8. ENTHUSIASM – The Enthusiasm of Douglas Engelbart
This was just the beginning of the advances they came up with. Over the course of the next few years, Douglas, driven by his vision and purpose, worked with a team of researchers to develop what he called the “oNLine System,” or NLS. By the end of 1968, Douglas and his team were ready to demonstrate to the world everything they created in an event that is known today as “the most dazzling and influential technology demonstration of the digital age.” On December 9, 1968, Douglas sat on the stage of San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium in front of a packed house. One camera was pointed at his face, while a second pointed at his hands working a keyboard and mouse. Both images and his computer screen were projected onto a big screen at the back of the stage for the audi- ence to see. At the same time, a group of Douglas’s co-workers was in a computer lab thirty miles south transmitting every mouse and keyboard click by way of a two-way video connection — a preview of Zoom-like videoconferencing and long-distance, tele-surgical operations pioneered in 2001.
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