NewtonTalk.net December 2007 archive: [NTLK] RES: [Indesejados]

From: robinson <gaudo_at_terra.com.br>
Date: Sun Dec 02 2007 - 18:12:14 EST

The Newton experience goes further the bounds of technology. I saw more than
one time people saying that sometimes caught themselves just holding and
admiring their Newtons. Maybe some people call a behavior liKe that as
madness, but we can assume that as a felling of hapiness. But whY?
Because, I feel, Newton is one of few machines was invented that really
matters to us. Some folks spend a lot of hours polishing their Corvettes or
their Beetles. No one have a emotional link with a Toyota corolla. I think.
Not yet.
We can assume also that Newton can just as some songs - bring bacK to us
some memories. A time when the things was more durable. Most of us had
experience with Apple II or TRS80. But just because computers are tools made
to worK with connectivity - in a general thought we can’t simply forget
the evolution and keep working with a ZX Spectrum at our office. We need
results, and results and connectivity we can get with OS X and XP. But in a
personal matter we can do what we want, the way we want. So, Newton can be a
symbol of resistance a good one, that really worRks. And To prove that, I
wrote this with my Fiva MPC501, assembled on 2001. It have win98se, colour
screen, USB, PCMciA, IRDA, Can use regular keyboards, and etc. It is the
first UMPC, I believe. But iTs HWR sucks. As you can see... I wasTe in Fiva
much more time to do the same thing WiTh Newton. Principally Writting. And
Fiva can’t give me the same experience. Why? It is Clear liKe Crystal to me.

We can customize Our Newtons much more than We can do with a Q1. And more.
If my Newt still works, there is a lot of me on this. It works BECAUSE of
me. Because I care, because I study Ways to keep it operational. Q1 works
because Samsung and Microsoft wants.
On these days all people are searching meanings for a lot of things. I,
particularly, WanT to understand Why I need more than 40 GB On my computer
if all my files have 6gb and I work only with Office, Watch Some PDF and
use internet. I am doing the Same I use to do With 400mb on 1995.
So, I got tired of fighting against Fiva's HRW and transfer the file to a
pen drive, then To my notebook then to Newton. And now the experience is
much better just because I don't have to make any effort to be understood by
Newton.
I don't have a Q1 or an ASUS UMPC, but I have experienced many devices to
make a comparison and now can say Newton's ability to comprehend me is
almost human.
I know that behind this ability of Newton there is a thing miles away from
the human nature. But what people from Cupertino did with this little guy is
fantastic. Since 2003, when I met a MP 130, until now, I just can't look to
a Newton without have a said feeling about its longevity. How long can it
go?
Just to prove how I am right, since I start to write this e-mail on Newton,
I had to make two corrections of HWR. With Fiva, lost the count. And, one
more time, have to thank to Guyot for alt-rec. Without this pkg, maybe at
this moment I should no longer Using a Newton. (please, sorry about my poor
English.)

-----Mensagem original-----
De: newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net
[mailto:newtontalk-bounce@newtontalk.net] Em nome de Lord Groundhog
Enviada em: domingo, 2 de dezembro de 2007 13:54
Para: newtontalk@newtontalk.net
Assunto: [Indesejados] [NTLK] Newton metaphysics [OT] [WAS: "Re: RES: Case
for aNewton and a hardcopy calendar"]

~~~ On 2007/12/02 01:28, Adrian Marsh at mynewtonlives@mac.com wrote ~~~

> ... I've been fascinated to read some of
> the more discursive comments posted recently, and I wonder if we have a
> developing philosophy or meta-physics of Newton use and experience? Seems
> especially apposite given the great alchemist, natural scientist and
> physicist these machines are named after...

Funny you should mention that, Adrian. I've been interested in this kind of
thing since I was young, and I noticed the way we -- especially men -- think
of and refer to our "pet" gizmos personally. Some of my uncles had been in
the Navy, and cars (and working on them) were a big part of my growing up,
so I got to see this in action. I learned early that vessels in which we
travel often get called "she". And when a car or plane or ship performs in
an erratic and undependable manner, we often say "'She' is acting up" or
"'She' let me down" or whatever. This has been going on so long that it's
normal to name a boat or ship or plane, and sometimes people even name their
cars. (It's also traceable anthropologically through the centuries,
regarding favourite weapons and such, but that's another story.)

Over the last couple of decades, electronic gadgetry has become a huge part
of our lives, as our cars had been in the past. In the process, some of us
seem to have taken to personifying our gadgets. But only certain ones --
only the gadgets that we perceive as able to express something of our selves
while also having a kind of persona of their own, that in some way act as
extensions of us, and with which we can form a bond (as our vehicles -- and
weapons -- did in the past).

I don't remember meeting many folks who talk about an old IBM XT-286 or
Amstrad PC2386, as if they were describing a good friend and companion.
OTOH there was something about an Atari or an Apple SE30 that seized the
imagination (and dare I say "affection"?) of many of their users. And it
seems obvious that the same is true for many of us here about the Newton.

Naturally, it isn't common yet though it does happen. My theory is that
most of our electronic gadgets are not yet sufficiently "sympathetic" to us
to evoke such responses. But the Newton is. Its design makes the Newton
behave as if it knows what we want even before we know, and its functions
are designed to make it feel like an extension of ourselves and at the same
time with its own way of interacting -- like having its own character.

And that's why Newt comes with me everywhere now, even when I don't want my
Pismo with me. And it's why I don't just appreciate Newt, I enjoy it and
feel bound to it in a way I can't otherwise explain.

It must be love ...

Shalom.
Christian

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

³Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from a Newton.²
-- What Arthur C. Clarke meant to say

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ZzpdPJ7Zr4
(With thanks to Chod Lang)
http://tinyurl.com/29y2dl

~~~ ~~~ ~~~
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[NTLK] RES: [Indesejados] Newton metaphysics [OT] [WAS: "Re: RES: Case for aNewton and a hardcopy calendar"]