This issue of DDJ showcases the power and promise of hypertext technology, not just in theory but in practice. Thanks to Scott Johnson and the crew at NTERGAID (developers of the Black Magic authoring system, Hyperwriter, and other hypertext development tools), we've taken the exciting (and as far as I know, unprecedented) step of providing you with an electronic "hypertexted" edition of DDJ.
What can you do with a hypertext version of DDJ? Think about how you usually read DDJ: You look at the Table of Contents, spot an article that seems interesting, turn to the appropriate page, and begin reading. When the article makes reference to a figure, you turn more pages. And when you come to a reference to source code listings, you usually flip halfway through the magazine while trying not to lose your place.
Hypertext changes this. As you peruse the Table of Contents on your PC screen, you position the cursor on the title of an article and call up its description, the author's biography, or "turn" to the article itself. When reading the article and encountering a "see Listing One" or similar message, you simply click on the message and the listing appears on the screen.
Getting the hypertext edition of this issue is easy. It comes at no extra charge when you order this month's source code listing disk. Alternatively, you can download the electronic issue from the DDJ Forum on CompuServe.
Since the hypertext document is built around the Hyperwriter runtime engine, you don't need any special software. You simply "self" extract the file and run it. You will need a PC with 64OK of memory, and a mouse makes it a lot easier to use. For more details on the system and an enhanced version that uses bit-mapped graphics, see this month's lead article "The DDJ Hypertext Project" where Scott describes how he put the edition together.
Where do we go from here? Consider that if you're like most readers, you keep back issues of DDJ as reference material. Wouldn't it be great to have 15 years worth of DDJ at your fingertips, cross-referenced and linked on CD-ROM? You could then search for a specific topic or algorithm, bring up all versions of it, examine the code, and then paste it into your application. No, we aren't planning on this right away, but it does give us something to dream about.
All the news about hypertext isn't necessarily fit to print, however. Why? Because the trademark buzzards are at it again, this time circling over the term "hypertext" itself. It seems that a company called Hypersystems S.R.L of Torino, Italy has applied for a U.S. trademark for "HyperText," a stylized version of the term "hypertext." And if the use of (R) in their product literature is any indication, the company seems to be claiming a trademark on the stylized term "HyperMedia" too.
Even though Hypersystem's U.S. attorney told me that his client has entered a disclaimer for generic use of the term "hypertext," hypertext and hypermedia developers are nonetheless up in arms, and several, including NTERGAID, Owl International, and Autodesk, have filed oppositions with the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office.
The rule of thumb is that if a word is either descriptive or generic, the Trademark Office won't issue a trademark. To me, "hypertext" seems descriptive because it simply describes a system of non-linear reading and writing and it is generic because it is commonly used in magazines, books, dictionaries, and other forms of documentation.
If you're as annoyed by this as I am, you should know about a couple of avenues of protest. Software developers who have a hypertext-based product, and therefore a vested interest in seeing the term not enter the Calcutta of trademarks, can file an official "Notice of Opposition," while members of the general public can send a "Letter of Protest."
If you believe that a trademark on the term "hypertext" would damage you or your product in some way, you should file a Notice of Opposition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. You'll have to pay a fee and you must "set forth a short and plain statement" stating how you would be damaged by the trademark.
Letters of Protest should be sent to the Office of the Director of the Trademark Examining Operation. The purpose of your letter should be "to bring to the Office facts that could affect or prevent the registration of the mark .... The letter must contain proof and support of the information ..." before your protest will be considered.
For more information about either the Opposition or Protest, contact the U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC 20231.
In closing, let's not forget that Ted Nelson, now at Autodesk, coined "hypertext" in 1963 while Doug Englebart, now at Stanford University, defined the technology even before that -- and neither found it necessary to trademark the word.