I have heard of it. I wasn’t really trying to draw specific parallels between Acme and Smalltalk as similar editing environments. I was just lamenting that two of the most interesting pieces of software I’ve used recently are both older than me, and very little except for efforts to recreate those systems exactly on modern hardware has quite the same feeling of freedom and creativity. They really feel like they are there for you to mold into what you need a computer to be, not tell you how to use a computer.

It’s probably not fair to say that we’ve lost a capacity or appreciation for creativity and novel ideas. In sheer volume, there are probably more people doing XeroxPARC level crazy stuff now than then. It just feels like way more investments are made to copy the thing someone else is doing but tweak it slightly than on truly large moonshots.

Part of this is probably the homogenization cause by mass, instant communication, and not forcing you to wonder, how did they do that, and how would I do it differently. It’s a double edged sword though. Hell, I feel like part of the reason some of this stuff didn’t catch fire and spread was because of the limited ability to share and talk with people too.

I don’t know what the right answer is. I just want more cool shit.