H O M E

Jonathan Cooper Manager of Information, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AUSTRALIA

HyperCard? Is that still around?

Originally published in MACinations (Club Mac, Sydney, Australia) December 2000

The title of this article is, of course, tongue-in-cheek. It's based on a line from the Simpsons, when Homer asks the same question in relation to the Internet. But for many people, if they have heard of it at all, HyperCard is a distant memory, from the period at Apple before Steve Jobs (actually between Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs!). HyperCard was created at Apple in 1987 by the genius--and I don't use that term lightly--behind MacPaint and other core Macintosh technology, Bill Atkinson. It came bundled with every Macintosh up to and including version 2.1.

What is HyperCard?

Defining HyperCard is not easy. Originally it was to be called "WildCard", to indicate its limitless possibilities and flexibility, but that name could not be used in the end because of copyright restrictions. So the name "HyperCard" was substituted at the last minute. (A legacy of the original name is HyperCard's four-character application code: "WILD".) "Hyper" referred to the program's ability to hyperlink text, images and sound (it was in fact a precursor to the World Wide Web [1]) and "Card" referred to its basic real-world metaphor, a stack of cards. This metaphor, as valuable as it is conceptually, proved to be somewhat of a liability, as we shall see later.

I personally define HyperCard as a software construction kit for non-programmers, expert programmers and everyone in between. Just as a computer is a "universal machine", so HyperCard is a universal piece of software, with a gentle, but long, learning curve.

Originally (from version 1.0 to 1.2.5), HyperCard was black-and-white only, restricted to 342 x 512 pixels and could only open one document (or "stack") at a time.

Version 2.0 saw the introduction of multiple open stacks and cards (and card windows) of various sizes. It also came with a much more powerful script editor and debugger (for those who wanted to delve into scripting).

With version 2.1 came Apple Events, allowing communication between applications and between Macs.

Apple introduced colour in version 2.2--in a fashion. Unfortunately, instead of being tightly integrated--which would have involved a complete rewrite--colour was introduced by means of an external command, "AddColor". It worked, but it was certainly not as elegant as the rest of HyperCard. For example, scripted visual transitions, such as "scroll right", did not work in colour. Version 2.2 also saw the introduction of Open Scripting Architecture (OSA) support. For most, this meant that HyperCard could use AppleScript as well as HyperTalk as a scripting language (even in the one stack).

Various improvements were made in versions 2.3 and 2.4 (particularly support for QuickTime 3.0 in version 2.4), but what everyone was hanging out for was version 3.0. This was the version that would introduce integrated colour and cross-platform support--probably the two improvements most sought after by HyperCard users/developers. It would do this, so Apple announced in 1996, by being integrated with QuickTime. In short, HyperCard would become an authoring tool for the next version of QuickTime (probably to be known as "QuickTime Interactive", or QTi). Each stack would, in effect, be a movie and each card would be a frame. Instead of having to play the frames in sequence (forwards or backwards), one could view any frame at any time. Each frame would have clickable objects (buttons) and text (fields) and the scripting language would be (an enhanced) HyperTalk. At Apple's World Wide Developer Conference. In a session titled "HyperCard 3.0--the Phoenix Rises", Kevin Calhoun (leader of Apple's HyperCard team) demonstrated a working prototype. The plan was that Apple would deliver QTi and HyperCard 3 in the (Northern Hemisphere) spring of 1997.

Waiting for Version 3

The HyperCard world was abuzz. Many developers--including yours truly--who had been considering alternatives to HyperCard, decided to wait. We waited. And we waited. And we waited. Apple made various announcements that the release "date" had been put back. But still we waited. The ease of use and elegance of HyperCard (apart from colour) were too hard to give up. Then it was revealed in October 1998 that the entire HyperCard team at Apple had been transferred to QuickTime. Fair enough, many of us thought, if HyperCard is going to become QTi, then this is probably what has to happen.

QuickTime 4 was eventually released but, although it incorporated some of the features of QuickTime Interactive, it was not actually QTi. OK, we thought, maybe QuickTime version 5 will be QTi. But, as at December 2000, still no appearance or even announcement--one way or the other--has been made. Direct questions to Apple about the future of HyperCard are met with the usual "Apple does not comment on unreleased products" reply. This is despite the fact that they had already done exactly that by announcing and even demonstrating HyperCard 3!

At an educators' meeting in January 1999, Steve Jobs made an extraordinary impromptu statement: "Rumours of HyperCard's demise are bullshit!" He would not elaborate and never has since. Yet these words have been analysed and discussed hundreds of times. Perhaps he was just stating the obvious: Apple still lists HyperCard (version 2.4.1) as one of its products, even though no development work, or even bug-fixing, has been going on since July 1998.

Save HyperCard

Various groups of people and individuals have tried to "save HyperCard" (there is even a web-site devoted to this task) and in January 1998 two subscribers to the HyperCard mailing list--Jacqueline Gay and Steve Collins--met with Phil Schiller, Vice President of Marketing at Apple, to encourage him to consider further development of HyperCard, and to present him with a copy of the Save HyperCard petition (signed by 3,683 people) and the HyperCard Mailing List CD [2]. Schiller was courteous but it was obvious by the end of the meeting that no real progress had been made. One of the things Schiller stated was his opinion that HyperCard was basically "an electronic Rolodex". HyperCard's card metaphor had turned around and bitten it on the backside. It seems likely that those high up in Apple--Jobs included--don't actually know what HyperCard is, despite the iCEO's "bullshit" statement.

Some people have wondered whether AppleÕs inaction with regard to HyperCard may be due to discussions and promises between Apple and other companies. That Microsoft wanted Apple to dump QuickTime, in favour of Microsoft's own, competing technology has never been seriously disputed. However, an integrated-colour, cross-platform, scriptable media application--especially one produced by a hardware/system software company such as Apple--would be serious competition indeed for a third-party developer of multimedia software tools.

Other Strategies

Given that many, if not most, HyperCard users have given up hope of convincing Apple to restart development of HyperCard, some have taken up the task of lobbying for HyperCard to be released as open-source software. Still others have tried to create a new HyperCard equivalent from scratch. Still in development (pre-alpha, in fact) is the collaborative, open-source FreeCard. Another option is the commercial, and very expensive (US$995) MetaCard, which runs on Unix, Windows 9x and now Macintosh. While there are many impressive features in MetaCard, the most common complaint from experienced HyperCard users (apart from the cost [3]) is that its interface is "ugly" and "awkward" (meaning un-Mac-like). To its detractors, MetaCard's non-Macintosh origins are all too obvious, despite the fact that, conceptually, it is based on a Macintosh product. To its credit, however, MetaCard does allow developers to dramatically modify the basic interface should they want to.

Then there is SuperCard, which is the longest-standing HyperCard alternative in existence today. It has integrated colour, and a few other features that its users swear by, but there are no plans for it to be made cross-platform.

History in the Making

By the time you read this, on 7 January 2001, history will have been made at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. For the first time ever, a booth promoting a software product was set up, not by its manufacturer or distributor, but by its users. The software is, of course, HyperCard, and the group calls itself the International HyperCard Users Group (basically the subscribers to the HyperCard mailing list). The cost of setting it up (US$7750) has been paid for by a core group of just over 30 users. While it would be nice if Apple management take notice of the booth, even better if it prompts them to revive development of HyperCard, the central aim of the Macworld project is to raise awareness in the Macintosh community and to celebrate what many believe to be the most amazing and empowering piece of software written for it. [4]

Conclusion

So, if you are a regular HyperCard user, don't despair. HyperCard 2.4.1 works under MacOS 9, and so thus the Classic environment of MacOS X (this has been tested) [5], so you can continue to use the software for some time to come. If, on the other hand, you are not a HyperCard user but would like to get your Mac to do tasks that are tailored specifically to your needs, give HyperCard a try (yes, it is still being sold: A$140, from the Apple Store Australia). And, who knows? Apple might still surprise us.

Notes