In memoriam: excerpt from my book, The Wikipedia Revolution, talking about Steve Jobs and his role in creating the read/write Web we know today. RIP.
When Steve Jobs was forced out as the head of Apple Computer in 1987, he stayed in Silicon Valley and put his energies into a new start-up called NeXT. This was while Apple was still shipping computers with nine-inch screens and Microsoft’s most advanced product was an anemic and stiff-looking Windows 2.0. The NeXT machine, on the other hand, launched in October 1988, introduced pioneering features we’re all used to now: a high-resolution “million pixel” display, a read/write optical drive, and a true multitasking operating system. And in classic Steve Jobs style, it was clad in a sexy all-black magnesium cube form factor that made it the envy of computer science departments around the world.
The NeXT megapixel grayscale computer display was its most stunning feature. What it lacked in color it made up for in fineness and texture. It was so large and sharp, folks compared it to reading on paper. This was no coincidence—it used PostScript, a special language from Adobe Systems usually reserved for high-end paper printers.
So when [WWW creator Tim] Berners-Lee was testing out his idea for a World Wide Web to share documents, he used his NeXT cube computer that was geared toward handling high-resolution documents. The first Web browser he ever built was for the NeXT machine, in February 1991. But he had much grander plans than simply creating a “browser” for reading, and in fact called his program a “browser-editor.”
Not only did his program on the NeXT read and display Web pages, it could also alter them and save them. This was a function Berners-Lee had envisioned from the start—a read-write Web of information for sharing.
Given its rich and ambitious origins, it is then quite peculiar that the Web that became popular in the mid-1990s was known only for reading, browsing, and surfing. In the exuberance to push the reading experience, the “write” stuff, which was always meant to be part of the Web, was left behind as a cumbersome feature.
While the first Web browser from Tim Berners-Lee gained notoriety, there was a problem. The sexy features of the NeXT were not cheap. They offered only one model, and few folks could afford a $6,500 NeXT cube. Even NeXT’s follow-on budget version, the NeXT “slab,” was $4,995. It was hardly a computer for the masses.
But oh, what Steve was able to do since then. He returned to Apple, made the NeXT operating system the basis of all Macs, and came to dominate the world of music players, smart phones, and tablet computing.
RIP Steve Jobs, you really did make “computers for the rest of us.”
I dugg some of you post as I thought they were handy very useful.
You lost me, buddy. I mean, I imagine I get what youre declaring. I understand what you’re saying, but you just seem to have ignored that you can find some other individuals within the world who look at this issue for what it truly is and may well not agree with you. You may well be turning away a lot of individuals who might have been fans of your blog site.
I’m not confident exactly where you’re acquiring your info, but wonderful topic. I needs to spend some time learning a lot more or understanding more. Thanks for wonderful details I was seeking for this info for my mission.
Howdy this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
Hello there I like your wewebsite. Do you want to visitor publish upabout my own at some point? In that case you should let me know by way of e mail or simply answer this kind of remark because I signed up for announcements and can understand if you do.
Hey this is excellent! will you want to blogroll trade with myself? I feel we’d both equally gain via interchanging hyperlinks and site traffic.
Hi I am so glad I found your web site, I really found you by error, while I was looking on Aol for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a incredible post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the moment but I have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the excellent work.
Oh and I am not a Liverpool or Chelsea supporter, even so the way the Liverpool fans were still singing You’ll Under no circumstances Walk alone when their team was losing and the game was almost finished was attractive. Big respect.
Thanks for your post. One other thing is always that individual states have their particular laws that affect people, which makes it very, very hard for the our lawmakers to come up with a fresh set of guidelines concerning foreclosures on householders. The problem is that every state has own legal guidelines which may have impact in a negative manner on the subject of foreclosure insurance plans.
Howdy! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to give it a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Wonderful blog and superb design and style.
Thanks for any other informative blog. Where else may I am getting that kind of info written in such a perfect approach? I’ve a challenge that I’m just now operating on, and I have been on the glance out for such information.
Very interesting topic , thanks for putting up. “Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired.” by Titus Maccius Plautus.
Just would like to add some input on some things you shared. The web site layout is perfect, and the article is great and extremely informative.
Woah this blog is great i like reading your articles. Keep up the great paintings! You realize, many people are looking around for this information, you can help them greatly.
Methodologies do indeed differ, as do the polling firms “guesses” concerning what the electorate is likely to become on election day. What frustrates me is whenever we conservatives deny what the terrible polls convey to us and glance for all those that you should us(Rush and Sean are notorious for this). That is why, in my previously mentioned publish, I argue it is most effective to look at trendsand, inside a way, that is what RealClear Politics does when it gives averages. When we do this, Obama is clearly ahead. Now, if the trend or averages change in favor of Romney, I believe we’ll have a thing to crow about. But these major polling firms are not skewed. What just one can argue is always that their results are hyped when Obama is ahead. This can be apparent once we will not see Rasmussen as well typically quotedthe most favorable numbers for Romneyexcept in Drudge.
Lunettes à réalité augmentée. Le projet Google Glasses.C’est certainement le projet technologique le plus attendu : les fameuses lunettes à réalité augmentée baptisée Project Glass.Celles-ci sont équipées d’une caméra, d’un pavé tactile situé sur l’une des branches, d’un micro et de haut-parleurs et de plusieurs capteurs que l’on trouve dans un smartphone (compas, gyroscope, accéléromètre). Elles pourront se connecter via du WiFi ou en étant appairées à un mobile. Leur principale fonction sera de pouvoir partager des photos et des vidéos prises avec la caméra.De la météo au GPS via GoogleMaps en passant par la prise et le partage de photos sur Google+, les fonctionntés semblent riches et variées. L’affichage passe par un léger écran placé dans le coin de l’œil droit. Les lunettes en elles-mêmes ne comportent pas de verres.L’interface générale reste suffisamment discrète pour ne pas obturer le champ de vision. De même, l’utilisation par commande vocale est simple pourvu qu’on ne soit pas gêné de parler à ses lunettes en public. Des micros et caméras sont placés dans les branches des lunettes.
Wonderful site. Lots of useful information here. I am sending it to some friends ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks for your sweat!
you are really a good webmaster. The web site loading speed is amazing. It seems that you’re doing any unique trick. Also, The contents are masterpiece. you have done a excellent job on this topic!