[NTLK] Love Notes to Newton

[Forrest Buffenmyer]

I agree with Eckhart. While it would be great to “surf the Web” with the Newton, I realize that such an effort, even with the proper security clearances (to allow sites to load) would, ultimately, be a failed effort.

IT’S A BLACK AND WHITE DISPLAY. You’ll not be able to keep up with all the graphics stuff that’s out there.

I for one have not missed the failure of Internet browsing because of all the other great things you can still do with the Newton.

....(chirping crickets)....

Okay, well maybe it’s not all that many. But, as Eckhart pointed out, email DOES still work. There is a great feeling of accomplishment—especially for me—to compose an email response to someone on the Newton and then send it, wirelessly.

That’s still not broken.

Mahalo,
Forrest


Sent from my iPad Pro 9.7"

On Jul 25, 2018, at 12:53 AM, Eckhart Köppen <eck at 40hz.org> wrote:

>> On 25 Jul 2018, at 8.28, Steven Frank <stevenf at panic.com> wrote:
>> 
>> One part that resonated was when someone (I forget who!) described how the shared data storage of the Newton enabled some truly innovative applications -- because there were no walls between them and your data and each other and the OS -- and how that's literally just impossible today with always-connected devices because you have to assume you are under attack by malicious forces at all times, and firewall everything appropriately.
> 
> Might have been me, but I think others made a similar point. Shared apps and data infrastructure was truly fascinating and allowed a lot of innovative use cases! There are these poor man's variations such as NextSTEP services, but those don't come close to the real thing.
> 
>> But the threats today are real, numerous, and severe, and appropriate safeguards must exist, especially if we are to be online at all times, and those come at the cost of a Newton-like way of doing things.  Everything must be more complex, more rigid, less elegant, if we are to keep our data secure.  The garden walls are sturdy and keep out all but the most dedicated baddies -- but they also keep us inside.
> 
> In my last years at Nokia I was working on a new, Linux based OS for low cost devices (if you consider how Nokia named their Linux based operating systems after famous winds, you know which one it was ;)
> 
> It was in one point remarkably similar to NewtonOS, but only for a brief time: It was based on a shared database, and applications were written in JavaScript, running in one shared process. It actually worked quite well, but started to fall apart once security was added (yes, I know, you can't add security after the fact): Database access was partitioned, and applications all ran in their own process. That itentitional change broke most of the functionality, and not shortly after, the project was cancelled. There were more severe reasons for cancellation, but having the thing not work properly certainly didn't help.
> 
> But I'm still slightly more optimistic that something like the shared data and application architecture of NewtonOS could be recreated. However it's the same as security, I don't think it can be bolted on to an existing system, it has to be designed in right from the start, and together with security.
> 
> Eckhart
> 
> PS: One of the long term weaknesses of the Newton (connectivity) might in the end be a strength, considering how the Internet has developed over the last decade. Maybe it's just not worth connecting to it anymore. Email seems alright though.
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