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- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!decwrl!adobe!boosman@adobe.com
- From: boosman@adobe.com (Frank Boosman)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
- Subject: Re: a non-techie view of Newton
- Message-ID: <1992Jul31.034022.20774@adobe.com>
- Date: 31 Jul 92 03:40:22 GMT
- References: <BrK4qL.ME8@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1992Jul18.151149.14496@oswego.Oswego.EDU>
- Sender: usenet@adobe.com (USENET NEWS)
- Organization: Adobe Systems Inc.
- Lines: 62
-
- In article <1992Jul18.151149.14496@oswego.Oswego.EDU>, ostroff@Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff) writes:
- >
- > In article <BrK4qL.ME8@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> lamont@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Bradley Lamont) writes:
- > >After all the discussion about how great Newton will be and how it's for the
- > >non-computer people of the world, I just though I'd point out the quick
- > >blurb about it in Newsweek.
- >
- > I guess I'd consider myself a "techie", but I personally agree with
- > this assessment. I'll confess I know very little about this product since
- > it looks like a real yawner to me. Why would I want something that
- > recognizes my handwriting? I'm perfectly happy typing. This is going to
- > take a lot of software and processing power to do something that a REAL
- > notepad could do better. I would rather see smaller, faster, cheaper
- > keyboard-based systems.
- >
- > [...]
- >
- > >The quick
- > >blurb summarizing it is "We are finding costly and complex ways to do what
- > >was once simple and inexpensive."
- >
- > Amen.
-
- 1. Note that I'm operating on the same vague information as everyone else
- here.
-
- 2. The central point of Newton is not that it can be controlled by a pen.
- Therefore, to say, "Why would I want something that recognizes my
- handwriting?" is an invalid question, because it assumes that is all
- or even most of what Newton can do.
-
- 3. I plan on buying a Newton device as soon as they're released. I don't
- anticipate using it for any writing except the shortest notes. (I'm
- a reasonably good typist, so using a pen for serious writing would be
- a humongous productivity-reducer.) I want to do things with Newton that
- you can't do with traditional media, at least not easily. For example:
-
- A. You're in Paris. You're lost. You look at the street signs at the
- nearest corner, but the names aren't familiar. You pull out your
- handy pocket map of the city, but at pocket map resolution, many
- street names are omitted. What you really want to do is write the
- names of the streets, feed this information to a Paris guide
- application, watch it show you your exact location on a map, then
- ask it for directions to the nearest Metro station. Once there, the
- application should show you the optimal route to your destination,
- taking into account not only the Metro map, but also the RER
- (commuter lines, faster) and even the time of day, which influences
- the frequency of trains on any given line.
-
- B. Same scenario as above, but now it's five years in the future. Apple
- or one of their partners is producing Newton devices with built-in
- GPS receivers--Sony already has a dedicated handheld GPS receiver
- for about $1000--and so I don't have to enter street names. Further,
- as I walk along, my guide application can tell me what is all
- around me, updating as I walk on a continuous basis.
-
- 4. These Newsweek people need to lighten up!
-
- -- Frank Boosman
- Adobe Systems Inc.
- Mountain View, CA
- boosman@adobe.com
-