Re:Bill Gates demonstrates Visual Basic (1991) [video]
by bitwize on Wednesday October 18, 2023 @09:41PM
(#37937209)
Apple: Develops something close to the perfect desktop UI on their first go.
Microsoft: "I know! We'll let users create their own UI! What could possibly go wrong?"
That Ruby ended up the way it did was an example of what they call "cooler heads prevailing".
Re:Bill Gates demonstrates Visual Basic (1991) [video]
by chrisco255 on Thursday October 19, 2023 @12:05AM
(#37938244)
Apple released something similar called HyperCard in 1987: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperCard, allowing users to create their own UI.
Re:Bill Gates demonstrates Visual Basic (1991) [video]
by bitwize on Thursday October 19, 2023 @12:18AM
(#37938327)
HyperCard was not intended to enable users to change the shell UI. Ruby was, originally.
Re:Bill Gates demonstrates Visual Basic (1991) [video]
by chrisco255 on Thursday October 19, 2023 @03:21AM
(#37939565)
What's the fundamental difference? HyperCard apps had minimal chrome and were fully customizable.
https://microsoft.fandom.com/wiki/MS-DOS_Executive
Alan's idea was that your desktop could be customized to your needs, either by yourself or by an IT group. Say you're rolling out machines to an accounting team: the Windows desktop would have tools right on it to make those team member's jobs easier.
Or you could make your own desktop tools with a few clicks and maybe a bit of scripting.
In the end, Microsoft decided to go with Program Manager and File Manager for the "shell" and turn Ruby into application development tool.