I don't care what SJ calls it ...
... but he needs to "think different(ly)" and recognize that what OQO calls "ultrapersonal" and the industry trend towards UBIQUITY will sweep Apple into history if he misses this boat.
I used a PB (G3 and G4) for several years, until I changed jobs last year (and returned to grad school). While using it, I realized that I - and everyone else with a laptop or PDA - always had a pad of paper with me to jot down notes, etc. that we later had to transcribe into our computers. You can't get more ubiquitous than transforming the pad of paper and pen/pencil combination into a modern, digital tool!! Anyway, I realized that laptops and PDAs were only stopgap measures in the trend towards a "digital pad of paper", networked, capable of truly supporting me as I went about my business. I described some of it in the thread at:
http://www.macslash.com/comments.pl?sid=02/03/11/2158252&cid=16
Thanks to this thread, my "vision" of what I think it should feasibly be like has evolved:
1. I'd been thinking in terms of iPads ... Newton functionality updated to OS X on iPod-like hardware (or an iBook-sized, or smaller, Powerbook with a display that could fold all the way back so that your laptop copuld turn into a writing pad), with multimedia input capability (such as could support basic videoconferencing). The main drawback with this vein of thought was the high cost of LCD displays.
2. I don't have a Powerbook now because I have a G4 at home, another at school (along with a PC) and, to be honest, I have no need to edit videos or photo albums or do graphic design while I'm going about my daily life. However, a device with more functionality than the current crop of PDAs, that could move with me and integrate with my "digital hubs" would be extrmeely attractive for me and my colleagues.
So, I was to toss this idea out:
1. An OQO-like device, running OS X (10.2 or later)
2. A Bluetooth pen that could work on any surface (incl. a color LCD display on the OQO, but not necessarily); I'm not wedded to Bluetooth itself, just the functionality that supports a "personal area network"
3. iPod-style hard drive > 10Gb
4. Firewire, USB
5. Camera+microphone peripheral; handheld scanner attachment, a couple of inches wide, and software that can automatically stitch them together into one file and, please, OCR it and auto-index it for Sherlock 3 searches? (hey, I'm a grad student, but this would've been handy even when I was at NASA)
Rather than necessarily writing on the OQO display, the Bluetooth pen could transmit my writing/drawing to the OQO+OS X, which "recognizes" it ala Inkwell and stores it locally as an electronic file (that later auto-syncs to my G$ "hub"). Perhaps the Bluetooth pen could also have room for an ink cartridge, for instant visual feedback of my writing/drawing (not to mention an instant, hard-copy "backup")? Sure, it should have additional functionality when used with the OQO-OS X display (hopefully color-Aquafied, though that's not strictly required for my needs).
If it has Bluetooth, then it would be nice if it could automatically act as a conduit for any Mac or PC that I've set up to use it ... performing on-the-fly translations of my handwriting to emulate keyboard/mouse input for either OS.
This combination keeps the cost down, over a solution with a large LCD display, and provides the functionality that I think will be increasingly critical to an increasingly savvy/demanding consuming public. SJ ceded the desktop and organization "back rooms" to Microsoft and has tried to stake out a claim at homes and schools. SJ needs to get over his PDA-phobia.
Forget about the institutions in which people do things, Stevie, and focus your efforts on the people themselves. Don't abandon the potential for revolutionizing the stagnating industry you helped to create.
