[NTLK] Restarting Newton development

[Sylvain Pilet]

Many of us think the same thing! We (most of us) have known the beginning of computing. At that time those who conceived computers were often passionate, but very soon the lure of gain prevailed.

It was only when a group of enthusiasts, working on a project, without having too much shareholder pressure, they were able to design beautiful products (hardware and / or software). This was the case (in part) for the Newton team.

The idea of ​​designing a whole new system, in order to satisfy users first and foremost, is a wonderful project. It will take a lot of work, not just code!
The philosophy, design, ergonomics, usability, evolution ... of such an OS must all be in agreement with this idea. This is what is happening today among the giants of computing. But their goal is different. So it also means that the methods we teach everyone are unfortunately oriented for the current business.
We should be able to have genius ideas on every aspect of the project, for that to make sense. In a way, it's a quest for the holy grail of computing! :-)

Sylvain Pilet 
http://message-pad.net

Envoyé de mon iPhone

> Le 2 août 2018 à 18:16, lordgroundhog at gmail.com a écrit :
> 
> 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".