[NTLK] Participants required "community" research survey

[Jon Glass]

On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 2:33 PM, Lord Groundhog <LordGroundhog at gmail.com>wrote:

> Out of curiosity, when did NewtonTalk start and who were the first
> generation?  Is there a history of the list -- sorry, "the community" --
> somewhere on the intertubes?
>

The list was started in the mid-90s by a fellow named Sean O'Shaughnessey.
He wrote to Grant a while ago, and Grant posted his email here. I'm copying
the most of it below:
====
Subject: Hello from the first List Dad
From:    Sean O'Shaughnessey
To:      Grant Hutchinson

Grant -

Not sure if you will remember me. I am Sean O'Shaughnessey and back in
the mid to late 90s I started an email discussion list called
NewtonTalk. It grew into a list of about 1100 users around the world
and was probably the largest virtual group for the Newton PDA. It was
getting too hard to integrate the Newton into my work life (and Apple
had dropped it) so I had to move on to a different tool and
subsequently couldn't justify donating the time to NewtonTalk.

It appears that you are now the list dad. I occasionally go to your
site and reminisce. I am happy that the community that I started 10-12
years ago is still going strong.

Say hello to everyone for me. Keep up the good work.
====

There are a few of us oldtimers left. Victor Rehorst (the third list dad,
after PlanetNewton folded) is here, I think, as is Paul Guyot--or at least
he posted a few months ago, I believe. Frank is probably the last of the
truly old timers who is still active with the Newton, and active posting.
There were a bunch more of very active folks, but most have moved on. For
myself, I put my Newton on desk duty in 2005, when I cracked the screen
getting into my car. I bought a Palm, and used that for most things, with
my Newton being used at my desk for things I could never get the Palm to do
well (conversions, bulk note-taking, calculating, and a couple other apps I
forget at the moment). When I got my iPhone in 2009, I found apps for that
that completely replaced my poor Newton. Since both its batteries and
charger had died, I was reduced to using Duracells, which I really didn't
like doing, so it's kind of on display now. I could never give them up,
though. My daughters used theirs until 2009 as well. We have three or four
Newtons, and a Sharp (version of the MP100), and a few accessories, but I
can't bring myself to get rid of them, nor can I bring myself to
unsubscribe from this list. I don't contribute a lot these days, but I hold
on anyway. :-)
-- 
 -Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass at usa.net>

"I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals." --Jack
Nicklaus

"...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints." --Jude 3