4 ms·
> There's a lot of truth to what you're saying, yet plenty of platforms, products and services with perfectly viable business models go away. The Apple Newton (
by pifflesnort 14y ago
> There's a lot of truth to what you're saying, yet plenty of platforms, products and services with perfectly viable business models go away. The Apple Newton (for which people paid good money) was launched and discontinued in less time Reader existed.
... and nobody's Newton disappeared.
In fact, you can still find one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Newton-Original-MessagePad-OMP-Model-Number-H1000-Ready-To-Go-/140937551295?pt=PDA_s_Pocket_PC_s&hash=item20d0885dbf http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Newton-Original-MessagePad-OMP...
This is the major difference between cloud architectures and DRM-licensed media that you rent, versus actual products that you own.
- msabalau 14y agoTrue, but regardless, a not inconsiderable part of the value of a Newton died when the platform came to the end of it's life. A betamax machine or an HD-DVD player may still exist, but that does not mean a lot for their owner.
- CurtMonash 14y agoThe people who bought VHS instead of Betamax aren't getting a lot of value from their systems at this point either. And I've bought, used, and thrown away multiple DVD players over the years.
- hugofirth 14y agoPoint of order: the hypothetical HD-DVD player to which @msabalau refers is not a standard DVD player, as you seem to have assumed. HD-DVD was a format iteration meant to compete with Blu-ray. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD
- CurtMonash 14y agoOh. I was carelessly assuming it was a competitor to standard DVDs. Thanks for the correction, and no worries. I'll probably throw out multiple Blu-Ray players before I'm done as well. :)
- Evbn 14y agoPoint of information: that was a point of information, not a point of order. A point of order would be something like pointing out that someone replied under the wrong parent.
- hugofirth 14y agoHaha - fair enough. Thanks for the correction's correction.
- CurtMonash 14y agoIsn't it a point of order to say that somebody incorrectly called a point of order?
- rhizome 14y agoI believe this to be a category error. The Newton is not a technology with a format that died with it. If it was no longer possible to press the buttons or use the screen on a Newton, or that you could only create lists of things that existed in the 90s, the comparison would be more apt.
- msabalau 14y agoThere was some 3rd party development of applications, and presumably there would have been more if the Newton had thrived. But, fair point, it was mostly a product, and just potentially a platform.
- alexqgb 14y ago> ... and nobody's Newton disappeared. More importantly, Newtons weren't distributed for free, shutting down the development of a nascent trade in handheld computers designed for sale.