Re: [NTLK] might give up on newton- people... people...

On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 12:18 AM, Andy Hill <adhill@fastmail.co.uk> wrote:
> I totally 100% agree, surely the point is to celebrate the Newton for what
> is it. A superb note, address, diary, email, safe storage, immediate on,
> long battery life, portable, intuitive, handwriting recognition, durable,
> simple, fun, device which has many hundreds if not thousands of active users

Very true. I used to take my Newton 120 (with OS 1.3) on the road for
weeks and months on end. It was my only computer. I used Aloha for
email, Action Names was my mainstay app, keeping track of both my
meeting schedule, as well as contacts, allowing me to keep on
scheduling meetings as I roamed, and I also used that Newton for
printing letters and envelopes. I had two staple apps that weren't
built-in--the two I mentioned--Aloha and AN. Later, when i upgraded
that Newt to OS 2.0, I found AN even less essential, but I kept using
it, simply because I was used to it. ;-)

To me, the real "killer app" on the Newton was the Notepad. What with
the extensible stationery, it is the most important app on the Newton.
Everything else revolves around it. Want to write an email? Do it in
Notes. Add a name? Do it in notes (DragNDrop names is AWESOME!). Make
notes on a phone call--Notepad. Shedule a meeting from the notes--of
course--Notepad. Don't need no stinkin' RSS reader. Actually, I do
have one, but I never use it. I find the Newton to be not the best
platform, although it's better at RSS than standard web pages. :-)

Oh, and the Newton was the absolute best fax machine I've ever used.
It's almost a shame that fax has all but disappeared. When the Newton
came out, faxing was an essential--so the OS handles it with aplomb.

> and supporters and a small but seriously important number of active
> developers. Take for example as already mentioned: Blunt, Mailv, Adriano's
> hardware, Doug's recent Newtway, and the exquisite iNewton which I am about
> to purchase etc etc etc. Plus all the exceptional software like MoreInfo,
> Timetrax, Supernotepad that are as useful now as they ever were. Unna,
> Newtontalk and other sources are a gold mine really!

Agreed, there is so much awesome software out there, that it's weird
to see complaints about a lack of development... ;-) Granted, times
move on, but the Newton will have great difficulty moving with them.
My PowerComputing clone sits here next to me, stuck in 1999. Same sort
of thing. Who's developing for OS 9 or earlier nowadays? Nobody. No
decent web browser (iCab crashes), no RSS, no modern software.
However, it does act as an excellent time machine, connecting some
older documents and games to my family today--and our Newts. ;-)

As to RSS, Isn't Raissa open source?

-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass@usa.net>
"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack Nicklaus
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