Ten years ago, I spent a year where I was basically “commuting” between Seattle and London. I shed laptop, and desktop computers and made an Apple Newton 2000 my primary computer for that year. I did all my email, systems administration, etc from that little paperback book sized unit. While in Europe I used a GSM card and my Nokia phone for connectivity (via a RAS server in our London office), and in the US I used a Ricochet Wireless Modem, from Metricom (may they Rest In Peace.)
Nowadays I carry around a 15″ G4 powerbook and a PalmOne Treo 600 (yes, I’m always a bit behind the bleeding edge these days!) and I find that in many ways I miss that Newton. I found it funny to see this online today:
“Two gadgets, Ten years between them, One fight to the death!”
Amusingly enough, the Newton wins.
For all the crap that Apple got for the early versions of the Newt, they did get their feces amalgamated pretty damn fast, and by the time the 130 shipped with NewtonOS 2.0, the damn thing was rock-solid. But, like so many other first-to-market technology, the early stumbles never allowed them to catch on as well as they should. Only those of us that fully took the plunge ever really understood how good a miniature computing device could be. Now were just awash in mediocrity and end up toting a bag full of crap around.
–chuck