14 July 2004

computers should be tools for creativity and learning

'We're running on fumes technologically today,' he says. 'The sad truth is that 20 years or so of commercialization have almost completely missed the point of what personal computing is about.'

But what about all those great things he invented? Aren't we getting any mileage from all that? Not nearly enough, Kay believes. For him, computers should be tools for creativity and learning, and they are falling short. At Xerox PARC the aim of much of Kay's research was to develop systems to aid in education. But business, instead, has been the primary user of personal computers since their invention. And business, he says, 'is basically not interested in creative uses for computers.'

Fortune.com - Fast Forward - A PC Pioneer Decries the State of Computing: