is changing people's
lives... the same issue of MacWEEK that reported SuperCard also has a
story about HyperCard being used in museums. But will Apple want to
take HyperCard much farther? If third-parties are willing to bear the
expense of enhancing HyperCard, why bother?

Consumers always like to have choices, and the existance of
HyperCard-compatible options makes the Macintosh a more attractive
purchase. Why would Apple want to get into a battle with Silicon
Beach? I think they'll _help_ them by maintaining HyperCard as an
"entry-level" product and leave the rest of the market open for other
developers. They'll maintain it JUST as they did MacWrite and
MacPaint, tweaks here and there so it runs with future system
software, but letting Microsoft worry about true advances in
functionality.

The people who are really _need_ to come out with whiz-bang
knock-you-flat programs are the folks at Silicon Beach, because they
have to compete with Apple's own product, and any other comers.

I imagine the day is not far away when we will have several
"stack-card-hypertext" products out, a zillion different formats for
each, and we will still be posting here about HyperCard STILL not
supporting color or large-screen monitors.

________________________________________________________________________
_                      Portal: william_joseph_marriott@cup.portal.com
_  Bill Marriott       Northwestern University:    innen@nuacc.bitnet  
_                      GEnie: W.MARRIOTT              CI$: 72047,2770
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