EFTA02723720.pdf
dataset_11 pdf 234.6 KB • Feb 3, 2026 • 2 pages
To: ' • mail.comueevacation©gmail.com]; Jeffrey Epsteinueevacationagmail.com)
From:
Sent Thur 4/4/2013 1:18:44 AM
Subject: Fwd: pewayne-Net] An Interview with Computing Pion eer Alan Kay =?windows-
12527(37=93the_musicjs_ not in_the_piano=94_=
Alan is great. Have u met him?
Typos, misspellings courtesy of iPhone word & thought substitution.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <
Date: April 3, 2013, 6:03:32 PM PDT
To: Multiple recipients of Dcwaync-Net
Subject: IDewayne-Net1 An Interview with Computing Pioneer Alan Kay
=?windows-1252?Q?=93the_music_is_not_in_the_pia no=94_=
Reply-To:
[Note: This item comes from reader Geoff Goodfellow. DLII)
From: the keyboard of geoff goodfellow
Subject: An Interview with Computing Pionee lCay"te music is not in the piano"
Date: April 3, 2013 11:19:32 AM PDT
To: Dave Farber ip Dewayne Hendricks
An Interview with Computing Pioneer Alan Kay
By David Greelish
April 02 2013
<http://techland.timc.com/20I3/04/02/an-interview-with-computina-pioneer-alan-kay/>
Born in 1940, computer scientist Alan Curtis Kay is one of a handful of visionaries most
responsible for the concepts which have propelled personal computing forward
over the past thirty years — and surely the most quotable one.
He's the man who said that "The best way to predict the future is to invent it" and that
"Technology is anything that wasn't around when you were born" and that "If you
don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." And
when I first saw Microsoft's Surface tablet last June, a Kay maxim helped me
understand it: "People who arc really serious about software should make their
own hardware."
Above all, however, Kay is known for the Dynabook — his decades-old vision of a
portable suite of hardware, software, programming tools and services which would
EFTA_R1_02209925
EFTA02723720
add up to the ultimate creative environment for kids of all ages. Every modem
portable computer reflects elements of the Dynabook concept — the One Laptop
Per Child project's XO above all others — and yet none of them have fully
realized the concept which Kay was writing about in the early 1970s.
Actually, Kay says that some gadgets with superficial Dynabook-like qualities, such as the
iPad, have not only failed to realize the Dynabook dream, but have in some senses
betrayed it. That's one of the points he makes in this interview, conducted by
computer historian David Greelish, proprietor of the Classic Computing Blog and
organizer of this month's Vintage Computer Festival Southeast in Atlanta. (The
Festival will feature a pop-up Apple museum featuring Xerox's groundbreaking
Alto workstation, which Kay worked on, as well as devices which deeply reflected
his influence, including the Lisa, the original Macintosh and the Newton.)
Kay and Greclish also discuss Kay's experiences at some of the big outfits where he's
worked, including Xerox's fabled PARC labs, Apple, Disney and HP. Today, Kay
continues his research about children and technology at his own organization, the
Viewpoints Research Institute.
—Harry McCracken
David Greelish: Do you agree that we now essentially have the Dynabook, as expressed in
the three tiers of modem personal computing; the notebook, tablet and
smartphone? If not, what critical features do you see missing from these? Have
they delivered on the promise of improving education?
Alan Kay: I have been asked versions of this question for the last twenty years or so.
Ninety-five percent of the Dynabook idea was a "service conception," and five
percent had to do with physical forms, of which only one — the slim notebook —
is generally in the public view. (The other two were an extrapolated version of
Ivan Sutherland's head mounted display, and an extrapolated version of Nicholas
Negroponte's ideas about ubiquitous computers embedded and networked
everywhere.)
[snip]
Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>
EFTA_R1_02209926
EFTA02723721
Entities
0 total entities mentioned
No entities found in this document
Document Metadata
- Document ID
- 3e62a2d6-67f7-4185-987d-dc01de61af6c
- Storage Key
- dataset_11/EFTA02723720.pdf
- Content Hash
- 3e180ba2bcceb23189e97968175f0135
- Created
- Feb 3, 2026