NLS (computer system): Difference between revisions

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'''NLS''', or the "'''oN-Line System'''", was a revolutionary [[computer collaboration system]] developed in the 1960s. It was designed by [[Douglas Engelbart]] and implemented by researchers at the [[Augmentation Research Center]] (ARC) at the [[SRI International|Stanford Research Institute]] (SRI). It was the first computer system to employ the practical use of [[hypertext]] links, a [[computer mouse]], [[raster scan|raster-scan]] [[Computer monitor|video monitors]], information organized by relevance, [[GUI|screen windowing]], [[presentation program]]s, and other modern computing concepts. It was funded by ARPA (the predecessor to [[DARPA|Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]]), [[NASA]], and the [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]].

== Development ==

[[Douglas Engelbart]] developed his concepts while supported by the US Air Force from 1959 to 1960 and published a framework in 1962.

The strange acronym, NLS (rather than OLS), was an artifact of the evolution of the system. Engelbart's first computers were not able to support more than one user at a time.

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By 1974, the NIC had spun off to a separate project on its own computer.

== Firsts ==

All of the features of NLS were in support of Engelbart's goal of augmenting collective [[knowledge worker|knowledge work]] and therefore focused on making the user more powerful, not simply on making the system easier to use.<ref name="invis">{{cite web |title= Invisible Revolution |author= Frode Hegland and Fleur Klijnsma |work= Web documentary |___location= London |url= http://www.invisiblerevolution.net |access-date= April 13, 2011 }}</ref> These features therefore supported a full-interaction paradigm with rich interaction possibilities for a trained user, rather than what Engelbart referred to as the WYSIAYG (What You See Is All You Get)<ref>[http://www.guidebookgallery.org/articles/inventingthelisauserinterface/whatyouseeisallyouget "What you see is ALL you get"], Harvey Lehtmann, Interactions, issue 2/1997, p. 51.</ref> paradigm that came later.<ref name="pursuit">{{cite web |title= A Lifetime Pursuit |author= Christina Engelbart |publisher= Englebart Institute |url= http://www.dougengelbart.org/history/engelbart.html |access-date= April 13, 2011}}</ref>

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Engelbart said: "Many of those firsts came right out of the staff's innovations&nbsp;— even had to be explained to me before I could understand them. [The staff deserves] more recognition."<ref name="pursuit"/>

== Decline and succession ==

The downfall of NLS, and subsequently, of ARC in general, was the program's difficult [[learning curve]]. NLS was not designed to be easy to learn; it employed the heavy use of program modes, relied on a strict hierarchical structure, did not have a point-and-click interface, and forced the user to have to learn cryptic mnemonic codes to do anything useful with the system. The chord keyset, which complemented the modal nature of NLS, forced the user to learn a 5-bit binary code if they did not want to use the keyboard. Finally, with the arrival of the [[ARPANET|ARPA Network]] at SRI in 1969, the [[time-sharing]] technology that seemed practical with a small number of users became impractical over a distributed [[Computer network|network]]; time-sharing was rapidly being replaced with individual [[minicomputer]]s (and later [[microcomputer]]s) and [[workstation]]s. Attempts to port NLS to other hardware, such as the [[PDP-10]] and later on the [[DECSYSTEM-20]], were successful. It was transported to other research institutes, such as USC/Information Sciences (ISI), which manufactured mice and keysets for NLS. NLS was also extended at ISI to use the newly emerging Xerox laser printers.

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Some of the "full-interaction" paradigm lives on in different systems, including the [[Hyperwords]] add-on for [[Mozilla Firefox]]. The Hyperwords concept grew out of the Engelbart web-documentary Invisible Revolution.<ref name="invis"/> The aim of the project is to allow users to interact with all the words on the Web, not only the links. Hyperwords works through a simple hierarchical menu, but also gives users access to keyboard "phrases" in the spirit of NLS commands and features Views, which are inspired by the powerful NLS ViewSpecs. The Views allow the user to re-format web pages on the fly. Engelbart was on the Advisory Board of The Hyperwords Company from its inception in 2006 until his death in 2013.

From 2005 through 2008, a volunteer group from the [[Computer History Museum]] attempted to restore the system.<ref>{{cite web |title= NLS Augment Index |work= Software Preservation Group |publisher= [[Computer History Museum]] |url= http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/nlsproject |access-date= April 15, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= NLS Restoration Technical Discussion Archives |publisher= [[Computer History Museum]] |url= http://chm.cim3.net/forum/nls-technical/ |access-date= April 15, 2011 }}</ref>

== Visicalc ==

[[Dan Bricklin]], the creator of the first spreadsheet program, [[Visicalc]], saw Doug Engelbart demonstrate the oN-Line System, which was part of Bricklin's inspiration to create Visicalc.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Isaacson |first=Walter |title=The innovators: how a group of hackers, geniuses and geeks created the digital revolution |date=2015 |publisher=Simon & Schuster Paperbacks |isbn=978-1-4767-0869-0 |edition=1. Simon & Schuster trade paperback |___location=New York|p=354}}</ref>

== See also ==

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* [[ENQUIRE]]

== Notes ==

{{Notelist}}

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==

*{{Cite book |title= Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing |author= Thierry Bardini |author-link= Thierry Bardini |year=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |___location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3723-4 |url= https://archive.org/details/bootstrapping00thie |url-access= registration }}

== External links ==

* On the [http://www.dougengelbart.org Doug Engelbart Institute website] see especially the [http://www.dougengelbart.org/firsts/dougs-1968-demo.html 1968 Demo resources page] for links to the demo and to later panel discussions by participants in the demo; [http://www.dougengelbart.org/about/augment.html About NLS/Augment]; Engelbart's [http://www.dougengelbart.org/about/bibliography.html Bibliography], [http://www.dougengelbart.org/library/videography.html Videography]; and the [http://www.dougengelbart.org/library/engelbart-archives.html Engelbart Archives Special Collections] page.

* [http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html The original 1968 Demo as streaming RealVideo clips]