The real bummer is that this is beginning to sound like a eulogy.
I truly hope that, to borrow from Mark Twain, rumors of Palm's
demise are greatly exagerated.
On the other hand, we who have been around computers for long know
the best there is eventually is replaced by something completely
different -- and better.
CP/M was a super customizable operating system that became DOS --
which was pretty darn capable as an operating system. My first computer
was a Kaypro 4 -- so-called because it had two 400k floppy drives. The
operating system ran on the top drive, and you kept your working data
files on the bottom drive.
Then came Windows.
WordPerfect was given free, or almost free, in college, so lots of
people graduated and went to work in offices and when the boss decided
to computerize, the only experts in the place had been raised in the
church of WP.
Which is just about extinct.
Microsoft may be on the way toward something completely new, Linux
has been around for awhile and, like DOS may finally be gaining some
recognition in the non-hobbyist field.
Then there's the Open Windows concept Sun got going with it's own
Unix version called Solaris.
I fear one day I may wish I had kept the Palms I've owned along the
way, much as I wish I still had the P-1800 Volvo that replaced the 1954
Woody Ford Station wagon I'd like to still have, which replaced an even
older English Ford with no reverse and a defunct generator I'm really
glad to be shed of.
So, while I am not eager to have to learn a new system, I have to
admit to a certain eagerness to see what will be next in the evolution.
For one thing, I think we're well on the way to converging radio
technology. Landline telephones have essentially given way to cell
phones. I'm thinking it won't be long before cell and wi-fi are one. The
only thing cell fones don't have yet is true broadband speeds -- and
we're just about there.
Sam Kamens wrote:
> Don Ferguson wrote:
>
>> Even though he got quite a bit of stuff wrong, it's still fun!
>>
>>
>>
>> Here's the article, with a nostalgic picture. I wish I'd kept my Pilot
>> (NOT Palmpilot, that came later) 1000. It would be fun to see it again!
>>
>
> I had a Pilot 1000 for about 5 minutes :-)
>
> I bought it, tried it, loved it, took it back to the store and bought a
> 5000 instead right away (needed that extra RAM :-) ). Then I progressed
> to a III, a IIIx, IIIxe, treo 600, treo 650, and now treo 680.
>
> And my wife has gotten my hand-me-downs along the way, plus I bought her
> a Tungsten E2 at one point.
>
> Can't say I've owned 'em all, but I've tried a bunch!
>
> Sam
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
--
/The erasure of a human subspecies is largely painless -- to us -- if we
know little enough about it. A dead Chinaman is of little import to us
whose awareness of things Chinese is bounded by an occasional dish of
chow mein. We grieve only for what we know./
A Sand County Almanac, /Aldo Leopold, July 1949/
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