
Watching and Re-Watching “The Mother of All Demos” - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2015/04/from-the-vault-watching-and-re-watching-the-mother-of-all-demos/
======
jacquesm
I don't think that re-enacting the mother of all demos can be done, the whole
power of it was the fact that it was something that nobody had seen before. In
a world where functional computer mice are found in household garbage, where
interactive screens are found on every desk the people that haven't seen the
original are going to be underwhelmed and those that have seen (or even
experienced, what I wouldn't give to have been there) the original are going
to be upset by any embellishment or 'artistic license'.

What would a modern day 40 years into the future 'mother of all demos' look
like?

~~~
chadgeidel
Something like the Oculus (VR) or Hololens (AR) IMHO.

Problem with the "future mother of all demos" is that it seems the viewers
need new hardware to experience it. How do you do an "AR" demo that's not
distinguishable from movie FX (i.e. a fake example).

~~~
swalsh
This was my first thought too, however when I think about it more.
Oculus/hololens are really the same applications with a different perspective.
It's a damn cool demo to be sure, but not life changing in the same
perspective.

The great demo showed a future with a brand new category with brand new
applications. AI seems more likely to me AI is the only tech I know about that
could produce a demo on the same level.

------
glynjackson
He shows a chorded keyboard for shorthand typing, how did that not catch on!
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard)

Strange feeling watching the first computer mouse demo, first TODO list
tutorial, code folding, auto numbering etc. According to Wikipedia he never
received any royalties for his mouse invention.

~~~
jacquesm
> According to Wikipedia he never received any royalties for his mouse
> invention.

That's accurate. In recognition of his contributions Logitech Inc (the
American branch) offered him and his institute space on their grounds.

------
EdiX
For those interested archive.org has a much higher quality version of the
recording [1] as well as a recording of the 1969 followup demo that explains
in greater detail how the text editor works [2].

I really wish we could try NLS/Augment on an emulator but sadly it seems that
it has been doomed by the god of copyright to forever rot in the archives of
the Computer Museum.

[1]
[https://archive.org/details/XD300-23_68HighlightsAResearchCn...](https://archive.org/details/XD300-23_68HighlightsAResearchCntAugHumanIntellect)
[2]
[https://archive.org/details/XD301_69ASISconfPres_Reel1](https://archive.org/details/XD301_69ASISconfPres_Reel1)

~~~
leoc
Here's an NLS/Augment screencast and demo from 2006:
[http://codinginparadise.org/ebooks/html/blog/hyperscope_scre...](http://codinginparadise.org/ebooks/html/blog/hyperscope_screencast.html)
. I'm not sure what happened to the Hyperscope project to reimplement NLS
since 2006 [http://hyperscope.org/](http://hyperscope.org/)
[http://codinginparadise.org/weblog/2006/12/ann-
hyperscope-11...](http://codinginparadise.org/weblog/2006/12/ann-
hyperscope-11-released.html) .

~~~
EdiX
The Hyperscope project died, apparently. I had to use the wayback machine to
retrieve the source code but it builds on a couple of obsolete technologies
(client side xslt and a javascript framework that's evolved well beyond the
point of backwards compatibility).

------
ericssmith
What timing. I'm currently reading "The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and
the Revolution That Made Computing Personal" by M. Mitchell Waldrop. And when
I got to the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference this weekend, I went and
watched Engelbart's presentation. The book gives great context for the demo.

As a side note, I know quite a bit about the early history of computing, and I
was amazed how carefully Waldrop navigates these murky historical waters.
Highly recommended.

~~~
vidarh
If you haven't, it's worth picking up "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties
Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" by Markoff and "Hackers:
Heroes of the Computer Revolution" by Stephen Levy as well. The three combined
come at roughly the same material from sufficiently different angles to
complement each other quite nicely without getting too repetitive.

------
jccalhoun
Also in 1968, Telefunken in Germany had their "rollkugel" mouse
[http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/misc/telefunken.shtml](http://www.oldmouse.com/mouse/misc/telefunken.shtml)

I wonder if the German inventor(s) knew about Englebart's mouse idea (which
had been around since 63) or if they came up with the idea independently?

------
jff
Take an amazing and interesting demonstration given by a brilliant man, and
play bad electronic music over it.

I'd have gone to see a screening of the Demo un-modified, but this thing looks
rubbish.

------
waterlesscloud
Did anyone go to this opera performance at Stanford last week? What did you
think?

------
userbinator
I really thought this was going to be about the demoscene.

