“The Turing Award, often called the Nobel prize of computer science, was announced on Tuesday and the 2009 winner was Charles P. Thacker,” Steve Lohr reports for The New York Times. “Mr. Thacker, 67, was a member of the storied crew who shaped the future of computing with a series of hardware, software and networking advances at Xerox PARC during the 1970s. The others included Butler Lampson, Alan Kay, Robert Metcalfe and Charles Simonyi.”
“Mr. Thacker was the lead designer of the Alto, the prototype of the modern PC, with the technology for modern graphics, pick-and-click icons to guide users, multiple on-screen windows and desktop publishing,” Lohr reports. “Apple first brought these technologies to the commercial mainstream, and later Microsoft used them.”
MacDailyNews Take: …poorly.
Lohr continues, “After Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), Mr. Thacker became a researcher at Digital Equipment’s lab in Silicon Valley and he joined Microsoft Research in 1997. At Microsoft, he led the design team that built the prototypes for Tablet PCs.”
MacDailyNews Take: Whoops. Genius goes to Microsoft, immediately loses his touch. That place would suck the life out of anybody. The bubbly Rachael Ray could go to work at the Microsoft commissary and, within a week, she’d be sullenly doling out scoops of mashed potatoes while glancing longingly at the nearest window ledge.
Lohr continues, “[Thacker’s] Alto vision was fully realized by Apple’s Macintosh. And today, there is a chance Apple will once again create a hit in a field Mr. Thacker tilled first, as Apple brings its much-anticipated tablet, the iPad, to market next month. Mr. Thacker is reserving judgement on the iPad and its prospects. ‘I haven’t seen one yet, so my opinion would have no value,’ he said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Fair enough. Let’s check with his fellow PARC veteran, Alan Kay, then: Legendary designer Alan Kay says Apple iPad will rule the world – February 22, 2010. And there you go.
Lohr continues, “The Tablet PC, he admits, has lagged behind so far. ‘It didn’t go as well as we had hoped,’ Mr. Thacker said.”
MacDailyNews Take: You don’t say? Don’t worry, the cavalry’s here now.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Going from PARC to Microsoft is like going from BMW to GM. Shudder. Despite that, congratulations to Mr. Thacker on receiving The Turing Award for his amazing work!
Describing an award as “the Nobel prize of” doesn’t have the same cachet it once did.
Might even be deemed derogatory.
Lohr needs to update his analogy. Even “The Academy Award of computer science” would work better.
LOL…from BMW to GM. Where do you guys get your material?!!
“The Nobel prize of computer science?”
Give us a break.
Thacker got the Turing Award for actually achieving things, not due to misplaced hope from a bunch of privileged Swedish libs bent on turning what was once a prestigious award into a joke.
No surprise that this analogy comes from a disconnected The New York Times writer. So typical.
“The bubbly Rachael Ray could go to work at the Microsoft commissary and, within a week, she’d be sullenly doling out scoops of mashed potatoes while glancing longingly at the nearest window ledge.”
LMAO! That made my morning.
Numbskull Obama should have received the award for his intention to invent the perpetual motion machine. The dumbass.
what apple did was take the xerox “solutions” for the corporate elite and put it in the hands of the common folk. a xerox system, if they existed today would cost more than a mac. give credit where it is due. the folks at PARC created an elegant solution compared to the technology available at the time. apple commercialized it when xerox only had desires to sell high priced industrial equipment to corporations. looking back now, what PARC did was truly revolutionary. kind of the newton of its time. the difference with the apple story is they are not going to let someone else capitalize on the ideas of the newton. they will. bravo.
There’s that BMW to GM comparison again. . . . You really need to update your material. For nearly a decade American cars have been judged superior to any European cars for engineering, mechanical reliability, and especially dollar value. . . . And now, it seems, perhaps the Asian cars are coming into question, as well.
And this award sounds more like a Lifetime Achievement Award, which I would expect few people would debate.
Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC)
R.I.P.
AppleJack has obviously never driven a BMW.
They go around corners at speeds that would cause any piece of GM junk to flip right over, killing everyone inside.
Plus, BMWs are beautiful and don’t look like they were designed by tasteless, uneducated, and non-artistic hacks.
The Nobel Prize is given to honor a significant achievement in the lifetime of work of the recipient.
Obama is the exception that proves the rule.
“Going from PARC to Microsoft is like going from BMW to GM”.
No it’s not. It’s like going from BMW to Fiat. Or Skoda. Or (shudder) Trabant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant).
The world would have been lucky if Micro$oft had been as bad as GM.
The givers of the peace prize are Norwegian.
BMWs are cars meant to be driven. It’s not about them being European… it’s about being German. That culture has an unremitting penchant for wanting perfection. Much like the Japanese, except the Germans focus on experience rather than engineering.
Yea, BMW’s are designed by an American and put together by unhappy Turkish “guest workers”.
BringMyWallets are for posers who cant drive – the Microsoft of the auto industry
@qka
“The Nobel Prize is given to honor a significant achievement in the lifetime of work of the recipient.”
No it is not. Nobel Prizes are awarded for specific achievements in one of several categories. They are not “lifetime” achievement awards.
“Obama is the exception that proves the rule.”
(cough)….Jimmy Carter. (until recently, the worst President in my lifetime.)
Spark,
(cough, cough) Al Gore.
Poor Obama’s been elected President of a Country that isn’t run by the President.
But back on topic, glad to see inspiring designers recognized for the work.
Best. MDN takes. Evah.
Seriously, high five?
Spark
Carter wasn’t the best, but there are so many worse ones in my lifetime from both parties. LBJ was really bad, Nixon, perhaps worse, Reagan an unmitigated disaster, and George W must be the worst president in American history. Obama’s a real disappointment, but let’s lighten up and give him a chance.
Thanks Spark for pointing out that Nobel Prizes are awarded for specific achievements.
@others
Is the bile directed at Obama, Gore and Carter, because people in other western democracies see merit in the actions of these awardees that you don’t?
Carter worked hard at brokering peace between the Egypt and Israel. I was a kid at the time of those wars, which many thought could escalate to nuclear war between the USSR and the USA; Gore: Raised the awareness of climate change, which is accepted by the vast majority of the scientific community (of which I am part). This will not be changed by talking heads and news organizations that prefer opinions over in depth and honest fact finding and reporting [all those scientist have it wrong, us ordinary people get all the proof we need from gut feelings]; Obama: Surprised me (and him judging by his comments at the time), but after the election, many people in the world felt the USA they admired and respected was back after 8-years of being MIA. Is that worth a Peace Prize—h3ll if I know, but having an honor bestowed on our country is a positive thing in my book.
@AppleJack : “There’s that BMW to GM comparison again. . . . You really need to update your material. For nearly a decade American cars have been judged superior to any European cars for engineering, mechanical reliability, and especially dollar value. . . . And now, it seems, perhaps the Asian cars are coming into question, as well.”
“nearly a decade” huh? Looks like I missed that whole “qualtiy” milestone by three or four years when I owned a 1998 Ford Explorer Sport. Outside of the tires being recalled, okay, that one’s on FireStone, er…. BridgeStone, but the other five recalls are all Fords! Some as hazardous as what Toyota’s have, such as the cruise control hookup that can ignite and start a fire and others as stupid as having to replace a bolt under the driver seat. A bolt! And when touting the inconvenience all these recalls had brought upon me for me having to take my vehicle back to the shop time and time again, the mindset of the Ford employee at the parts department when they said, “Five recalls in ten years… You’re doing good!” WTF! How about striving for zero recalls! I mean, it’s not the first time Ford slapped together a vehicle. I had a 1987 Toyota pick-up, bare minimums regarding equipment when it came to what was on that particular model, BEST VEHICLE I’ve owned to date out of the five vehicles I’ve had. Toyota quality reputation became complacent, just like the American car manufacturers. I just recently got my latest vehicle before Toyota’s problems exploded in their face and after GM/Chrysler went crying to the government to bail them out, bail their unions out, and bail out their management’s obnoxious behavior at running a car company. Still smarting from Ford, not trusting in GM or Chrysler, not willing to pay Toyota’s jacked up prices on perceived quality, I still stayed far east… as in Korea. Thank you Kia. It’s been over seven months and no complaints thus far. I’m back to owning a modest vehicle, not as stripped down as my Toyota pick-up, but a back to basics vehicle that also saved me somewhere between $8000.00 – $10,000.00 versus the American Chevrolet counterpart that had a few more goodies that I was eyeing and I thought, while nice, do I need them when most of my driving is 20 miles round trip for work or 5 miles round trip to the grocery store or the mall? Nope, it wasn’t and I pocketed that ten grand!
Thanks maccam for a little reason and calm thinking this morning. I can’t tell you how tired of all the off-topic Obama bashing on what is (was?) my favorite Mac site.
Hey, he won the election. Get over it.
We had to put up with eight years of Bush, and I don’t remember seeing too many Bush tirades mixed into Mac discussions…
I vote that everyone calm down with their little automobile/political emotional arguments….
@maccam: “Is the bile directed at Obama, Gore and Carter, because people in other western democracies see merit in the actions of these awardees that you don’t?”
Carter’s bile is derived, IMO, because he had the greatest asset at hand, the US Military, when the Iranians took over the US Embassy and took americans as hostages, an act of war by the way, and HE DID NOTHING! Even the Iranians expected something from him… However, Carter had the backbone of an overcooked Spaghetti strand! His inactions made America created the hostage crisis not end it and it made America look like a laughingstock and I’m sure encouraged others looking out to do no good. But maybe he looked good in the eyes of those other western democracies of “Old Europe” though, I dunno.
Gore’s bile comes from using the fear of Global Warming to make him a very rich man. He uses the weather to, how would Gore say it, oh yeah, “He betrayed this country! He played on our fears!” Gore says that Global Warming is settled science, then why do other scientists disagree? And why is Gore afraid to debate them? You say you are a part of that scientific group… are you holding out on information, like other scientists, because it doesn’t support the hypothesis? Why did they go from Global Warming to Climate Change regarding their name? Is that because some of their previous stupid comments are being proven as a farce? It’s not snowing in northern VA because of Global Warming… says Robert F. Kennedy. Two feet plus of snowfall 15 months later in northern VA it’s due to Global Warming says MSNBC talking head Ratigan. Ask me if there is Global Warming, I’d say maybe, I don’t know. I know man cannot stop something he cannot create! Too many instances in this world’s formation from a molten piece of rock, to a completely iced over planet, to shredding of the land masses to form the continents we have now and man had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with it… As far as Gore is concerned, he’s a phony… “Beware of prophets seeking profits!”
Regarding Obama… Geez, where to start… they say Palin is unqualified! This man is nominated for the Nobel Prize days after starting the office he was elected to and just days before the Nobel Prize nominating process cutoff time… And what had he done to deserve being nominated? You mean you can be nominated by the simple fact of being born? They say Palin quit on the people of Alaska and I say Obama quit on the people of Illinois (to run for higher office) and yet the pricks of todays media somehow don’t comment on Obama but they do on Palin. Yeah, talk to me about ‘Objective Journalism’ in the US! Obama voted for every Bush budget as Senator but as President whines about what he inherited when he had his chance to oppose instead he did his part to contribute to the mess. He wrote two books about, of all things, himself. Don’t you usually wait until you’ve done something special, again, other than being born, before you do that? He’s an unqualified, “six minute career” politician that had no executive experience, unlike Palin, and it shows in his inept ability at running a government, and was put into office by the accomplices of the press, who never vetted the man prior to the election and who now have to “cover” for him because of the pedestal they sat Obama upon and they can’t have “their guy” fail for a whole host of reasons. Again, all this is just IMHO but you questioned regarding all the bile that these people were receiving and I thought I’d give a brief excerpt as to why, when I say anything bile about them, this is just a scratching of the surface of the reason why.
Hey we might not be able to do much else these days but when the Germans or indeed anyone else needs the technology and designers to create the best racing cars in the World they still come to the UK. For that matter when they need the best mobile processors too. Hopefully that discussion point might just help replace the dreaded parochial politics that has raised its ugly head again to no ones advantage. Or maybe even more hopefully we might just get back to the original subject matter before that ‘dreaded insult of choice’ Socialism makes its predictable entry into affairs.