A reader prompts some investigation and a look at decade-old technology
In the September 6 issue of InfoManager I wrote an "IMHO" piece about the latest and greatest Apple iMac to arrive on the scene, the new G5. It would seem I wasn't the only Mac user who was reminded of an earlier Apple 'vision' the Knowledge Navigator. A reader in Coventry, UK wrote in with the following:
Dear Fred,
> Several Years ago ( 1980's ) Apple produced a
> video portraying a vision of computers and
> communication in the future.
> It was before or shortly after the Mac launch.
> It showed a man operating a computer 'Book'
> and had small 'quicktime' like windows on the
> pages where he was talking to an associate.
> It was shown at most technical forums
> and on several of my visits to Apple at
> Hemel Hempstead.
> What was the name of the vido and can
> ANYONE REMEMBER IT??? Wayne
I believe the video you speak of was (someone correct me if I'm wrong) produced by Apple for their 1987 to show "Apple World" -- their own in-house tradeshow. Possibly the introduction of QuickTime???
Rumor has it that at the time, were also working on both the Newton and the portable. (Powerbooks) Remember that in many cases R&D is 3 to 5 years ahead of the consumer. Things they have behind locked doors probably won't appear as consumer goods until 2006 at least. Apple has always been forward-thinking.
(These images came to us in the early '90s in the AOL User Group Forum, and was carried over to the UGN in '95.)
It would appear that Allan Kay), then Apple Fellow, inspired Apple's R&D visionaries toward a futuristic vision of technology which we all fondly remember -- The Knowledge Navigator.
There were two short QuickTime "promo" videos made shortly thereafter, one called "Knowledge Navigator" and the other depicting a the conversation Wayne describes called "The Rain Forest." Both of these QuickTimes quickly spread via AOL, Compuserve and the other online services; then later in many web sites. Note the familiar Mac Plus and SE "Bing" when the person opens the "Knowlege Navigator."
The original full movie was converted to a 16-megabyte movie and is still available today in the video collections at: DigiBarn.com. It's an MPA file and the sound seems to have been garbled somehow.
There are many references to the Knowledge Navigator on the web now from the Apple History site to the Jon Udell Blog. Jon refers to the "Knowlege Navigator" and pontificates on it's relative success in predicting the future:
> Apple's vision, in any case, was and is spot on.
> I wonder how much closer to reality it will be
> in another fifteen years.
> Watch the video. It's interesting to note that
> a lot of the things people wanted computers to do
> 15 years ago are things we're still trying to
> get them to do today.
Jon to links to Jim Lengel's web site at Boston University where yet another copy of the video resides -- this one 14.9mb.
At one time PC Magazine published a wonderful slide show which traces The History of Tablet Computing, beginning in 1965 with the visionary Rand Tablet (or "Grafacon") and continues forward through January 2002, and Microsoft's Mira technologies. The slide show features a later version (Looking very much like the first PowerBooks, 520 and 540 series) of the Knowledge Navigator in the early evolution of tablet computing.
At another site, Lawmune's Netspace, Lawrence Eng and John Garza do some comparisons themselves with quite a few photos of early visions like Apple's "Spartacus" which eventually became the 20th Anniversary Mac. (Pulled from "Apple History" dot com)
There too we find even more references to the Navigator movies, citing yet another location, billzarchy.com
They also treat you to John's Sculley's wonderful article about the Knowledge Navigator (includes pictures) "The Relationship Between Business and Higher Education: a Perspective on the 21st Century."
At that 1987 Apple World convention in L.A., someone asked Apple Fellow and visionary Alan Kay how he predicts the future. He said "We don't predict the future... we invent it."* (Picture)
Allan Kay was just one of the visionaries at Xerox Parc who played a major roll in inventing futures like the Dynabook, graphical user interface (GUI), the mouse, and the concepts we use today. Tom Abate tells the story quite well in this San Francisco Chronicle article Scientists' Work Lauded. Read this interview with Allan Kay The Dynabook Revisited and get his perspective on the visions of computing.
In Jonathan Gladden's 2000 Research Paper "The History of Computer Graphics" (PDF/Adobe Acrobat file) you can learn a great deal more about the birth of the graphical user interface: Xerox PARC and the development of the modern desktop operating system as we know it today. You can also trace Apple Computer through the 1980's by downloading this PDF/Adobe Acrobat file which talks about Alan Kay, the early Apple, the early Motorola MC68020 microprocessors and the advent of Adobe PostScript. To get yet another shot in the arm, take a look at the invention of MacPaint the first consumer level GUI-based bitmap editing software.
One doesn't have to wander far to find a wealth of information about the computing experience -- where it's been and where it's going. Your first stop should be the inspiring Computer History Museum computerhistory.org in Mountain View CA or Bruce Damer's wonderful Digi Barn Computer Museum. While you're there be sure not to miss his most excellent jaunt through The Amazing Story Behind Computers. For an entertaining read on Computing History, Myths and Legends go to Ian F. Darwin's web site: darwinsys.com. If those don't fill your coffer with enough reading material you can always check out the thousands of other sites with the full story on visions of computing, or those wonderful days of Xerox Parc
Until next time, happy mousing.
Fred Showker, Editor/Publisher UG Net News
* Note: The original Alan Kay Quote
Alan Kay in 1971, inventor of Smalltalk which was the inspiration and technical basis for the MacIntosh and subsequent windowing based systems (NextStep, Microsoft Windows 3.1/95/98/NT, X-Windows, Motif, etc.)
Fred Showker is co-editor of "MUG Info Manager," the User Group Network News service, and a founding Apple User Group Advisory Board (UGAB) member. He was an original founder of the User Group Forum on AppleLink Personal Edition which became America Online in 1988 ... read more
"This Old Mouse" presents short, interesting articles about computers and computing for reprint in Macintosh user group newsletters, and the Macintosh computer community at large.
If you would like to reprint "This Old Mouse" in your nonprofit newsletter contact us for details. We can supply header graphics, slugs for both web and print publication. We welcome your questions, problems, tips, tricks and input. Macintosh User Groups should register your group before reprinting
Return to: the top of this page, or read more from This Old Mouse
Exit to: The User Group Network front page
Read more The User Group Articles
Check the The User Group News Department
Read this week's MUG Info Manager