[NTLK] Restarting Newton development

[lordgroundhog at gmail.com]

Hi Jason,

     "The computing industry will NEVER revive 
     Document-centric computing!".

     And

     "It will be up to the Community to create 
     computing as they truly want it to be!".

Thanks for this Jason.  Ever since I finally got my first Newton 13 years ago and realized what I'd been missing, I've been thinking about this same thing, and I reluctantly came to similar conclusions to your own two.  I say it like this: As long as hardware and software companies can print money by pushing the same archaic work style at us, they have no incentive to give us what we want. Sic semper.  To re-phrase a favourite saying of a friend of mine, 'Computer development moves at the speed of money'. 

I suspect we have no hope of changing this unless we use the computer industry's bottom line the same way a farmer uses the ring in a bull's nose.  To me that means: we produce for ourselves the alternative we want to use just as you've suggested, but then we win over a significant portion of the industry's existing customer base, or at least the computer media, to the virtues of content-based computing. That's what will give us the leverage (if anything can) to remind the industry that they don't own their customers and they need to keep us happy, not the other way round.

With success and the departure of the old guard, even Apple has forgotten this.  Now they just churn out Newer, Faster, Shinier, Pricier, instead of Better.  If we buy it, they won't change.  

Comments like yours are part of why I'm not likely to leave this community any time sooni along with the astonishing hardware and software people here.  Newtonians are an island of sanity in a sea of computer madness.  

As for giving up my Newts?  

"...from my cold, dead hands".



Shalom,

Christian

~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Any sufficiently advanced technology 
will be indistinguishable 
from a Newton. 
~~~ ~~~ ~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: j <thej at shaw.ca>
To: newtontalk at newtontalk.net
Sent: Wed, 01 Aug 2018 16:59
Subject: [NTLK] Restarting Newton development

>* Restarting Newton development
> 
>Now that BasiliskII and Einstein are best friends, developing new apps is actually no longer a nightmare. Is there any >interest in learning Newton Script (making or watching Video tutorials)?
> 
>Also, is there a new interested in creating a new NewtonOS? A lot of code already exists which is free of copyright. >Creating a new OS from scratch is possible, albeit painful and work intensive.
> 
> 
>- Matthias, crazy as usual
 
 
 
I think BOTH are FANTASTIC ideas !!
 
 
Over the last month or so, I have been (obsessively?) researching what I would call "the lost Future of Computing". In essence, Document-Centric & Collaborative Computing of which, the Newton is definitely a part.
 
I've been doing this "research" because I feel that "modern" computing is not what it is supposed to be. It has also become very clear that "Apps" are a Business Model not a computing model. The document-centric aspects of computing that were "the future" have been thrown away because it is not as profitable.
 
This brings me to a couple of conclusions:
"The computing industry will NEVER revive Document-centric computing!".
And
"It will be up to the Community to create computing as they truly want it to be!".
 
I feel that my conclusions are correct (for the foreseeable future) and I sincerely encourage Matthias and all other Newton developers to create a Newton-like OS that can run on top of MODERN hardware (Raspberry Pi, PINE64, Libre Computer, etc) and on top of modern OSes (Mac, Win, Linux).
 
There is SOOO MUCH that could be done with a free and open version of NewtonOS with Collaborative, Network-aware apps/documents! The Web is NOT needed for this. Although a web server can still play a very powerful role in it.
 
 
*** I want to Contribute ***
...but I'm not a developer.
 
 
I am very interested in learning NewtonScript and would start as soon as I can (I have Mac OS X, Win 7 and Ubuntu 18 loaded and ready!). I have some programming experience but not as an employed programmer.
Tutorial videos would be AWESOME !!! I'll start with the books for now.
 
I am also part of a few 3D Printing initiatives (taking most of my time right now). I can lend my expertise to the community with this as well.
 
I have wanted to get a Newton ever since they were released! So amazing !! (Not that I have to convince anyone here :-)  I know someone who may be able to give me one for free but I'm still waiting to hear back :-). I have looked at eBay and the prices are way over the top. I will have to look elsewhere if my contact falls through.
 
I look forward to a Future with Newton :-)
 
Jason
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