[NTLK] Redefining the newton

On the light of the recent events, I amd thinking of resurfacing a
couple of odd projects of mine; namely a port of the newton core set of
applications and functionality (no newtonscript parser, though) for a
platform. Let me explain:

Advancing technology needs and the progressive death of my newtons
forced me to adopt other platforms; but for my PDA-needs I ended
carrying with me paper and pencil wich I find a step backwards.

Today, my friends still are amazed by the newton software.

The thing is, although we cannot emulate completely the newton without
the permission and/or licencing from Apple (wich I think it would be
impossible or expensive), we can replicate the funcionality. Make a set
of interoperable application that work like a newton. We can replicate
step by step any piece of the interface we find useful, while not
"copying" code (this is some sort of valid reverse engineering, I
think). Skinnable interface, so we can do a workaround on the newton
licence (shipping with a diferent interface and then "someone" makes a
newton skin that looks like the real thing).

The resultant application, while bordering on the edge of the
plagiarism, would be legal, I think.

¿So, what is Newton for you? ¿What do you really use from the newton?

For me, the best thing about newton was its intuitive method of
organizing the data, namely the "Notes", "Names" and "Dates"
application. Also, the intuitive interface.

The HWR not so good, because english was not my first language. As I
discussed on some previous messages, Windows XP had vastly superior HWR
(except for gestures), and while vista did only incremental updates,
Windows 7 HWR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxY4wfKGWXg) seems just
like what we used for our newton, except I don't know if I can implement
a "write anywhere" code (first XP Tablet was Write Anywhere, but since
then they have a floating input bar; it works OK but is not intuitive).

As for size, the OQO model 2+ can run Vista (and Windows 7), has a
capacitive OLED screen, and is not dissimilar in size to the newton,
although a bit expensive (the current model, the 2 costs about 2000$).
There are a lot of UMPC's that, albeit a bit bigger, pack much more puch
for less price and they sport real touch screen (the same as Tablet PC's
with pressure sensitivity).

 From what I recall from the posts the newton is it lauded from its
great HWR, but is mostly used for ebook reading and basic tasks.

If I have to make a software that replicates the newton functionality we
use, I need to know what we use ^_^

I think I ranted enough...

Happy New Year everyone!

(Disclaimer: English is not my first language, so anything that seems
unsensible or plain offensive, excuse me or ask for clarification)

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Received on Mon Jan 5 09:14:58 2009