Re: [NTLK] [OT] Bigger than iWalk

From: Jon Glass (jonglass_at_usa.net)
Date: Tue Jan 08 2002 - 08:45:15 EST


on 1/8/02 10:54 AM, BK at bk_newtontalk_at_yahoo.com wrote:

> Apple abandonded the Newton as it scared them that they had built
> something that was so good it could have eventually threatened their
> lucrative PowerBook business. And everyone of us who have used a Newton
> refuses to buy into any propaganda designed to make us forget about it.

I hate to burst bubbles, but the Newton OS, while on the surface a wonderful
OS, by the time of its demise, was a bunch of patches and hacks, and was a
disaster under the surface. In other words, it didn't have "legs" to last
much longer. It wasn't a threat to their PB business because it was going to
blow up in their face anyway. In fact, the flagship MacOS reached that same
point of with OS 9. Apple really needed X to keep it moving forward. The OS
needs a complete re-write, as did Windows. Unfortunately, neither the latest
OS from Apple or Redmond are simple systems, and are starting out not much
better than their predecessors left off. Back to the Newton, it would have
had to gone through the same painful transition, requiring all the recourses
necessary. In the end, due to mismanagement under Amelio (and under Jobs)
the least painful option ended up being to kill the Newton. It wasn't
because the Newton future was too bright, but because there was no future.

> Not everybody is in a position to see for themselves though.

Now, now, you begin to sound like a conspiracy theorist. ;-) People use what
they want to use. They see what they want to see, and believe what they want
to believe for the most part. To pretend that they are too stupid to know
better is a bit presumptuous. The truth is that maybe they don't have the
same priorities you do. To insult them or their intelligence is a bit much
for me. :-) There may be those who, through ignorance of computers in
general, put up with more than they need to, but I have also found that
those same people are not willing to change or choose "better" by my
standards. That is their choice.

-- 
-Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<mailto:jonglass_at_usa.net>
<mailto:glasshaus5_at_aol.com>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin

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