The Mother of All Demos, presented by Douglas Engelbart (1968)

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Strong rec estreeper · 2013-07 · on “Douglas C. Engelbart, Inventor of the Computer Mouse, Dies at 88”

I was just listening to one of Douglas Crockford's talks which discussed the contributions Engelbart made to computer science. What really stuck with me was the sheer number of new concepts he showed in his demo, which, though made in 1968, would showcase features not seen for decades, and some of which are still not effectively in use. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth the hour and forty minutes. I think this is also a good moment to reflect on how incredible it is to be involved in a science which is still so much in its infancy that seminal figures in its development are still alive and well. Let us not forget their contributions, and most importantly, not overlook the concepts that

Strong rec gjvc · 2015-05 · on “Web vs. native: let’s concede defeat”

those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. watching the mother of all demos once a year is a sobering reminder of that. [this video] some better-than-most discussion here: [LINK]

Strong rec otras · 2018-10 · on “Ask HN: What are some old talks (10+ y) that are still relevant to watch today?”

The Mother Of All Demos is an absolute classic: [this video] [LINK] I also very much enjoy Feynman’s talks. Here’s one on imagining physics: [LINK] For computer science in particular, I highly recommend the first lecture in the SICP series, especially on the naming of so called “computer science”: [LINK]

Strong rec kbumsik · 2020-08 · on “Bill English has died”

I was so surprised when I watched "The Mother of All Demos" from 50+ years ago (1968) and saw what they predicted and actually implemented. They demonstrated what's happening in 2020, video conferencing, real time collaborative word processing, and etc. Truly amazing. [1] [this video] [2] [LINK]

Strong rec mftb · 2022-06 · on “50th Anniversary of the Mother of All Demos (2018)”

Always glad to see this getting attention, I really enjoy computing history. There's a link to a video in the article, but it's part three of ten. Recently I came across this[0]. It's pretty much the whole thing in one video. It's long but it's well worth the watch. I was born in '68, so I can't remember the 60s, but I can remember the 70s and it's easy for me to understand why people felt Engelbart was, "Dealing lightning with both hands" at the Mother of All Demos. [0] [this video]

Recommends m_mueller · 2022-05 · on “Introduction to Microsoft Excel (1992) [video]”

I know it’s not spreadsheets and even more distant, but I think it’s worth it for you to check [1] to see the origin of much of HID to this date. Best in mind that all of what you see there was done by 12 people from scratch (no OS, not even assembled hardware) in roughly 2 years until 1968. [1] [this video]

Recommends memset · 2023-12 · on “1968-12-09 the mother of all demos”

I'm not able to see this link, but I'm assuming it is this: [this video] Google "The Mother of All Demos" One fascinating thing to me is that he is explaining things with clarity that we take for granted - for example, the mouse - for the first time. He explains the mouse here: [this video] "The tracking spot [cursor] moves in conjunction with the mouse. As it moves up and down and sideways so does the tracking spot."

Recommends hans-l · 2026-05 · on “Ratty – A terminal emulator with inline 3D graphics”

Sometimes I really feel we're chasing UX that were solved in the Mother of all Demos (in 1968). For those who haven't watched it: [this video]