Dynabook
{{short description|Early portable computer concept}}
{{about|the children's computer concept|the mass-market laptop manufacturer formerly called Toshiba|Dynabook Inc.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use American English|date=November 2023}}
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| image = Dynabook.png
| caption = The Dynabook's original illustration in Alan C. Kay's 1972 paper
| developer = Alan Kay
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The KiddiComp concept, envisioned by Alan Kay in 1968 while a PhD candidate,{{cite web | title = Why the iPhone makes 2008 seem like 1968 all over again | url = http://www.open2.net/blogs/scitechnature/index.php/2008/01/23/why_the_iphone_makes_2008_seem_like_1968 | first = Mike | last = Richards | publisher = Open2 | date = January 23, 2008 | access-date = September 2, 2011 | archive-date = November 12, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111112071358/http://www.open2.net/blogs/scitechnature/index.php/2008/01/23/why_the_iphone_makes_2008_seem_like_1968 | url-status = dead }}{{cite web| url = http://openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2003/04/03/alan_kay.html |title= Daddy, Are We There Yet? A Discussion with Alan Kay |first= Daniel H. |last = Steinberg | publisher= O'Reilly |date=April 3, 2003 |website=OpenP2P.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115113554/http://openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2003/04/03/alan_kay.html |archive-date= Nov 15, 2017 }} and later developed and described as the Dynabook in his 1972 proposal "A personal computer for children of all ages", outlines the requirements for a conceptual portable educational device that would offer similar functionality to that now supplied via a laptop computer or (in some of its other incarnations) a tablet or slate computer with the exception of the requirement for any Dynabook device offering near eternal battery life. Adults could also use a Dynabook, but the target audience was children.
Though the hardware required to create a Dynabook is here today, Alan Kay still{{When|date=July 2023}} thinks the Dynabook hasn't been invented yet, because key software and educational curricula are missing.{{citation needed | date =June 2010}} When Microsoft came up with its tablet PC in 2001, Kay was quoted as saying "Microsoft's Tablet PC, the first Dynabook-like computer good enough to criticize".{{cite news |url= http://www.newsweek.com/2001/04/29/bill-gates-says-take-this-tablet.html |title=Bill Gates Says, Take This Tablet |first= Steven | last =Levy |publisher= Newsweek |date=April 30, 2001}}
In 1989, Toshiba released a sub-notebook computer called DynaBook, inspired by the concept. Kay was personally gifted a unit and was a guest of Toshiba.{{Cite web |date=2006-12-18 |title=Archived computingjapan Articles |url=https://www.japaninc.com/archived_computingjapan_articles?cpjurl=/cpj/magazine/issues/1999/oct99/docs/oct99_dynabook.html |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.japaninc.com |language=en}} The company released notebook computers under the DynaBook brand in Japan; in 2018, Sharp acquired a majority stake in Toshiba's PC business, now named Dynabook Inc. and has marketed notebooks worldwide under the Dynabook name.{{Citation | title = 東芝のＰＣ、シャープ売却後も名前は「ＴＯＳＨＩＢＡ」 | work = 朝日新聞デジタル | date = July 10, 2018 | url = https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASL7B4H4CL7BULFA01Q.html | publisher= 朝日新聞 (Asahi Shimbun)}}.{{Citation | title = Sharp to Buy Toshiba's Personal Computer Business, License Brand | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-05/sharp-to-buy-toshiba-s-personal-computer-business-license-brand | newspaper= Bloomberg| date = 5 June 2018 }}
Original concept
File:Alan Kay and the prototype of Dynabook, pt. 5 (3010032738).jpg
Describing the idea as "A Personal Computer For Children of All Ages", Kay wanted the Dynabook concept to embody the learning theories of Jerome Bruner and some of what Seymour Papert— who had studied with developmental psychologist Jean Piaget and who was one of the inventors of the Logo programming language — was proposing. This concept was created two years before the founding of Xerox PARC. The ideas led to the development of the Xerox Alto prototype, which was originally called "the interim Dynabook".{{Citation|title= Computer History Museum|url= http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1221864610|contribution= 40th Anniversary of the Dynabook|access-date= 2008-11-04|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081108034256/http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1221864610|archive-date= 2008-11-08|url-status= dead}}.{{Citation|title=The Laptop Celebrates 40 Years |date= Nov 2008|url= http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/museum-celebrat.html|newspaper=Wired}}.{{cite journal|last2= Goldberg |first2=Adele|date= March 1977|title= Personal Dynamic Media | journal=Computer | volume=10 | issue= 3 | pages=31–41 | doi = 10.1109/c-m.1977.217672 | last1 = Kay | first1=Alan C. | s2cid=15070347}} It embodied all the elements of a graphical user interface, or GUI, as early as 1972. The software component of this research was Smalltalk, which went on to have a life of its own independent of the Dynabook concept.
The hardware on which the programming environment ran was relatively irrelevant.
At the same time, Kay tried in his 1972 article to identify existing hardware components that could be used in a Dynabook, including screens, processors and storage memory. For example:
{{Blockquote | A standalone 'smart terminal' that uses one of these chips for a processor (and includes memory, a keyboard, a display and two cassettes) is now on the market for about $6000.}}
The Dynabook vision was most fully laid out in Kay’s 1977 article "Personal Dynamic Media", co-authored with collaborator (and Smalltalk co-inventor) Adele Goldberg.
In 2019, Kay gave a detailed answer to a question on Quora, about the origins of the Dynabook concept.{{cite web | last1=Kay | first1=Alan | title=Alan Kay's answer to American computer pioneer Alan Kay's concept, the Dynabook, was published in 1972. How come Steve Jobs and Apple iPad get the credit for tablet invention? | url= https://www.quora.com/American-computer-pioneer-Alan-Kay-s-concept-the-Dynabook-was-published-in-1972-How-come-Steve-Jobs-and-Apple-iPad-get-the-credit-for-tablet-invention/answer/Alan-Kay-11 | website = Quora | accessdate=21 April 2019}}
Later works
Since the late 1990s, Kay has been working on the Squeak programming system, an open source Smalltalk-based environment which could be seen as a logical continuation of the Dynabook concept.{{Cite magazine |author=WIRED Staff |title=Alan Kay Honored |url=https://www.wired.com/2004/06/alan-kay-honore/ |access-date=2024-05-12 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}
He was actively involved in the One Laptop Per Child project, which uses Smalltalk, Squeak, and the concepts of a computer for learning.{{Cite web |title=Q&A: Adele Goldberg on the Legacy of Smalltalk - IEEE Spectrum |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/qa-adele-goldberg-on-the-legacy-of-smalltalk |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=IEEE |language=en}}
References
External links
- {{Citation | url = http://www.tomshardware.com/news/alan-kay-steve-jobs-ipad-iphone,10209.html | title = Did Steve Jobs Steal The iPad? Genius Inventor Alan Kay Reveals All | first = Wolfgang | last = Gruener | newspaper = Tom's Hardware | date = April 17, 2010}}.
- {{Citation | url = http://www.mprove.de/diplom/gui/Kay72a.pdf | title = A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages | first = Alan C | last = Kay |date=Aug 1972 | publisher = M Prove | place = DE}}.
- {{cite AV media |last1= Kay |first1= Alan C |title= The Dynabook—Past Present and Future, Excerpts from The ACM Conference on the History of the Personal Workstations |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMDphyKrAE8 |website= youtube.com |publisher= Computer History Museum |language= en |format= video |date= January 10, 1986}}
- {{Citation | url = http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc3/showpage.php?page=5 | title = The World in your Own Notebook | newspaper = The Best of Creative Computing | volume = 3 | page = 5 | publisher = Atari archives}}.
- {{Citation | url = http://thinkubator.ccsp.sfu.ca/Dynabook | title = Thinkubator | contribution = From the Dynabook to Squeak – A Study in Survivals | publisher = SFU | place = CA | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20121204161734/http://thinkubator.ccsp.sfu.ca/Dynabook | archive-date = 2012-12-04 }}.
- {{Citation | url = http://thinkubator.ccsp.sfu.ca/Dynabook | title = Thinkubator | contribution = Tracing the Dynabook: A Study of Technocultural Transformations | type = PhD dissertation | publisher = SFU | place = CA | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20121204161734/http://thinkubator.ccsp.sfu.ca/Dynabook | archive-date = 2012-12-04 }} about the Dynabook project and vision
- {{Citation | url = http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2005/02/toshibas_lowcos.html | title = Toshiba's dynabook R – a lowcost (185$) tablet PC | newspaper = Uber gizmo |date=Feb 2005}}.
- {{Citation | url = https://techland.time.com/2013/04/02/an-interview-with-computing-pioneer-alan-kay/ | title = An Interview with Computing Pioneer Alan Kay | newspaper = Time | date = April 2, 2013}}.
{{Xerox}}
Category:History of human–computer interaction