The PC Must be Revamped

Alan Kay, some say the inventor of the modern workstation, writes in CIOInsight : Alan Kay: The PC Must Be Revamped-- Now. Very good piece, while the personal computer greatly expands the computing and textual capabilities of the individual, its interface deserves a serious review. Its only been about thirty years since computing became widely available. How can we we do better? Though his work on the Children's Machine (also known as the One Laptop Per Child and $100 Laptop) is mostly about hardware availability, rather than improved interface, at least for now.

" ... Kay believes the limitations of the PC are due as much to lack of imagination and curiosity on the part of computer scientists, the unwillingness of users to invest effort into using computers, and the deadening impact of popular culture, as they are to technical constraints. He says the push to make PCs easy to use has also made them less useful; their popularity has stunted their potential. Executive Editor Allan Alter spoke with Kay about the future of the PC. The following is an edited version of their talk ... "

His Viewpoints Research Institute..