The First Dynabook Idea — Fall 1968. Alan Kay. Sketch of children using the device, with these labels: children as full-fledge users, collaborative, wireless and wired net, end-user programmable. Mockup of device, with these labels: 1M pixel touch display, stylus, keyboard, removable mass memory.

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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 03-Jul-2026 02:32:45 JST Paul Cantrell

   in reply to

   Alan Kay’s original “Dynabook” vision superficially resembles modern laptops and tablets — uncannily resembles in many ways! — but it’s the opposite in one important respect:

   Our modern devices are beautifully designed, hermetically sealed products in which there is a strong vendor / user hierarchy.

   The Dynabook, as I understand it, would be the opposite of hermetically sealed. It arrives not as a finished design, but as a starting point. Embedded in that “for children” ethos is the idea of play, tinkering, scribbling, making a mess and cleaning it up — and thus the idea of devices being •reshapable•.

   (Image source, with lots of commentary from Kay: https://www.quora.com/American-computer-pioneer-Alan-Kay-s-concept-the-Dynabook-was-published-in-1972-How-come-Steve-Jobs-and-Apple-iPad-get-the-credit-for-tablet-invention/answer/Alan-Kay-11)

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