Re: [NTLK] newton sales figures?

From: David Orriss Jr (dave_at_davenet.net)
Date: Wed Feb 13 2002 - 19:58:37 EST


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At 01:42 AM 2/14/2002 +0100, you wrote:

>David Orriss Jr (dave_at_davenet.net) wrote:
>
> > Ah. Did SJ say those words to the Newton Inc people *exactly*? 'Look for
> > work elsewhere' or was that just surmised...?
>
>Most likely not those words exactly, but that's apparently how it came
>across.
>
> > Also, before SJ even came *back* to Apple much of the core Newton OS team
> > from the beginning of the Newton had *already* left.
>
>True, people like Walter Smith had left before, but when Newton, Inc. was
>spun off, they were still quite a capable outfit. After all, how many of
>the original Macintosh team are still on board, and yet Apple still knows
>how to do Macs?

Not a fair comparison, IMHO. The Macintosh is a very different type of
hardware design at almost every level. And it had the added bonus of being
widely accepted at Apple (because SJ *made* it be accepted - remember the
Apple // was all the rage when he 'championed' the effort that eventually
became the Mac -- and killed the Apple //). The Newton had an uphill
battle almost from the first minute within Apple. Not many people were
*that* interested in it at Apple - and many people never wanted it to even
get off the ground. Also keep in mind that the Mac has evolved over almost
20 years. The Newton existed for *four*. If let's say... 10-15 original
engineers who designed the Mac - along with SJ had left in the first two to
three years of the Mac's existence I'd be willing to guess it would have
been a serious loss for them. We might not even have *seen* the Mac (in
it's current form, anyway). Now you have the 15 original Newton engineers
(arguably a much smaller group at Apple - therefore a much larger
percentage of the talent) and you've signed the product's death warrant -
if you ask me. At that moment it only became a matter of time...

Again - this is all IMHO...

- --
David Orriss Jr.
dave_at_davenet.net
http://www.davenet.net
ICQ UIN: XXXXXX (please ask if you want to talk via ICQ)
Linux - Chicken Soup for the Unix Soul

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