Playing with my Wang (heh heh)

June 14, 2007 12:30 PM

The Wang Freestyle (warning: Google Video; part one of video). A curious footnote in the history of computing that took the desktop metaphor to new levels back in 1988. Featured sampled sound, high-res graphics, and the ability to stack documents on top of each other, the last of which is due in a certain big cat operating system later this year. Watch for how slow the system is, and the subsequent magician-like distraction techniques used by the presenter to avoid people noticing.
posted by humblepigeon (26 comments total)

I prefered the more mainstream cross-country Wangs.
posted by GuyZero at 12:32 PM on June 14, 2007

Huh huh. You said "Wang".
posted by kittens for breakfast at 12:35 PM on June 14, 2007

I almost made varsity in the Wang Freestyle in high school... before the accident...

I'm sorry, still a very emotional subject, I'll just need a moment.
posted by nanojath at 12:52 PM on June 14, 2007

Now your virtual desk can be just as cluttered and messy as your real desk :)
posted by clevershark at 1:09 PM on June 14, 2007

I like a good Wang joke as much as the next guy, but this is actually fairly interesting stuff. When we realized computers were just too slow to manage being real desktop analogues, we gave it up. Could we pull this off today? Sure. Would it be faster? Sure. Could it really work? Probably not. People have just gotten too used to having hardcopies of everything.

Personally, I'd love it if there were a scanner and digitizer on every desk. I could throw out all these papers that I only keep because I "might" need them someday, or maybe people wouldn't bring them to me at all. Yes, there's something nice about paper (I hate e-books), but in business, it's just cumbersome (mostly; of course there is still a need for paper documents).

The desktop metaphor (along with the tall display and phone as audio I/O device) are up for debate, but I'd take everything but the display in a business setting.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:19 PM on June 14, 2007

1988, huh? We're spending a stupid amount of money for a similar "workflow solution" offered by a variety of vendors.
Is that a voip phone?
posted by boo_radley at 1:44 PM on June 14, 2007

Back when I was in middle school, my mother was a secretary at Wang Laboratories in Bethesda. One day I made the mistake of telling my classmates where my mother worked.

Oh yeah, childhood was a hoot.
posted by Trampas at 1:44 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Also:
Related Videos: Hot girls making out
posted by boo_radley at 1:45 PM on June 14, 2007

William Gibson's last novel contains a truly hilarious couple lines involving a a small misunderstanding with regard to Stephen King's Wang (which would make a great college punk band name).
posted by sparkletone at 1:47 PM on June 14, 2007

Is that a voip phone?

It looks like the phone was just used as a playback and record device. Quite a nifty repurposing but not voice over network. The sounds will have been downloaded to the workstation and piped through the handset, or they might have been played back from a central device connected to the phone system and routed through just like a voice call. Actually, that would be a more efficient system because it would avoid the expense of each workstation having a digital sound card.

The Freestyle appears to have been offered as part of Wang's larger package (heh heh), so you would have got the phone system as part of the deal, and possibly the desks too. For the million or so dollars the whole thing cost, I would also have expected to get the guy presenting the video.
posted by humblepigeon at 2:38 PM on June 14, 2007

This post is remiss without the inclusion of the Small Wang Museum
posted by pantsrobot at 2:46 PM on June 14, 2007

The future used to be so cool.
posted by cmonkey at 2:51 PM on June 14, 2007

At 24 seconds, the handwriting that he underlines says "Hitler had erection".
posted by Brainy at 2:53 PM on June 14, 2007

On a more serious note, I like the info being kept with the document, how many times it was printed, where it was moved, etc.
posted by Brainy at 2:59 PM on June 14, 2007

I like that little virtual stapler. But what I really want is the Wang field tech's briefcase microfiche viewer. (Search for “micro-fiches” on the page; it's close to the bottom.) I can just imagine sitting in a meeting, pulling out my briefcase, and saying, “hold on a second. Before we go any further I'd like to consult my Wang.” Or “Do I need wireless? No way—there's a world of information in my Wang.” How the people would swoon.
posted by ftrain at 3:40 PM on June 14, 2007

The taller-than-wide screen is reminiscent of the 1973 Xerox Alto. The intent was to make the screen the same shape as a sheet of paper. Not a bad idea, but it looks so odd now.
posted by WPW at 5:15 PM on June 14, 2007

Playing-with-my-Wang-heh-heh.

I have one in the attic and whenever guests come over I like to get my Wang out and show them heh heh.

I also let them play with my Wang heh heh.

Erm. Yes. Where I live, in the 80s, at the end of the first main Freeway exit after the city, was a shiny impressive building with large letters up the top: WANG.

The building's still there and it's still shiny and it's changed signage quite a few times, but I still remember it as the WANG building.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:21 PM on June 14, 2007

I'm glad this didn't catch on, I'd probably misspeak and call it my Penis Computer.
posted by JHarris at 5:50 PM on June 14, 2007

It's very sad to see the snarky comments. Dr. Wang was a major pioneer in the computing industry. Wang was building, selling and supporting "personal computers" before the term even existed--specifically, their model 2200, which appeared in 1973. But today, people only make stupid jokes about his name. Shame on you.
posted by metasonix at 8:25 PM on June 14, 2007

uncanny: You live in the 80's? Isn't the commute kinda long?
posted by scalefree at 8:59 PM on June 14, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

The intent was to make the screen the same shape as a sheet of paper. Not a bad idea, but it looks so odd now.

My rotated LCD looks similar, and not odd.
posted by juiceCake at 10:45 PM on June 14, 2007

The intent was to make the screen the same shape as a sheet of paper. Not a bad idea, but it looks so odd now.

My rotated LCD looks similar, and not odd.

Look at the guy on the video as he tries to use the system. His posture gets scrunched up, although we see him from the back, it's clear he has to squint. I think the problem was partially that the screen was so small, and also mounted below his eye level. It wasn't very ergonomic, but the reason was so the system didn't dominate the desk. Back then people were still transitioning to computers and they weren't central to a workspace setup, as they are now (mostly). The computer sat on the edge of your desk and you pulled out the keyboard when you needed to use it.

This Freestyle looks like a superb idea and didn't appear to have too many obvious flaws (aside from price). Yet we're not all using Freestyles today. Until I posted this, I doubt many of us even knew it existed.

It goes to show that (a) Apple and Microsoft weren't the only pioneers, and (b) Good ideas don't always win. It's way more complex than that.
posted by humblepigeon at 1:26 AM on June 15, 2007

uncanny: You live in the 80's? Isn't the commute kinda long?

Nice pickup. Very clever.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 2:48 AM on June 15, 2007

metasonix writes "But today, people only make stupid jokes about his name. Shame on you."

Uh... you expected different? You new around here, metasonix?
posted by caution live frogs at 6:50 AM on June 15, 2007

It's very sad to see the snarky comments. Dr. Wang was a major pioneer in the computing industry.


Indeed, I'm reminded of the relentless mocking and undeserved derision that followed the famous explorer and scientist; Dr Stinky Vagina.
posted by banshee at 12:31 PM on June 15, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned that they used to use the slogan "Wang Cares"
posted by blag at 6:31 PM on June 17, 2007