Newton OS Death Revisited --

Monday I posted a rather sharp rejoinder to the nay sayers over Apple's decision to discontinue development of the Newton OS--I agree with the decision. Surprisingly I didn't get a lot of mail beyond a couple of "right ons" but that which I did receive took me to task in two areas--first, for being insensitive to K-12 educators who sold school administrators on including eMates in computer labs and who now appear to be hung out to dry by Apple in front of their superiors and, second, to developers who invested in producing Newton OS applications. I admit it and I am sorry. I didn't mean to offend anyone. Regrettably, there's not much one can say to Newton developers who were cut off. However, those who fought for and won getting eMates in school computer labs have nothing to regret that I can see. eMates will continue to admirably fulfill the need that they argued successfully to fill, won't they? But computational needs are not static. Fortunately, the days are gone when a personal computer can be nearly cutting-edge for years. Solutions are improving rapidly and that is good, is it not? If schools are going to train kids for the future, they've got to keep up and we've got to pay for it. Apple's decision to fulfill the classroom need in a better way in the near future was a wise one. It is a promise but one that only a viable company can keep. Continuing to lose money on a product line and increasing the losses by chasing market share with reduced prices isn't consistent with viability unless a real moneymaker for that market is in the wings. Apparently, there isn't one. If someone thinks they can make a viable go of it, they should talk to Apple about purchasing the Newton technology. Wasn't Newton prepared for sale but there were no takers?