> It'd be sweet if there were a way to get Apple to release some of the
> core components, though I doubt they'd do that. Was there anything
> along the lines of a customer comment form that came with the Newt?
> Then we could REALLY make things interesting.
Wasn't there some kind of call in the developer community for Apple to make
the Newton open source? Given the kind of talent that exists worldwide in
the community, if Apple agreed to release say, NewtonOS under the GPL or
whatever, then that'd be a huge opportunity for the Newton to move forward -
after all, Newton 2.1 hasn't been updated since 1998.
Initially I considered the whole mailing of registration cards just to be a
bit of fun, just to remind Apple that the Newton wasn't as big a failure as
they'd thought. Thinking about the above though, we might be able to achieve
something far more useful.
Obviously Apple would want to retain ownership over parts of the Newton
they're still using (ie. HWR/Inkwell). If the rest of the IP is just sitting
there doing nothing, going to waste, is it such an unreasonable expectation
to ask Apple for the "key to the door"?
While Apple wouldn't make any money out of it (I don't think the worldwide
Newton community is prepared to float millions for an outright purchase)
they WOULD get some exceptionally good PR out of it (and you'd be surprised
how much PR is worth, I've seen companies buy up other companies just to get
their name in the news) "Apple hands over Newton to loyalists" "Apple throws
Newton a bone" "Apple gives Newton to the people" Good for Apple, good for
Newton.
This might be all very pie-in-the-sky; I really don't know how much more
could be accomplished by having access to the NewtonOS source or whether or
not the developers out there can or are willing to produce a "NewtonOS 2.5
or 3.0". But if people are willing to put together a more organised
"friendly petition/request" to Apple, it seems like a mighty worthwhile
prize.
Cheers, Ben.
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