This is a message that I just sent to the “general comments” feedback section of the Apple website, but I’m also posting here so that at least one person will actually read it:
I bought a 12" PowerBook G4 today, my first Mac after 13 years of abstinence. The machine hasn’t even shipped yet, and I’m already disappointed. Why? Because I just went over the list of included software with Mac OS X, getting more excited and more nostalgic with each entry, and saw no mention of HyperCard. What happened while I was gone?
HyperCard was THE quintessential piece of Macintosh software, and the company is making a huge mistake by not acknowledging that. More than MacPaint, more than MacWrite, HyperCard represented “the Mac experience.” It was ridiculously innovative (no one even knew what hypertext was at that time, and Apple shipped it with every Mac). It had an ingenious UI design that grew in sophistication along with the user. It had, hands down, the best scripting language ever designed – I’ve been working with scripting languages for years now, and none has even come close to being as intuitive and powerful as HyperTalk, the only language that actually knew what you MEANT to say. And most of all, it not only allowed but it encouraged creativity. Thousands of stacks were created, and are still being created – a designer at my last company did the prototype for every one of his videogames in HyperCard first.
That kind of user fantacism and loyalty that the Mac is known for, that’s also true of HyperCard. I’ve obviously got a nostalgic love of the software that borders on hysteria, and I’m not alone; whenever I mention the name to other computer geeks, they get that far-off look in their eyes and talk fondly of their favorite stacks they created.
The reason, I believe, is that the HyperCard toolset came the closest to realizing the idea of “the personal computer.” Microsoft frequently refers to Windows as being “document-centric,” and claims that computers are all about creating documents. That’s wrong. Typewriters, and cameras, and paint brushes are about creating documents. Computers are about creating applications. About bringing together documents, manipulating them, setting them against each other, using them in new ways. That’s exactly what HyperCard did.
Now, Apple is touting the built-in OS X apps. And for the record, it’s working – I switched from a Windows XP laptop to a PowerBook exclusively for the built-in stuff, iTunes in particular. I don’t plan on buying any additional Mac software; if I want to buy something, I’ll get the Windows version and run it on my desktop. What the Mac is for is to act as my personal computer. To retrieve and store my e-mail, music, photos, writings, web-links, etc. and let them all work together and all work with my iPod and my PDA and my cell phone. It’s not only a great philosophy, but a great way to cell machines AND promote the brand loyalty that the Mac is known for. Free software does drive hardware purchases. Office suites do not.
As it stands, the piece of software that’s being called “HyperCard” for sale in a dusty back corner of the Apple store is just missing the point. It’s hopelessly out of date (“Exploit the power of QuickTime 3!”), and uses scaled-down versions of third-party tools; both of these are anathema to anything that gets its power from integration with the rest of the OS. And by having to purchase it separately, its use is going to be limited to the people who know they need it; good luck even figuring out what it IS based on the description on that website. Plus, of course, it’s prohibitively expensive for abandoned software.
HyperCard fits into the OS X sales model so obviously, I’m stunned to learn that it’s been left to rot. The proliferation of the Web and personal websites just proves that people have been wanting to do what HyperCard lets them do. The integration of various apps’ output was HyperCard’s strength. The innovation and creativity and design that are Apple’s selling points were all over HyperCard. Even as a PR measure, including a scaled-down version of the package would be invaluable. Burn your stacks on DVD’s or CD’s! Publish them to the web with .Mac! Organize everything how you want it organized, without having to use the included crippled “trial” versions of PC software!
As it stands now, the “killer app” for the Mac, the program that no one has anything negative to say about, the program that engenders brand loyalty and actually makes people consider buying the machine, is a program that plays MP3’s. It could be a program that lets you do anything with your computer that you can imagine.