Re: [NTLK] Tablet PC

From: Laurent Domenech (laurent_at_opalis.com)
Date: Wed Nov 14 2001 - 10:26:03 EST


> Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 10:39:29 +0000
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Tablet PC
> From: John Whitehead <john_at_modestine.com>
>
> But Laurent's idea is a good one. What's great about the Newton is not so
> much the physical object and the software that it runs (though, believe
me,
> I'm very fond of it) but the ideas underlying it. An excellent example
was

Thanks. I like the Newton hardware and the HWR but one major feature of the
Newton is its GUI and the file system abstraction. Two things that were
copied by the Palm people (well, maybe copied ins't the right word since
some Newton people went to Palm).

If the only thing Microsoft does to name it tablet PC is to add HWR to a
Windows CE machine (to launch this, tap the Start menu...), then it's worth
to do this. The project could start by being simply a new GUI/file system
abstraction/SDK on top of the existing OS (to use their HWR engine, if it's
good). Then be moved to a free OS, retaining the same SDK for a source-code
compatibility. Again, I maybe dreaming but I've seen many harder (free/open
source) projects succeed.

> These ideas must be portable. Moreover, there's no copyright in ideas (or
at
> least there wasn't until the US patent office started getting all
creative)
> so much of what we'd want is outside Apple's control.

Well, I was thinking of reproducing almost bit-by-bit the look and feel.
However, this may be easily tweaked to be different enough but stay in the
same spirit. Just imagine how cool would a color, big screen yet thin Newton
be. A perfect book reader and wireless web browser too.

Anyway, I'll draw some plans. Any developer interested please contact me off
list. If we can build a small dedicated team, it's doable. Otherwise it's
just one nice discussion (at least on topic).

Regards,
Laurent

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