Re: [NTLK] [OT] [iPh] What I think of Newtons and iPhones

From: Jon Glass <jonglass_at_usa.net>
Date: Sat Jul 14 2007 - 02:12:47 EDT

Guy-

I think you missed his point, which was this, simply:
>> Barring the fact that synchronization is a bit unruly (which is a sign
>> of age, for the most part), I still think the Newton is ahead of the
>> iPhone as far as functionality and features go.

Which, if you will think about it, is patently obvious. The Newton was
built with expanadability in mind--both on the hardware end and
software end. It was, in truth, a full-blown computer platform. Yes,
it's dead, yes, it's based on outdated technology, but the iPhone is
just what its name implies--a phone. Yes, it has potential, should
Apple let it, but it is not a Newton. It's something else--That
said...

On 7/14/07, W. Guy Finley <wgfinley@mac.com> wrote:
> iPhone is already doing this, it's web based and for those who think
> that web based isn't real application work you are sadly mistaken.

Starting with the original Macintosh, every time Apple has introduced
something big, they've changed how people look at computers. With the
original Mac, it was the mouse and 3.5" floppy drive. Everybody
berated Apple for forcing people to use a mouse, and ignoring the
"standard" 5.14" floppy. In a few, short years, every computer you
bought came with a mouse and 3.5" floppy. Then came the iMac. NO
floppy! And Apple switched to USB! No legacy support! More beration
(is that a word?). Now, with the iPhone, Apple is not allowing
developers direct access to the internals, and telling people to
develop so-called Web 2.0 apps. I think that this will have a
comparable effect on the increase in development of such things.

Some potential outcomes we can foresee are that, 1. Web 2.0 apps will
become more ubiquitous and feature-rich. and 2. With people requiring
them to get work done, they will demand better and more quibuitous
access to their docs and apps, thus driving the networks (carriers in
US lingo?) to upgrade and improve. This is the potential fallout I
expect to see because of the iPhone's "closed" platform. It's Apple,
once again, slamming the door behind them, locking it, and throwing
away the key, thus forcing more innovation into a stagnant market (the
cell phone industry). How anybody can look at this, and call it a bad
thing is beyond me! Even if you don't like Apple or the iPhone itself,
you should see that what Apple is doing can only be good for
everybody.

Sure, it's no Newton! It isn't trying to be! The Newton is what it is,
and the fact of its beauty and function is inescapable, and the proof
is in the fact that there are thousands of people still using them,
and more discover the Newton every year! And nothing has ever come out
that can touch it in functionality. However, the truth remains, it was
Apple's big thing in 1993, and this is 2007. Time moves on; technology
moves on.

I will never get rid of my last Newtons. I will probably use them
until they crumble to dust, and even if I don't use them like I once
did, I will still have a fondness for the Newton platform that I will
_never_ have for another. Even the iPhone, for all its beauty and
wonder, will grow, change and develop, and the first-gen iPhone will
be quickly forgotten when the next generation replaces it, and the
next, and then, the next...

Maybe that's part of the appeal/attraction of the Newton. It's frozen
in time. It won't be supplanted, replaced by the "next generation"
because there never will be one. Sure, we can bemoan what might have
been, but the truth is, what it _is_ is pure, raw elegance, and we can
appreciate it for that. That's my take.

So, I guess you could say, it's part Joshua and part Guy. ;-)

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass@usa.net>
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published
opinion.   --Winston Churchill
-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
Received on Sat Jul 14 02:14:44 2007

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Sat Jul 14 2007 - 10:30:00 EDT