Communities and "Prosumers."
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3 days ago Akira Urushibata wrote to libreplanet-discuss some further thoughts on his "[t]imeline to put the beginning of GNU in perspective" and his message was approved some hours ago. He said:
In the first half of the 1980s software became more recognized. Personal computers changed nature from a hobbyist's toy to an office worker's tool. The IBM PC and Lotus 1-2-3 played important roles in this transition."The Third Wave" is an important book. It predicted that the border between producer and consumer would become less distinct giving rise to what the author calls the "prosumer."
Microsoft's policy strictly distinguishes between producer and consumer while free software allows users to participate in programming. As such Microsoft adheres to the older model. Early on, when few people understood the newer model it was very successful.
Note also that Microsoft never put much effort in direct sales of operating systems. The operating system came with the computer. Production and sales of computer hardware is a typical industrial age activity: the biggest firms enjoy scale merit and succeed. In the information age diversity rather than uniformity is important: those who cater well to the needs of the individual succeed. To that end the consumer is invited to participate in the production and a framework is set up to make that possible.
His prior message spoke about how and why GNU began (as noted in the sister site):
The GNU Project started over 40 years ago. With the passing of time things have changed and nowadays many young people are not aware what computing was like in the 1980s.
I decided to make a list of notable events in that period to help put things into perspective.
1978? Xerox 9700 laser printer installed in MIT AI Labs - no source code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_9700
17 October 1979 Spreadsheet program VisiCalc released
Late 1979 Steve Jobs visits Xerox PARC, decides to develop computer with bitmap screen, GUI, icons, mouse.
1980 RMS visits Carnegie Mellon University request for laser printer source code refused
1980 "The Third Wave" by Alvin Toffler published
November 1980 IBM signs contract with Microsoft on IBM PC operating system
21 August 1981 IBM PC released
1981 Japan surpassses US in DRAM production - producers believe they've obtained control of the crucial component of the information age
24 February 1982 Sun Microsystems founded
December 1982 Adobe founded
19 January 1983 Apple Lisa released (first GUI-based mass-marketed PC)
26 January 1983 Lotus 1-2-3 released
July 1983 Nintendo Family Computer released (in Japan)
27 September 1983 GNU project announced - development starts January 1984
January 1984 AT&T breakup - AT&T enters computer business
24 January 1984 Apple Machintosh released
20 March 1985 GNU Emacs released
May 1985 GNU Manifesto announced
20 November 1985 Microsoft Windows 1.0 released
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I'd like to hear your opinions. I'd like to get information on MIT AI Labs ICT and the Xerox laser printer.
As explained in the sister site, today's meetup will be about community (most of us will be away); on Friday RMS is giving a talk in Bern. █
Image source: Tinsmith at work.