by uger on 7/13/21, 11:33 AM with 132 comments
by codebolt on 7/13/21, 12:01 PM
I actually went from D-level math student pre-HS to graduating HS with an A+ and went on to get a degree in physics+math at uni. I honestly doubt if that would've been possible if not for SN.
by keid on 7/13/21, 3:35 PM
by dimatura on 7/13/21, 12:27 PM
I understand why it's not that mainstream outside certain academic fields, though, because it can be pretty annoying frustrating at times. But almost anything is better than word at writing long technical documents, specially in a collaborative way. (Went through that once for a grant proposal; very painful).
by bachmeier on 7/13/21, 2:02 PM
I can't say this is surprising. I moved to LyX long ago, and then after markdown became popular I ditched LyX and went with that. There are lots of strong alternatives today. There probably aren't many people willing to pay for something they can get for free, that they already have, or that doesn't provide features for collaboration.
by zerop on 7/13/21, 1:59 PM
by danaos on 7/13/21, 2:05 PM
by clipradiowallet on 7/13/21, 2:19 PM
There could be some type of consulting opportunity here though for licensees that are still wanting to pay for that type of software. Depending on their use case, a consultant could try to shift what they currently are dependent on to a semi-customized collection of jupyter notebooks etc.
by marcodiego on 7/13/21, 2:52 PM
"If you need to install your software on a new or different computer, you will need to re-activate the software on that computer using that serial number. [..] This contacts the MacKichan Software licensing server, which we will keep running for at least two years."
The hope:
"We expect to make Scientific Word an open source product eventually. Since both Scientific WorkPlace and Scientific Notebook contain the proprietary computer algebra system MuPAD, they cannot be made open source. When the open source project for Scientific Word is established, an announcement will be made here."
by rietta on 7/13/21, 7:35 PM
I could imagine being tired and ready to close up shop after 40 years as well.
by amichail on 7/13/21, 11:51 AM
by londons_explore on 7/13/21, 2:19 PM
by qurashee on 7/13/21, 8:35 PM
by pabs3 on 7/13/21, 1:56 PM
by emmanueloga_ on 7/13/21, 5:45 PM
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derive_(computer_algebra_syste...
by ThinkBeat on 7/13/21, 1:44 PM
I wish that when companies such as this do go out of business that they should transition the licensing model to perpetual.
It is gracious to keep running the licesnse server ut once it ends that is it.
If the company is not going to lose any money because of it, which they will not since they are out fo the busness entirely, let the users have a chance to keep using it.
(without support, without bugfixes, without upgrades to new platforms)
Presumably this could lead to people sharing licensing detals and non paying customers may over time start using it, that should be an acceptable risk, given that there is no monetary gain nor loss.
It would be awesome to have access to a rich library of dead software that people could use for free.
by cyanydeez on 7/14/21, 1:33 AM
by jnieminen on 7/13/21, 1:03 PM
by robbmorganf on 7/13/21, 5:57 PM
by cosban on 7/13/21, 4:47 PM
by mnowicki on 7/14/21, 4:00 PM
by imvetri on 7/13/21, 12:33 PM
by madengr on 7/13/21, 11:49 AM
Others that come to mind are MicroCAP for SPICE simulation, WRCAD for IC layout.
by MelvinButtsESQ on 7/13/21, 7:04 PM
by xvilka on 7/13/21, 12:57 PM
by LanternLight83 on 7/13/21, 3:23 PM
a. Laptops of the time sport specs that assure me they'd be perfectly capable of proforming the majority of tasks I engage in on my computer, and education especially sets a low bar; I'm sure they could run a terminal, CLI text editor, calculator, interpreters, and Wikipedia like any modern PC (thanks to Wikipedia for staying accessible!). Selfies simply aren't the most important thing.
b. According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webcam
> The released in 1993 SGI Indy [sic] is the first commercial computer to have a standard video camera
> The first widespread commercial webcam, the black-and-white QuickCam, entered the marketplace in 1994 [ . . . ] $100
> The first widely known laptop with integrated webcam option, at a pricepoint starting at US$ 12,000, was an IBM RS/6000 860 laptop and his ThinkPad 850 sibling, released in 1996.
> Around the turn of the 21st century, computer hardware manufacturers began building webcams directly into laptop and desktop screens, thus eliminating the need to use an external USB or FireWire camera.
So, yes! Idk exactly what OP had, but if laptops of the time were starting to include built in webcams, and could run a 20fps webcast, then they could certainly "take and share selfies and video". Interestingly, 2000 was also the year of the first Presidential Webcast in the US, though I'm pretty sure Clinton didn't stream it from his iBook.