[ExI] Xanadu Revived?!

[Michael M. Butler]

On 8/5/07, Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <pgptag at gmail.com> wrote:
> So please let us know. What is _the_ story? I thought Xanadu was dead
> like the dinosaurs.
> G.
>
> On 8/5/07, Michael M. Butler <mmbutler at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 8/4/07, Amara Graps <amara at amara.com> wrote:
> > > Silly me, I should have checked here first to see the full story
> >
> > Well, to see _a_ story. It's Wikipedia. I counted six factual errors
> > and stopped reading.
> >

Giulio (and Amara):

If you ask five different (ex-)Xanies, you'll likely get more than
five answers. People presume that there _is_ "a" "the story" but even
modulo Wikipedia's faults there are many stories. I'm not being
postmodern here, I an acknowledging difficulties in determining fact.
I know at least one person on this list who could wipe the floor with
me on probably-accurate Xanadu lore.

Giulio:

"Dead like the dinosaurs?" I wouldn't say that. But that wasn't my
main irritation with the Wikipedia article.

Ted is still chasing the dream, and on his birthday this year he and
his current coder released a demo that illustrates in 3D one kind of
representation of transclusion he drew on paper decades ago. I have no
idea how much of that Xanalogical stuff actually is working "under the
hood" because the demo seems to be locked.

That's the XanaduSpace 1.0 demo pointed to at the bottom of the
Wikipedia article.

There's a few other worthies out there professing to be diddling with
the Udanax Gold and Green code, about whom I know virtually nothing.

Amara:

[Sidebar: Wkipedia sucks a large fraction of the time because jerks
with misinformation or axes to grind (and no life) get the final say.
Google Jaron Lanier's article on Wikipedia (or see Encyclopedia
Dramatica's not-very-safe-for-work parody/criticism site) for some
further insights.]

Their Xanadu article isn't totally broken, though cites are largely lacking.

Since I did actually technically "work on" Xanadu and at Memex (not
that I accomplished much), by the editorial policies of Wikipedia I am
not permitted to correct factual errors there. Terrific, huh?

I know for a fact that the description of events after 1979 contain
errors and anachronisms.

And the description of tumblers is brain dead and will leave the
reader wondering what the big deal is.

And there are other problems.

So I stopped reading before I noticed the link to Ted's latest
offering, with a bad taste in my mouth.

But... so what? :) Ted's still cranking away, and bless him for that.

-- 
         Michael M. Butler  :  m m b u t l e r  ( a t )  g m a i l . c o m
I've pulled birdshot out of ducks that didn't teleport at the right
time.  --J Thomas