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Newton FAQ

newtonfaq.com

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Re: Newton FAQ

#11

Post by jhbadger »

georgeecollins wrote: post #8
AlbertCory wrote: post #3

In working on my Book III (basically, the early 90s), I've done a ton of research on handheld devices and the money pit they were. Newton is not going to be any more than a footnote. Jerry Kaplan's book Startup tells the story about how Sculley stabbed GO in the back with Newton -- actually, both GO and General Magic. They got a lot of press and flopped miserably. And of course, let's not forget Momenta (as easy as t…

Startup is a really good book. People should be very wary of power of monopolies, MSFT also really messed with GO and General Magic. The example of Palm vs Newton is great because it shows how clear goals trump excellent technology. Newton had this amazing OS where you could turn it on or off at any moment and preserve state. All data was available to all apps. And with that technology -- and probably some other choi…

And Palm's "Graffiti" actually existed as a software package for the Newton by Palm before the Palm Pilot! It was popular in the early days of the Newton because the handwriting recognition in the first versions of the Newton OS were pretty bad (Remember Doonesbury's "Egg Freckles" comic, or The Simpsons' "Eat up Martha" when the bullies were trying to write "Beat up Martin"?)

Re: Newton FAQ

#12

Post by torstenvl »

jhbadger wrote: post #9
ctxc wrote: post #2

Is it really a good FAQ if it doesn't explain _what_ it is as top level info? What is this? There are no links to the original product (or whatever it is - hardware? Software? OS?) either in the first few minutes of navigation.

Has the Apple Newton really fallen so far out of the public consciousness that this wouldn't be obvious? What about the Palm Pilot? Yes, I know the idea of PDAs has basically disappeared since the advent of smartphones (which are really just PDAs that also work as phones), but even so.

I know what an Apple Newton is. But this is not the Apple Newton FAQ. It's the Newton FAQ.

If you don't specify the context and namespace, don't be surprised when people don't know wtf you're talking about. You might as well make a "String Class FAQ"

Re: Newton FAQ

#13

Post by throwanem »

jhbadger wrote: post #9
ctxc wrote: post #2

Is it really a good FAQ if it doesn't explain _what_ it is as top level info? What is this? There are no links to the original product (or whatever it is - hardware? Software? OS?) either in the first few minutes of navigation.

Has the Apple Newton really fallen so far out of the public consciousness that this wouldn't be obvious? What about the Palm Pilot? Yes, I know the idea of PDAs has basically disappeared since the advent of smartphones (which are really just PDAs that also work as phones), but even so.

> Has the Apple Newton really fallen so far out of the public consciousness that this wouldn't be obvious?

Yes.

> What about the Palm Pilot?

The what?

Kidding aside, I doubt anyone who finds their way to this FAQ without knowing what it's about will care enough to find out. If they do, there's no shortage of obvious search terms throughout the text that will make the context very easy to come by.

Re: Newton FAQ

#14

Post by CharlesW »

georgeecollins wrote: post #8
AlbertCory wrote: post #3

In working on my Book III (basically, the early 90s), I've done a ton of research on handheld devices and the money pit they were. Newton is not going to be any more than a footnote. Jerry Kaplan's book Startup tells the story about how Sculley stabbed GO in the back with Newton -- actually, both GO and General Magic. They got a lot of press and flopped miserably. And of course, let's not forget Momenta (as easy as t…

Startup is a really good book. People should be very wary of power of monopolies, MSFT also really messed with GO and General Magic. The example of Palm vs Newton is great because it shows how clear goals trump excellent technology. Newton had this amazing OS where you could turn it on or off at any moment and preserve state. All data was available to all apps. And with that technology -- and probably some other choi…

> Startup is a really good book.

A Google search is surprisingly unhelpful at a finding the book you mean. Who is the author?

Re: Newton FAQ

#16

Post by chongli »

CharlesW wrote: post #14
georgeecollins wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startup is a really good book. People should be very wary of power of monopolies, MSFT also really messed with GO and General Magic. The example of Palm vs Newton is great because it shows how clear goals trump excellent technology. Newton had this amazing OS where you could turn it on or off at any moment and preserve state. All data was available to all apps. And with that technology -- and probably some other choi…

> Startup is a really good book. A Google search is surprisingly unhelpful at a finding the book you mean. Who is the author?

Jerry Kaplan.

Re: Newton FAQ

#17

Post by AlbertCory »

georgeecollins wrote: post #8
AlbertCory wrote: post #3

In working on my Book III (basically, the early 90s), I've done a ton of research on handheld devices and the money pit they were. Newton is not going to be any more than a footnote. Jerry Kaplan's book Startup tells the story about how Sculley stabbed GO in the back with Newton -- actually, both GO and General Magic. They got a lot of press and flopped miserably. And of course, let's not forget Momenta (as easy as t…

Startup is a really good book. People should be very wary of power of monopolies, MSFT also really messed with GO and General Magic. The example of Palm vs Newton is great because it shows how clear goals trump excellent technology. Newton had this amazing OS where you could turn it on or off at any moment and preserve state. All data was available to all apps. And with that technology -- and probably some other choi…

There is another really good book that's sadly out of print: Piloting Palm by Andrea Butter & David Pogue (yes, that David Pogue, from the Nature PBS shows).

tip: don't pay the $80 for a new one. I got a used one for $8, and it came within 3-4 days.

Re: Newton FAQ

#18

Post by gurchik »

criddell wrote: post #15

“Can I use my Newton as a web server?” Really? That’s a frequently asked question?

Similar to Doom, there is a group of people who try to get web servers running on unconventional hardware. There is an HTTP server for the Nintendo 3DS for example: https://github.com/dimaguy/3ds-httpd

Re: Newton FAQ

#19

Post by kwhitefoot »

criddell wrote: post #15

“Can I use my Newton as a web server?” Really? That’s a frequently asked question?

I doubt that any question related to the Apple Newton would be frequently asked! Assuming that Apple Newton is what it is about, the FAQ doesn't seem to explain.

Re: Newton FAQ

#20

Post by [deleted] »

ctxc wrote: post #2

Is it really a good FAQ if it doesn't explain _what_ it is as top level info? What is this? There are no links to the original product (or whatever it is - hardware? Software? OS?) either in the first few minutes of navigation.

[deleted]
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