Fascinating and highly recommended read on Nelson’s #Xanadu project and #ComputingHistory.
https://technicshistory.com/2025/01/12/interactive-computing-a-counterculture/?ref=feedle.world
Some of My History of Hypertext
https://mdhughes.tech/2025/04/22/some-of-my-history-of-hypertext/
So in 1979, young Digital Mark is shown a computer, a TRS-80 Model I, by 4th-grade teacher. Other kids play Snake, I hit break and type LIST, seeing BASIC code, because I've been reading the instruction card. "I can read and learn this!" Nothing else now matters to Mark.
That summer, I take an
@nosrednayduj you don't happen to know if #LambdaMOO and #Xanadu sound alike by design, do you?
I was misbraining, it was in Dr Dobb's Journal, 1983, Roger Gregory (but actually Chip Morningstar, yes that one) for Xanadu:
https://archive.org/details/dr_dobbs_journal_vol_08/page/n29/mode/2up
And self-rebuttal:
https://archive.org/details/dr_dobbs_journal_vol_08/page/164/mode/2up
"It was then he knew, he fucked up."
It is, of course, imperative that every nerd download all the DDJ volumes 1-15 and read them. Back when program listings mattered! Small-C complete assembly listing!
https://archive.org/details/dr_dobbs_journal?sort=date
I can't find the "Supporter: Xanadu is coming!" "Ted: No it's not!" pair of articles, they must be in Creative which is badly indexed.
I did find this breathless technical treatise by Ted Nelson on Xanadu doing everything in 1988:
https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE/198801_Byte_Magazine_Vol_13-01_Databases/page/225/mode/1up
And this lightly mocking set of quotes from next issue:
#xanadu
@dougmerritt @screwtape There is a release of "Xanadu" that has a hand-hacked database, no editor, is not actually useful.
I was so enthused as a yout' by the library copy of Computer Lib/Dream Machines, and a few Xanadu articles. But then I figured out it was vaporware after the magazine (Creative or Byte, I'm running a search but it's slow) article explaining & praising it by one collaborator… and then the next issue had an angry letter from Ted Nelson retracting almost everything.
#xanadu
Playlist shuffle: keeping my ear & brain engaged. One minute I'm brought to tears by the virtuoso cornet of Wynton Marsalis weaving the "Grand Russian Fantasia", the next I'm sinking into the ridiculously lush ELO pop soundscape of "Xanadu" and carried by Olivia Newton-John's clarion voice.
I'm sure there are #gayer movies than #Xanadu (if that is the correct comparative form).
Guess I just don't know them.
Changing the worlds computational fabric with a Xanadu of Quantum @xanaduai @_cweedbrook @ieeespectrum #quantum #xanadu #computation https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-computers
The Open Society and its Media (Mark S. Miller at GMU, 1991?)
Mark S. Miller’s presentation on the Xanadu Hypertext System at George Mason University (GMU) in the early '90s is an important reference when discussing the #OMN (Open Media Network). The ideas explored then were ahead of their time, but the web ultimately took a worse/better path—a "stupid" #KISS implementation rather than the more idealistic and complex vision of #Xanadu.Why "Stupid" Wins Over "Perfect", the lesson is clear:? Nobody agrees on "perfect", so it never gets built.? […]https://hamishcampbell.com/the-open-society-and-its-media-mark-s-miller-at-gmu-1991/
@olea Yes. I've worked with Ted on and off over the years. We spent a month working together on his ZigZag project at the Internet Archive in 2012. Then we worked together on Xanadu for a month in 2017 and two weeks in 2023. We're going to spend another two weeks on Xanadu in February this year.
I get the ai skepticism too, but I had an interesting discussion about Neoplatonic elements in an anime I was watching (with Claude) and the takes were as good as anyone I might have had junior seminars with in my philosophy degree.
For “r” in strawberry, no; for write this tricky code error free in Python 3.12 maybe not; but for contextual discussions it’s not 0-value.
Arguably a more #xanadu or better linked data internet would bury that value per unit energy cost, but…we don’t have those.
"Magic" is a song #recorded by British-Australian singer #OliviaNewtonJohn for the #soundtrack to the 1980 #musical #fantasy film #Xanadu, which starred Newton-John and #GeneKelly. Written and produced by Newton-John's frequent collaborator #JohnFarrar, "Magic" was released as the soundtrack's #leadSingle in May 1980 and topped the US #Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks beginning on August 2. On August 30, it was displaced from the top by #ChristopherCross's "#Sailing".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3_uO5Fa8Oo
Look, I don't know what to tell you. You either grew up with 'XANADU' or you didn't. Me, I still adore this movie and will fight anyone who says it sucks. 
Can't wait to see some of you NY'ers when I play at Xanadu NYC in Bushwick tomorrow Saturday November 23 from 8PM until Midnight.
I'll be doin' it for the skaters until 10PM, after which the venue transforms into a dance party. Will be sharing the decks with Rissa Garcia and Dee Diggs !
Xanadu is located at 262 Starr Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11237
Tickets: https://bit.ly/fkskate-2024
#FrancoisK #rissagarcia #xanadu #skating #disco #funk #soul #brooklyn
4h
“The longest-running vaporware story in the history of the computer industry”
The history of Xanadu is fascinating even if what little of the utopian hypertext system was eventually implemented didn't accomplish much. In this old post Jason Crawford shared some thoughts on the project itself and the management and design lessons we can learn from it.
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