

The iPad needs its Hypercard - wallflower
http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/03/the-ipad-needs-its-hypercard.html

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sp332
If you want to see the Beethoven Hypercard thing mentioned in the article,
there are some "action shots" in Douglas Adams and Tom Bakers' "Hyperland"
video, about 18 minutes in. The whole video is really good, though - you
should watch it if you have the time.
[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7190175107515525470&...](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7190175107515525470&ei=6Ca2S-XLCoTWqgKpmq2TDg&q=hyperland)

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Terretta
> The web has made producers of us all.

Not even close, and the imbalance between creators of content and consumers of
content on the web is growing every day.

> If the iPad is just another consumer platform for consuming and not creating
> content, then it will just be another way to watch TV or listen to music or
> download information. Convenient, yes, but just another device.

The iPad is not a TV or an iPod. It's already a two way device.

> To be something different, the iPad must not be just a delivery platform but
> a creative one, offering professionals and amateurs an opportunity to create
> a unique experience with interactive media.

The device isn't creative. A piano isn't creative. An iPad isn't creative.

The iPhone has Ocarina, or Layers, or Everyday Looper, and so on. There's no
reason to think the iPad won't run such apps, and better.

More importantly, most people don't think of themselves as "creatives", but
there is content they do want to create and share such as email and photos or
Facebook statuses. The iPad makes that easier than ever.

iPad lets anyone easily express themselves to their social circle.

PS. Speaking as a former Hypercard programmer, seems to me something as simple
as iWeb can meet casual "info app" creator needs, while HTML5 + Canvas feels
like today's Hypercard on steroids: <http://www.canvasdemos.com/>

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wallflower
> Not even close, and the imbalance between creators of content and consumers
> of content on the web is growing every day.

It used to be a pain to publish content on the web. Then came along Blogger.
It used to be near impossible to share or embed a video in a webpage. Then
came along Youtube (who solved the hard problem of converting uploaded video
quickly to a shareable format - which turns out to be Flash video) It used to
be unthinkable/difficult to broadcast little bits and share it with people you
know or don't know (Facebook, Twitter).

I argue that we are all becoming content creators - the content isn't
groundbreaking - it's just that some of us aren't reaching an audience because
we're just saying "Hello, World".

And I think the network effects of Reddit/Slashdot/even News.YC allows some
previously undiscovered voices to gain a bigger audience, albeit temporarily.

Also, the power of the Internet is in ability to connect. Niche sites (check
out iboats.com formums). Witness savvy teenagers like Blair Fowler creating an
audience in the hundreds of thousands on YouTube and (more importantly)
generating thousands of comments on their videos (even the ones where they
promote the product that they've been paid to do so).

And, if you doubt the power of discovery mixed with random luck:

<http://twitter.com/lovelybutton>

<http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9015331>

~~~
Terretta
> I argue that we are all becoming content creators - the content isn't
> groundbreaking - it's just that some of us aren't reaching an audience
> because we're just saying "Hello, World".

Enjoyed your comment. Perhaps we're saying the same thing: self-expression,
democratized.

What an apt username!

~~~
wallflower
Thanks. A wallflower is not always a wallflower. I can talk about the topic of
democratized self-expression for hours, in person, to the point of nausea.

My brother-in-law had a PC laptop for years. Kids used it mainly for
Brainpop.com (warning addictive site for kids). He used it for email,

Then he got a MacBook Pro. And, suddenly, he's authoring photo slideshows and
videos in iPhoto, iMovie. Producing content that is of very specific interest
to him (his family) for a very specific audience (his mother, father, sister).

~~~
Terretta
I agree. I hope the iPad feels as accessible as finger painting, albeit less
messy:

[http://michael.terretta.com/an-information-appliance-for-
the...](http://michael.terretta.com/an-information-appliance-for-the-caveman-
in-u)

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Legion
I never used Hypercard, though I am aware of it.

I've noticed a couple of things, though:

* Many people howl for the return of Hypercard

* There are dozens of Hypercard clones/reimaginations/etc out there that no one seems to be using.

What is it that the implementations out there are missing that make them
undesirable to the people demanding Hypercard? Is it just lack of ubiquity, or
something else?

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pchristensen
I believe every Mac came with Hypercard.

It was one of those thing that you didn't really need and wouldn't seek out,
but was awesome once you found it. It's like MS Paint + the web. Flash dev is
probably the closest to it and Flash is so ubiquitous that it would be hard
justify using another toolset for something like that.

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gfodor
Think bigger. What is needed is a new way to construct software altogether,
that works as fluidly with a touch interface as with a keyboard.

Why are engineers so shortsighted? "Build an app creator for the plebes, but
us serious engineers will never build software with an iPad!"

On the contrary. Your keyboard is going to be slowly ripped away from you over
the next decade. And you'll be happy about it.

BTW: Starting this weekend, I am working on this very problem. Check back in
6-9 months :)

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Qz
I've been working on something like that for a while now -- maybe we could
share some ideas?

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ziadbc
I think the biggest reason you don't see a hypercard clone take off is that
html/javascript was inspired by hypercard in the first place, and the barrier
to learning basic web development isn't much higher than hypercard-like tools.
A beginner friendly IDE that inspires creativity could be neat though.

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aresant
Building a Hypercard-like tool specifically for iPad would be a great idea for
a start-up.

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orangecat
Except that Apple specifically prohibits interpreted code. You'd have to do a
web-based Javascript version which could be interesting, but performance would
be much worse than a native app.

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mcav
Javascript performance could _easily_ exceed the performance of HyperCard back
in the day, in absolute speed.

~~~
stcredzero
Could? Javascript is one of the better VMs. It's easily faster than hypercard
from back in the day.

