Andy Hertzfeld working on Google OS?

There's a short but sweet interview with Andy Hertzfeld over at Low End Mac. He doesn't really talk about his work at Google, but some interesting points are made. For one thing, it jogged my memory on General Magic, a company Andy co-founded with Bill Atkinson and Marc Porat. What, you don't remember the Sony PIC2000? The interesting part is General Magic's work on Telescript, which would allow a user to create apps across multiple devices, all connected via network. In fact, General Magic generated some buzz with it's Magic Cap OS, which was essentially a thin-client OS, and geared towards handheld devices.

Now that Andy is working over at Google, wouldn't it make sense to bring this expertise to bear on a Google OS? Imagine a GoogleScript language that allows a user to automate workflows across multiple machines... And you tie this in with the holy grail of the Semantic Web, bingo, a truly workable Web-based OS with all those nifty perks. Persistence of data, device-neutral applications and workflows... Nirvana, right?

Since Andy won't return my calls (at least, not on my imaginary Bat Phone), I don't really know what he's working on over there. But I'll leave you with a tantalizing quote from his interview and YOU can be the judge: "The personal computer itself will become less important as the user's computing world expands into dozens of different devices, all united by the network. The personal computer will continue to morph into more of a communications device than anything else." Now quit reading TUAW Andy and get back to it!

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Source: http://www.lowendmac.com/orchard/05/0913.html

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There's a short but sweet interview with Andy Hertzfeld over at Low End Mac. He doesn't really talk about his work at Google, but some...

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MannyV

If they were going to be writing a Google OS, Hertzfeld wouldn't be working on it. From what I remember, the original MagicCap OS was a disaster. It was big, slow, bloated, and prone to memory problems. Waldemar Horwat (yes, that is his real name) rearchitected and rewrote big chunks of it and made it better, but by then it was too late for MagicCap. If I was going to get someone to write an OS, it would be Waldemar...or any of the BeOS guys.

September 16 2005 at 1:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Martin Tibbitts

Google is all about Simplicity and ease of use. A google OS would be an interesting test of their muscle. Martin Tibbitts

September 15 2005 at 9:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

wheels

With all due respect to Andy, a Google OS excites me about as much as Linux. {Insert crickets chirping here}

September 15 2005 at 4:47 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dylan Newlander

Hey, I think I just threw away my MagicLink about a year ago, when I finally couldn't get the battery to charge. I was Product Manager at a company that wrote a few apps for MagicCap, and spent a fair amount of time at the General Magic campus. Cool company; too bad they just faded away into oblivion after burning through their cash. I think Scully's decision to pull out of the General Magic alliance to focus on the Newton really hurt MagicCap, though. It'll be interesting to see what Andy pulls out of his cap this time, with Google's billions behind him.

September 15 2005 at 3:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply