From: Norman Palardy (npalardy_at_great-white-software.com)
Date: Tue Oct 04 2005 - 10:04:36 PDT
On Oct 04, 2005, at 10:46 AM, John Hay wrote:
> The more I absorb regarding the Newton operating system, the more I am
> impressed.
>
> How could it be then that when I use my Newton it's natural, then I go
> back to my PowerMac and wonder how convoluted OSX has become, albeit
> still the best mainstream thing going. I would NEVER return to the
> gates of hell [no pun intended, well maybe a little] only to find
> PeeCee's homogenizing society. But as good as OSX is on my desktop, I
> am still stunned by the shear simplicity, grace in motion, intuitive
> nature, and the the whole Newton approach. Positively there is a fire
> at the core of this nucleus.
>
> Why in the world has not the Newton been resurrected by the powers
> that be.
Because, if you look at the history of PDA's, from he Newton on up, the
"killer app" that made it so everyone would HAVE to have one is the
address book and maybe the date book.
This resides in most cell phones now.
More functional PDA's like the Newton landed squarely in a market that
was not general enough to sell huge numbers, but still had a great
following and was VERY applicable in lots of narrower vertical markets.
The powers that be have deigned that this segmented market , while
large, is not worth going after.
Palm did, and now is relegated to ... well ... selling hi end cell
phones mostly in the Treo.
RIM is also in this state where they are more a fancy cell phone than
anything else.
I dont know that any of the WinCE PDA's sell well, and I'm sure they
get used in vertical markets more than wide spread adoption by every
potential user, just like the Newton did.
Tablet PC's are in the same category where, for specific needs, they
are exactly right, but they are not generally the most desirable
platform for everyone.
at least that's what I think .....
course Steve still does see the Newton as Sculley's and Sculley DID
fire Steve way back when ... so there could be something personal to it
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