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Mon, 07 Oct 2024 09:18:21 +0200

kuchinster@hub.hubzilla.de

Stefan Bohacek schrieb den folgenden Beitrag Sun, 06 Oct 2024 17:05:07 +0200

What a resume!

"Without Ms. Berezin, there would be no Bill Gates, no Steve Jobs, no internet, no word processors, no spreadsheets; nothing that remotely connects business with the 21st century."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/obituaries/evelyn-berezin-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QE4.oc5E.A_l1UH4EIg2X&smid=url-share

via https://mefi.social/@best_of_mltshp/113260972705254265

#TIL #WomenInTech #WomenInTechnology #WomenInSTEM

#history #computerhistory

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 02:13:05 +0200

Mark Miller

mmiller@sysad.org

A little puzzled why McFadden is saying "first word processor." If you look at "The Mother of all Demos" from 1968, you can see Doug Engelbart doing word processing on NLS. NLS ultimately became a production system, used by ARPA for many years, later becoming its own company, called Tymshare. It wasn't just a word processor, of course. It could do many other things, but "inventing" the idea suggests the first to produce a working prototype of it. I'm not necessarily saying Engelbart invented word processing, either. I'm just referencing that part of NLS as "prior art."

The quote from Gwyn Headley is hyperbolic, "No Steve Jobs, no Bill Gates, no internet ...," now hold on! I'm fairly familiar with the history of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the internet, and they all had other significant influences that didn't involve what she did. I'm particularly familiar with the history of the internet, and I assure you, it had other substantial origins.

I feel like this article is actually diminishing Berezin's accomplishments by presenting her this way. I think they're admirable, given the time in which she did them, but to make this presentation better would require more context than McFadden has on offer here.