[NTLK] Apple Newton Cadillac

[James Fraser]

Hello,



>"Annoying" was the word that jumped to my mind.

:D

That's why I was looking for that word: I'm hoping to gently persuade a local 
grocery chain to please not purchase any more point-of-sale machines that 
feature tethered/electronically-linked styluses.

It's not the "tethered" part that's so hideous: it's the electronically-linked 
part.  After a few hundred customers have yanked on the tether, the stylus no 
longer works.  It's not much fun watching the checkout clerk play "musical 
styluses" at 2am when all you want to do is get out of the store with your 
groceries. :(

I wonder how just long it took Apple to realize that the idea of a tethered 
stylus was Not a Winner when it came to giving end users a way to write on their 
new device?  Were there engineering constraints at the time that prompted them 
to go with a tethered stylus on the prototype?


Best,

James Fraser