10 Sep
2012
10 Sep
'12
11:27 p.m.
It's been in the news this weekend -- Bill Moggridge, credited as the designer of the
"clamshell" shape for laptop computers, died.
I agree that Moggridge did important work for the Grid Compass, circa 1982. His design may
indeed have been the first of its kind, although I'd be curious to see any examples of
prior art.
But, I strongly disagree with all the reports calling the Compass a "laptop"
computer. I don't mean that as mere semantics: a vital definition of a laptop
isn't just a flat lap-sized computer, but rather a flat lap-sized computer with its
own power source. Compass users had no choice but to plug into wall power.
So the Compass may have been the first clamshell * computer * but it's not a laptop.