This message from Dr. Forster is a very important essay at many levels. I
could take the discussion off to many interesting lines of thought.
What stands out here, as it relates to the Newton, are the comments that
illustrate the presence in the Newton history of 'concrete' thinking by
'engineers' who were not prepared to engage in 'cognitive' engineering.
The Apple experience at the time was to make really 'cool' stuff that had
some 'cognitive' engineering inspiration, but they quickly got bogged down
in 'cool hardware' and missed the mark.
Industrial design, pre-Newton, had turned the corner on the street to
'cognitive' engineering, but information technology engineering is still
creeping up on this concept.
Thanks for the splendid illustration of where things need to go.
Regards,
Richard.
on 10/25/01 9:46 AM, JForsterMD_at_aol.com at JForsterMD_at_aol.com wrote:
>
> 1-I have enjoyed the discussions. It gives me relief from the drugery of my
> world and some insight into what all of you are like outside of your delight
> in the Newton. I know it is off topic but quickly everyone gets back to the
> topic, the Newton. It also highlights what we all like about the Newton,
> especially about what the Newton brought to the table and was never realized.
> I sometimes feel the programmers should work with the hardware designers and
> come up with the Newton 10, that nirvana product we wanted the iPod to be.
> 2-When yesterday went to my files to look up the survival rate of patients
> with hepatocellular carcinoma, I looked for a paper that I knew I had and I
> looked for something used. This alerted to one of the problems I have with
> totally converting my 5 drawers of hanging files to digital data, is that I
> lose any history I have with the files. Everytime I open a file it looks like
> it did the last time. There is no feature about the icon that tells you that
> file was the one you have been using. If the OS is truly going to replace
> paper files, I feel that it should tell you by its appearance that you have
> used it. There should be some 'feel' to the look.
> 3-Lots of stuff has been said about Apple and the Newton and about the fact
> that iterations of the product brought it finally to usefulness. What
> impresses me about the history of Newton's start was that the Newton was
> rushed to market and its true potential or its implications might not have
> been understood. People had great ideas but no one was sure really how it
> would work. We all feel that the true use of the Newton was not really
> realized until the 2100 came out and vertical use was beginning to be
> implemented. I would love to have the Newton as the device for all health care
> providers in our hospital, since it could have been wireless and would allow
> for the transmissions of orders, emails, etc using handwriting. Thus I feel
> that there may be something to be said to watch and wait and see what happens
> to the iPod. jf
>
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