I understand what you are saying, but at the same time you are
preaching to a group that has formed around the aspect of using
"bizarre" technology to fill a personal need. A group whose continued
support for an outdated platform is only kept alive by the sharing of
ideas, failures, and successes made against standards previously
thought to be unsurpassable. If we as a group are determined to stick
to pre-denounced standards then we have dealt the sentence of death
against the Newton platform we have so long fought to support,
improve, and expand. Without our ability to look past the standards
set before us capabilities such as Wireless and Bluetooth
connectivity not to mention interoperability with today's software
platforms would have never been realized, and we would still be
utilizing the same Newton platform Apple abandoned and attempted to
set in stone ten years ago. It is true that pioneering new ideas, or
pushing the limits of old ones is dangerous, and may not reveal the
results expected. You are right that users should not complain or
make fuss when confronted with obstacles long thought to be
unbreakable. But by telling users to stick to known standards it is
you who is pronouncing that death sentence against the Newton. And in
the name of this community I kindly ask that you ignore the posts you
fail to agree with, and allow others to share in the discoveries that
they are making while stretching the known limits of the Newton
platform. After all it is because of those shared discoveries that we
as a group find community, and advance the platform we love.
Tom Brand (T2)
mynewtonblog.net
On May 10, 2007, at 10:20 AM, M. Kowal wrote:
> Yeah, I might have been a bit harsh, but you must agree that there
> are some ridiculous ideas floating around. Some people will spend
> three or four grand on an Apple computer and then use some
> convoluted methodology to avoid spending a hundred bucks somewhere
> else. Allow me illustrate this further with a *slight* exageration:
> "I need a power supply for my eMate. I know it's supposed to take X-
> volts at so many amps. However, I'm wondering if I can wear a tin
> foil hat and connect a lightning rod to the Newton to power it that
> way. Oh, and I want to know if I can download software from the
> OLPC initiative via Ubuntu and transfer it across a FireWire-to-
> Serial-to-Kerosene interface. I'm using a G5 Mac with OS 11 with a
> 1 baud modem. It would also be great if it could read JCL from a
> mainframe..."
>
> The point I'm making is this -- our Community is small enough
> already. Let's try to at least adhere to some standards, so that we
> can solidify and strengthen our efforts. Experimentation is fine,
> but let's not be ridiculous about it.
>
>
> Matt K.
> Detroit, Michigan USA
-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/Received on Thu May 10 11:08:02 2007
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