

Canon Cat Documents Archive - smalltalk
http://appliance.io/

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jaysonelliot
I own two Canon Cats, which I bought after reading Jef Raskin's book _The
Humane Interface._

While technologically they are decades out of date, from a UX perspective,
there is a lot to be learned from using one.

Some of the concepts, such as a document-oriented system that never requires
the user to launch or quit an application, nor to "save" their work, would
still represent a leap forward today.

I'd love to see a modern OS built with the concepts of a humane interface
today. Even the iOS and Android systems carry legacies of the WIMP interface
instead of Raskin's humane approach.

I've spoken at the BIL Conference about the idea of bringing Jef Raskin's (and
others) ideas into the modern age:
[http://www.bilconference.com/videos/rethinking-modern-gui-
ja...](http://www.bilconference.com/videos/rethinking-modern-gui-jayson-
elliot/)

This is a great historical repository, but worth reading for the ways some of
the concepts can be used today.

And of course, anyone who's interested in what made the Cat special should
read Jef Raskin's book: [http://www.amazon.com/Humane-Interface-Directions-
Designing-...](http://www.amazon.com/Humane-Interface-Directions-Designing-
Interactive/dp/0201379376)

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Samuel_Michon
_"a document-oriented system that never requires the user to launch or quit an
application, nor to "save" their work, would still represent a leap forward
today."_

Have you looked at iOS or Mac OS X Lion?

~~~
jaysonelliot
Yes, I use iOS regularly on the iPad and iPhone.

While saving work is thankfully disappearing as a paradigm in iOS (I don't use
Lion, so don't know), it's still application-based, meaning that if there's a
tool I like in one app, I don't have access to it unless that app is open, and
I can't call the tool up on its own.

iOS is a major leap forward, but at its heart, it's still more suited to
consumption than creation.

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kylecordes
The linked file would be easier to look at if they were direct links to actual
downloads, rather than links to DropBox pages. The would also last much
longer, most likely; this page will probably stop working sometime in the next
couple years when DropBox reorganizes something, gets bought, buys, or
whatever.

~~~
jaysonelliot
Good point. I frequent the Canon Cat group -
[http://groups.google.com/group/canon-
cat/topics?hl=en&gv...](http://groups.google.com/group/canon-
cat/topics?hl=en&gvc=2)

I'll mention this to the community and see if these files can get a longer-
lasting distribution mechanism.

~~~
smalltalk
I'd be happy to have the files hosted somewhere else, but don't have any other
option myself.

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michaelpinto
Some background info on Jef Raskin: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jef_Raskin>

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dahjelle
It looks like the links busted already…does anyone know of a mirror?

