Bill Atkinson gets all the credit for HyperCard, but it was actually Dan Winkler who created HyperTalk. I hope Dan has his mansion and early retirement as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertalk Bill "Richard Gaskin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Bill Marriott wrote: > >> Back in the day when there was just MetaCard, they had a free demo >> version that supported just 10 lines of code per handler, and then the >> least expensive registration option was $999. >> >> I wrote the company back then and suggested they release a version priced >> somewhat (ok, significantly) lower for all the people who wanted to use >> MetaCard in a non-commercial, or "business productivity" way. Scott >> Rainey answered me. I was basically "flamed" for suggesting this, and >> told with disdain how they had already "thought this issue through" >> completely, how such pricing would kill the business, how supporting >> "hobbyists" would take away from improving the software, how I lacked any >> business sense, how my marketing education was deficient, etc. etc. (Not >> making this up.) > > There's implication and then there's inference, with a lot of room in > between. > > As someone who used to argue with Dr. Raney weekly and finally came to > admire and respect him, I feel compelled to offer this tidbit about him > I've learned over the years: > > Raney has an unusually efficient way of communicating. Whereas most > people spend a certain amount of their human interactions doing social > rituals unrelated to the purpose of the communication (e.g., if you want > to ask your neighbor for a cup of sugar you first ask how she's doing), > Raney gets in, gets the point, and moves on to the next thing on his > plate. > > Maybe it's his obesssion with efficiency (the engine _is_ pretty tight, > after all). I don't know where it comes from, I just know that the more > I came to know him the less it bothered me, and as the years went by I > would sometimes see his written interactions with other people as > completely innocuous, maybe even evidencing a dry sense of humor (ok, very > dry), and yet the newcomer would walk away offended by the communication. > > Even more mysterious, I've seen several instances where people on other > lists make claims about his work that are factually incorrect, he shows up > only to correct them in a simple matter-of-fact way, and they insist he > came out of nowhere and started a fight. It's the damndest thing, but > I've seen more than a dozen misperceptions like that, and yet time and > again the full mail log shows their memory of events to be backwards from > what actually happened. It's almost like his presence has the ability to > cloud men's minds. :) > > It is true that he writes with an authoritative tone, but he has the > knowledge and background to back it up. In all the times I tried to argue > with him he was incorrect only once, and quickly changed his position to > support mine once I presented better data. He's no mental slouch, nor > particularly stubborn so long as he's presented with solid supportable > facts. > > He's quite knowledgeable about the things he writes about, and I've > never seen him be unfair. > > In brief, I've found Raney an acquired taste, but really very enjoyable > once I got to know him. I found things became more enjoyable when my > conversations with him involved things other than me telling him that > everything he's doing is wrong. > > After having come to know him a bit more, I can say with some confidence > that his intention was not to be dismissive, simply to get the the point > in the most efficient way. While it may seem brusk at first, his > conversational efficiency lets him move on to the next thing, and moving > on keeps his desk clear, and keeping his desk clear has helped him > single-handledly accomplish more than most armies of well-funded xTalk > developers before or since. > > So lest we discount his as some crazy madman (which he may not deny anyway > <g>), consider this before passing final judgement on the > soundness of his business strategy: > > While we wait to see if Rev's low-price strategy will prove worth the > higher support and marketing costs that come with such a move, one thing > we know for sure is that for all the history of xTalks only two men have > ever earned a graceful early retirement from developing an xTalk engine: > Bill Atkinson, and Scott Raney. > > He can be an unusual communicator, but he's also one of the smartest and > most successful developers I've ever met. > > -- > Richard Gaskin > Managing Editor, revJournal > _______________________________________________________ > Rev tips, tutorials and more: http://www.revJournal.com > > _______________________________________________ > use-revolution mailing list > use-revolution@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your > subscription preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution > _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution