Dispelling Myths - Apple & The Newton
Many Apple fans have long been under the impression that their PC company of choice has invented practically every novel concept under the computing sun. This includes, iconic GUI's, mouse driven interfaces, the PDA and a whole lot more. Sorry folks, although Apple are indeed very good at packaging these ideas, this all they are really doing ... Packaging.
Yes they have many patents, and like some patents, they may be worth more than the paper they're written on, however, they only tell part of the Story. Many of the concepts which Apples pundits claim, that Apple invented, actually came out of Xerox's renowned PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) facility.
Although not as elegant in their implementation many of these devices were nonetheless quite interesting. Products like Atari's Portfolio, The Tandy ZPDA (Zoomer) and The Linus WriteTop were all predecessors to the PDA concept. The WriteTop was a nice but large TabletPC sized hand writing recognition based computer.
In my research I came across a very interesting site, which has a detailed and extensive timeline and history of the development of the PDA, including fictional inspiration, pre-PDA concepts and more: This site - The Evolution of the PDA, 1975-1995 by Evan Koblentz, editor of Technology Rewind is well worth a read and will teach you lots about how small the world of hardware development really is...
The truth is that many of the concepts and indeed patents are nothing more than links in long and interconnected webs of chains in the development of our favoured technologies. Apple and Microsoft are both very good at claiming innovation but the reality is they are marketing entities that produce products with slightly different mindsets. Microsoft appeals to the mass market where as Apple promote sell to the think different club... it's all just a marketing exercise.
Yes they have many patents, and like some patents, they may be worth more than the paper they're written on, however, they only tell part of the Story. Many of the concepts which Apples pundits claim, that Apple invented, actually came out of Xerox's renowned PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) facility.
Founded in 1970 as part of Xerox Research, then incorporated in 2002 as an independent research business, PARC is celebrated for such innovations as laser printing, distributed computing and Ethernet, the graphical user interface (GUI), object-oriented programming, and ubiquitous computing.I'm not interested in GUI's or mice today, but about the concept of the PDA, which many Apple fans will tell you were created by Apple in the form of the Newton. Although an interesting and innovative product, the Newton is but a single step in a long line of developments, which are still happening in the world of handheld computing devices. The PDA had already existed for several years prior to the introduction of Apple's Newton.
Although not as elegant in their implementation many of these devices were nonetheless quite interesting. Products like Atari's Portfolio, The Tandy ZPDA (Zoomer) and The Linus WriteTop were all predecessors to the PDA concept. The WriteTop was a nice but large TabletPC sized hand writing recognition based computer.
In my research I came across a very interesting site, which has a detailed and extensive timeline and history of the development of the PDA, including fictional inspiration, pre-PDA concepts and more: This site - The Evolution of the PDA, 1975-1995 by Evan Koblentz, editor of Technology Rewind is well worth a read and will teach you lots about how small the world of hardware development really is...
The truth is that many of the concepts and indeed patents are nothing more than links in long and interconnected webs of chains in the development of our favoured technologies. Apple and Microsoft are both very good at claiming innovation but the reality is they are marketing entities that produce products with slightly different mindsets. Microsoft appeals to the mass market where as Apple promote sell to the think different club... it's all just a marketing exercise.
posted by Mario Georgiou @ 7:42 AM
