🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <32314375.3DCC@wharton.upenn.edu> Richard Van Nostrand
<richar88@wharton.upenn.edu> writes:
>One note, this does seem to be the Newton Lovers' Newsgroup.  The lack
>of dissenting views does not mean that there are many people who either
>dislike their Newton or are ambivalent about it.  I suspect many people
>in the latter two categories do not subscribe to this newsgroup, present
>company excluded.

Given the wild distribution that you gave your original message (some six
different news groups) I'd say that your statement here is not exactly valid. 
Yes, you hit comp.sys.newton.misc which will undoubtably have numerous Newton
fans reading, but life in the other groups you've hit isn't quite so pro
Newton.  For example I've seen numerous comments in the past in comp.sys.pen
complaining that the Newton is inadequate.

>Regardless of this fact, one cannot deride the number
>of people speaking on the Newton's behalf.

Indeed.  What's especially remarkable is that given the distribution of this
thread there have been no messages siding with your point of view.

To me it sounds as if your only real problem with your Newton is the whine from
the power-saving circuitry (the screen-whine to which you refer).  It is not
unheard of for Newtons to be replaced for this exact problem, however all
MessagePad's from the 110 onwards exhibit this flaw to some degree.  If I were
you I'd persist in talking to Apple about getting a replacement.

>One other comment, white noise and low frequency noises are much less
>bothersome than high frequency whines.

I don't know...  Personally I'm used to high frequency noise - I can hear when
a TV or computer monitor is turned on from the high-pitch whistle the tube
makes, so I've learned to live with it.  Not many people have such a range of
hearing though.

>I can say it completely seriously.  I was rather clueless about the
>number of packages out there for the Newton before coming to this
>newsgroup, so I do thank all those who have made product
>recommendations.

And this is exactly where you have made a fool of yourself.  Instead of just
writing to comp.sys.newton.misc saying "hey guys, I've got a few problems with
my Newton, got any advice?" you decided instead to publically deride the
product without having all the facts.  Then again, maybe your tactic was a wise
one after all, since you provoked significant debate and answers to your
problems were quickly forthcoming, although I seriously doubt that was your
original intent.

>Perhaps by relying on some third party software I can
>bear my Newton.

Well, nothing is going to stop the whine, but extra software can certainly fill
in most of the functional gaps you perceive.  You should have all the answers
by now as to what packages will fill your needs, so I won't go into them.

>I still think it is too much of a bother to get
>software for the Newton, but then I am always willing to pay for
>convenience.  (Hint, hint any entrepreneurs out there who want to offer
>a one-stop shop for all the small Newton software development shops
>without a distribution network other than the Newton solution book and
>an 800 number?)

This would indeed be a good idea, and I'd be interested in signing up myself,
since I'm a small Newton development company.

However there are a large number of information sources for Newton - all you
need to do is to look up Newton on a web search engine and you'll find quite a
few web sites, many of which offer mail-order services.

>Once again someone brings up the eventuality of the Newton's
>functionality.  It is this temporal factor to which I am speaking when I
>speak of product maturity.  The fact that the Newton will EVENTUALLY
>link easily (read as: "I can buy the software easily, receive the
>software easily, install the software easily, and use the software
>easily.") to my PC does not help me NOW.

But as you now well know you can buy software reasonably easily through the
internet, or by phone, you can receive it easily, installing has never been a
problem, and using it is simply a case of tapping on an icon.  You should
already know the product titles from this thread, so I won't rehash them.

I'd say that Newton is a rather mature platform for it's three years -
significantly more so than the PC was after the same time period.  The near
future for the platform should also be interesting.

>By the way, one thing I do think Apple has done markedly well (as is a
>core competency of theirs) is the User Interface.  For what basically
>amounts to a second generation product, the Newton is very easy to use. 
>To boot, it is a stable platform.

Absolutely.  Indeed, it's been a stable platform since version 1.0.  In the
three years I've been using Newton I haven't lost any data yet, even in the
fraught operations of transfering my data up the Apple product range.

>My disappointment with Apple is that it holds a very strong reputation
>for customer service, yet my experience has not been positive at all.  

Persist, and things should get better.

Steve