Text 113, 92 rader
Skriven 2004-07-22 06:47:52 av Monte Davis (1:379/45)
    Kommentar till text 102 av John Beamish (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: 35 years ago today
==============================
From: Monte Davis <monte.davis@verizon.net>

"John Beamish" <JLBeamish AT hotmail DOT com> wrote:

>Never read those.

Poor soul. OK, the year is 1987. The place is CompuServe's WordPerfect Support
Group forum. Pete Peterson of WP has been posting in the wee hours (in Utah),
tantalizing us with glimpses of the new release. My brother and I decided to...

***
This inaugurates the pre-consolidated thread "Tale for Insomniacs."

WPCorp has earned its reputation as a responsive software company, bending over
backwards to meet every user whim.  This flexibility begins with the
little-known WP Happy Interface Projection Support group and Basic Operations
Optimization Teams. Recently, WHIPS and BOOTs have taken a real beating over
our Comdex exhibit.

Some software companies might simply ignore the issue... but they aren't warm
and fuzzy and didn't go to BYU.  Others might take the easy way out:  go for
electronic self-criticism, admit to heinous insensitivity, abase themselves,
beg forgiveness from the people's court... (see the related thread
"Flagellants.")

But the responsive software company is going to respond in a responsive way. 
Details will have to wait (just teasing...)  In the meanwhile, think about what
you could do with that <Alt> F8 key combo, an unchained blonde (or blond), a
noosed barrister (or barristress), and a fifth of Old Weller.

***

As many of you now know, the interface that ate America originated in a rather
dry piece of the American Southwest more than a decade ago.  Since then, it has
consumed DG, DEC, IBM, Compaq, both AT&T machines, a few Macs, Apples, Kaypros
and a lone Hyperion.

It has also insinuated itself into calendars, calculators, file managers,
databases, spreadsheets and lord knows what else.  (How do you like the sound
of "DrugPerfect" and "WarPerfect"?) Recently, however, our programmers have
taken on a new challenge.

Fresh from the labor of creating the Ur Printer Driver
(hardware/software/reality independent), they began to reflect on reality
dependence and the VGA graphic standard... after all, an analog display might
lend itself to displaying analogies... and virtual memory with a HyperProust
driver on a 20 MHz screamer might just...

So, late one starlit night, on a sacred snake mound 37 miles southwest of
Minority, Utah... RealityPerfect was born.  But more on that tomorrow.

BTW, no one has ventured a guess on the <Alt> F8 key... which leads me to
believe that either (1) it is not intuitively obvious or (2) my modem is
unplugged.

***

RealityPerfect was originally called TheRightStuffPerfect, but a copyright
search tubed that one fast.  In its beta form, it's an L-shaped paper template
that sits on the bridge of the user's nose. Cantilevered to either side,
cryptotwisted lumino-phosphor polarized display shutters... one red and one
green.

What really makes RP work is what it _doesn't_ do.  It gets out of your way, as
long as you don't try to move.  Both screens are clear, except for a simple
prompt line: "Push Something Like <Alt> F8" Holographically projected in front
of you is a row of keys, looking for all the world like a Marine Band
harmonica.

Imagine the impact on WPCorp's already high responsiveness index. Imagine
Comdex '88.  Imagine the WPCorp booth, ringed by struggling crowds of loyal
users, protesters, theosophists, and diehard LISA loyalists waiting for their
port.  Boot up RP:  look at any performer, then look at <Alt> F8, and
***SHAZAAM!*** up pops a menu screen:

----------------------------------------------------------------
        1   Attributes
        2   Color
        3   Affect
        4   Sex
        5   Position
        6   Other

                                   Cosmos 1    Reality 1   Frame 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Now imagine the awesome power that lies behind each choice.  Keep imagining...
because that's the power of RP.  More later...

[and so it went]

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