The Newton was there in 1993, system-wide. We sort of take it for granted with many apps today (including good web apps) that you don’t have to explicitly save changes, and that you don’t have to pick a unique name and directory path for each new thing you create. The Newton used new metaphors, and in many ways, better abstractions than the Mac. The Newton was Apple’s first answer to that. double-click) for the non-experts? Surely no one expects the computer interfaces of, say, 50 years hence to be based on these same metaphors and input methods. Have you ever sat back, scratched your chin, and wondered when the computer industry will break free of these current interfaces - which can be a hassle even for experts, and downright confusing (e.g. Our “desktop” computers’ human interfaces haven’t fundamentally changed since 1984 - keyboard and mouse/trackpad for input, overlapping draggable resizable windows on-screen, and a hierarchical file system where you create and manage “document files”. They really were remarkable, innovative devices. I suspect most of you reading this have never used, let alone owned, a Newton, which is a shame. It’s a fascinating comparison point for both the iPhone and whatever it is Apple is set to release. Thinking of the Newton got my gears turning. Second, even if you’re only concerned about who was first, shouldn’t that credit go to Apple, for the Newton MessagePad that first shipped in 1993? I imagine Thurrott as a film critic in 1968, irritated at the hype surrounding Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey on the grounds that Ed Wood made Plan 9 From Outer Space nine years earlier. The hype isn’t about Apple possibly unveiling the first tablet computing device it’s about Apple possibly unveiling the first great one. First, however misguided much of the pre-announcement hype for the Apple tablet is, I haven’t seen anyone argue that tablet computers don’t already exist. The punchline being that Microsoft’s 2001 Tablet PC initiative was the forebear to whatever it is that Apple seems poised to unveil, and Microsoft isn’t getting its due credit for this trailblazing effort. Unbelievable, trend-setting, and innovative product… And I have an exclusive photo of a prototype of this Partners will announce and then deliver their own Tablet PC wellīefore Apple. Has their number: I can now reveal that Microsoft and its PC maker Maybe-it-is-maybe-it-isn’t Tablet computing device, but Microsoft The tech industry is tripping over itself to promote Apple’s A big trade show is a hard thing to capture in prose, and Thurrott got it.īut I chuckled at this piece starting his CES coverage, “ Exclusive! Microsoft to Announce Tablet PC Before Apple!”: I enjoyed Paul Thurrott’s daily coverage of CES last week. The Original Tablet Thursday, 14 January 2010
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