[NTLK] Newton Ux

Wed Mar 15 01:46:49 EDT 2017

Please don't misconstrue my comments as lack of support for the Newton (and, along with that, I'm not suggesting that anyone has).

I consider myself very fortunate to have devices that run the newest versions of iOS (10) and MacOS (Sierra), as well as machines that run ProDOS, Mac OS System 6, 7.5, 9, etc., and various flavors of OS X. I mention this because the cycle appears to be: OS "__" is introduced, users adopt it; OS "__+1" is then introduced with newer machines, the older ones are left behind; and so on. The previous generations are pushed aside and forgotten until users rediscover the magic and convenience they still offer, even if some features no longer function well (Internet browsing, synchronization with other Macs, etc.), or at all.

There will always be those that are only interested in the Newest and Brightest; some that hang on to and continue to enjoy older treasured machines; and some that do both. I myself will use my Newton until it's entirely impractical to do so (which I don't see happening), or its various internal and external parts fail. This is the place that many of our former frequent participants are--still followers of NTLK but whom, for various reasons, don't use the Newton as much as before.

For them, perhaps, a newer version of Newton OS would be a welcome introduction...but one that, as Grant and others suggest, stays true in concept to the original.

I would look forward to that.

Thanks,
Forrest

Sent from my T-Mobile iPhone 6 Plus

> On Mar 14, 2017, at 1:00 PM, Jeff Sheldon <jeffsheldon at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> All the comments on this topic are extremely valuable.  I especially
> appreciate that spectrum of pros/cons/obstacles and grounded thoughts on
> the matter.  Part of the reason I first asked was to get an idea of whether
> people seem to be fine with things the way they are, design-wise, or if
> there's an eventual desire to take things, visually anyway, a different
> direction.  This could of course be many years away.
> 
> As for color and whatnot, I'm making the assumption that Newton Inc.
> considered this inevitability fairly strongly and had some solid ideas in
> the works that would have merit in fulfilling.  My message to Mr. Yamashita
> was enthusiastically passed on, but I haven't heard anything back yet and
> might not (will check back in).
> 
> Mostly I'm just curious as to what the general atmosphere around this issue
> is.
> 
> The comments about iOS and the handheld bring up the issues of tangible
> usability and presence.  I just bought a $13 1st gen iPod Touch, jailbroke
> it, and am playing around with the idea of compiling a super slow instance
> of Einstein for it.  Has anyone already done this on any i-device and have
> any thoughts on the usability?  I seem to recall hearing that at least one
> person here has done it.
> 
> 
> -Jeff
> 
> 
> On Tue, Mar 14, 2017 at 2:27 PM, Ermin Mistica <erminmistica at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> That's an awesome explanation. I've recently started on a road to a new
>> career and am learning how to code. One of the things I promised myself a
>> decade ago was to learn NewtonScript if I could and contribute to this
>> Operating System/Community.
>> 
>> Until this day watching the old Newton commercials and demos brings a
>> certain "warmth" to my heart. We were really part of a revolution. One that
>> the rest of the world is realizing these last ten years with iOS and
>> Android. A handheld is commonplace now. Woo Hoo! But none so far really
>> touch on the sometimes awkward, very much awesome steps the Newton made.
>> 
>> I look forward to what comes even if it remains in "hobbyist" hands.
>> 
>> Newton On!
>> 
>> - -
>> Ermin F Mistica
>> (773) 413-0316 Google Voice
>> erminmistica at gmail.com
>> erminmistica.wordpress.com
>> 
>> Privileged or confidential information may be contained in this message.
>> If you are not the addressee nor responsible for delivery, you may nAll the comments on this topic are extremely valuable.  I especially
> appreciate that spectrum of pros/cons/obstacles and grounded thoughts on
> the matter.  Part of the reason I first asked was to get an idea of whether
> people seem to be fine with things the way they are, design-wise, or if
> there's an eventual desire to take things, visually anyway, a different
> direction.  This could of course be many years away.
> 
> As for color and whatnot, I'm making the assumption that Newton Inc.
> considered this inevitability fairly strongly and had some solid ideas in
> the works that would have merit in fulfilling.  My message to Mr. Yamashita
> was enthusiastically passed on, but I haven't heard anything back yet and
> might not (will check back in).
> 
> Mostly I'm just curious as to what the general atmosphere around this issue
> is.
> 
> The comments about iOS and the handheld bring up the issues of tangible
> usability and presence.  I just bought a $13 1st gen iPod Touch, jailbroke
> it, and am playing around with the idea of compiling a super slow instance
> of Einstein for it.  Has anyone already done this on any i-device and have
> any thoughts on the usability?  I seem to recall hearing that at least one
> person here has done it.
> 
> 
> -Jeff
> 
> 
> On Tue, Mar 14, 2017 at 2:27 PM, Ermin Mistica <erminmistica at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> That's an awesome explanation. I've recently started on a road to a new
>> career and am learning how to code. One of the things I promised myself a
>> decade ago was to learn NewtonScript if I could and contribute to this
>> Operating System/Community.
>> 
>> Until this day watching the old Newton commercials and demos brings a
>> certain "warmth" to my heart. We were really part of a revolution. One that
>> the rest of the world is realizing these last ten years with iOS and
>> Android. A handheld is commonplace now. Woo Hoo! But none so far really
>> touch on the sometimes awkward, very much awesome steps the Newton made.
>> 
>> I look forward to what comes even if it remains in "hobbyist" hands.
>> 
>> Newton On!
>> 
>> - -
>> Ermin F Mistica
>> (773) 413-0316 Google Voice
>> erminmistica at gmail.com
>> erminmistica.wordpress.com
>> 
>> Privileged or confidential information may be contained in this message.
>> If you are not the addressee nor responsible for delivery, you may not
>> read, copy, deliver or forward this message to anyone unless otherwise
>> noted. Correspondingly please refrain from sharing the above contact
>> information with third parties.  If this message has been received in
>> error, please destroy immediately and notify sender. Live long and prosper
>> 🖖🏽
>> 
>> (v.iP6P)
>> 
>>> On Mar 14, 2017, at 8:29 AM, Forrest <newton_phoenix at mindspring.com>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Well, this brings up a thought-provoking question: is there a point in
>> the future when we will choose to abandon the original Newton OS in favor
>> of a (greatly) improved version?
>>> 
>>> In other words, will we soon choose to run only Einstein (or some
>> derivative) instead of the original Newton OS because it offers more
>> features, speed, etc.?
>>> 
>>> In a way, this is already happening. While years ago, some on NTLK
>> lamented longer messages and content unfriendly to downloading email on the
>> Newton itself (such as HTML links); the argument was that one of the joys
>> of using the Newton was receiving email from NTLK. Such content/length made
>> that less and less viable.
>>> 
>>> I still enjoy reading email on my MP, but it is becoming more and more
>> of a challenge. I'm not suggesting that we do away with links or other
>> things that impede that process; just that we have moved away from using
>> the Newton for such things.
>>> 
>>> Might we (eventually) also move away from the original platform in other
>> ways as well?
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Forrest
>>> 
>>> Sent from my T-Mobile iPhone 6 Plus
>>> 
>>>> On Mar 13, 2017, at 4:00 PM, Grant Hutchinson <grant at splorp.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On 2017-03-13, at 4:41 PM, Daniel Parnell wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> If we got enough people coding away to add unimplemented functions
>> then it could be done, but I agree, it’s a huge job!
>>>> 
>>>> That's a perfect application of the infinite monkey theorem.
>>>> 
>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
>>>> 
>>>> g.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> http://newtontalk.net/
>>>> http://twitter.com/newtontalk
>>> 
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
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>>> http://twitter.com/newtontalk
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>> 
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>> http://twitter.com/newtontalk
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -Jeff
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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