8. ENTHUSIASM – The Enthusiasm of Douglas Engelbart
Feature by feature, he presented to the awestruck audience everything he had believed possible for the future of personal com- puting. He envisioned the possibilities, “If in your office, you were supplied with a computer display backed up by a computer that was alive for you all day and was instantly responsive to every action you have, how much value could you derive from that?” When his presentation came to a close, the crowd burst into an enthusiastic standing ovation. Overcome by excitement, some even rushed the stage to get as close as possible to Douglas and his computer. Today, Douglas’s belief that anyone should easily interact with a personal computer can be seen in every desktop, laptop, tablet, smartwatch, and mobile phone. His influence on the digital age has been monumental and is still being felt to this day. As one fellow pioneer of computer science declared, “I don’t know what Silicon Valley will do when it runs out of Doug’s ideas.”
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