[NTLK] WWNC (thoughts from the day after)

From: Martin Joseph (NT_at_stillnewt.org)
Date: Mon Jan 16 2006 - 11:38:28 PST


Wow,

I was so excited about the the 2004 Paris WWNC, but then was denied
that trip due to my own physical problems.

2006 was better then I could have hoped for.

It was really great to be able to actually be in the same place and
time with some of the listees, and to be able to meet them in the
flesh. That part of the fun I expected.

The quality of the presentations that I got to see was stunning, with
at least three of the original Newton team members showing up and
sharing there memories and some stored paraphernalia (t-shirts, proto
newts, etc) and of course there knowledge of the newtons guts. This was
a bit surprising for me, and really wonderful.

Ronnie also inspired with his presentation and info on the "Getting
Things Done" lifestyle management system. I have both the book and
audio book on order from the library as of today (for my wife). He
also did a nice demonstration of the "do it" concept, when there was
some squabbling over the lunch reservation plans on Sunday.

Grant gave a super informative talk on Newton fontage and how to go
about making your options in that department bigger and better. He
included a sort of basic primer for those the don't really get the
whole font thing, as well as very specific and helpful info for those
that are looking to find and convert fonts to the Newton format.
Truetype? Who knew? Grant did.

Of course despite all of the above excitement, information, and
historical gold, Paul stole the show with his promising advances and
tireless efforts at moving the Newton platform into a new and
potentially limitless direction (literally!). One of the most stunning
aspects of Paul's achievement IMO, is how well thought out his plan is.
  Clearly, Einstein and relativity are not one trick demo ponies. As
Grant already mentioned, Paul also talked about the need for an NTK
replacement and detailed how a Newtonscript interpreter which is
already available (open sourced, and patchable), could be the basis for
future multi-platform Newton development environment.

As Karel Jansens just suggested in his recent post, I personally think
that the seeming lack of coherent linux tablet interface, and the
Newton's extreme excellence in this area make this a potential area for
future GROWTH of the newton platform.

Who would have thought that would be even remotely possible almost 8
years after we were steved?

THANKS TO ALL who worked so hard to make this get together as amazing
as enjoyable as it was. My apologies to Sonya and Ronnie for missing
there sunday afternoon presentations, as I had to scoot off to the
airport.

Looking forward to WWNC 2007!
Marty

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