[886] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: PDA Furor?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (JENNIFER A. HEISE)
Fri Jul 31 18:19:04 1992
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 17:07:17 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
From: "JENNIFER A. HEISE" <jahb@Lehigh.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Since I've come into the "real world", I've come to the realization that there
are several basic categories of people:
Those who like to write by hand
Those who like to keyboard
Those who like to use mice
None of these categories are mutually exclusive.
Most mouse-users are keyboard users too. However, mouse-users and
non-mouse-userrs are usually bitterly antagonistic towards each other's mode.
Everyone scorns those who can only write by hand.
However, it simply isn't practical much of the time to haul bulky PC's (or,
for that matter, laptops, around just to take notes. Hopefully, the PDA can
take the place of omnipresent notebooks (or, like me, ATM receipts) on which
we scribble important data. Maybe (and I don't know about this) they could end
up being more environmentally friendly than paper (the question is power
usage).Also, imagine being able to use such a beast to handle downloaded
CD-ROM searches: you could wander the stacks and find your articles without
having to print out the list.
Keyboards are bulky, require keyboarding training (not trivial), and require
you to have a place to set them down to work with them. PDA's it would seem,
are different.
Also, remember that IBM-users regard Apple with contempt and scorn. People
have been predicting the demise of Apple for years; there are reasons why it
hasn't gone away. For some people, Macintoshes are the ultimate solution.
For someone else, PDA's may be it (I can think of 3 or 4 people right off the
bat.) Don't dismiss the PDA (or Apple) too quickly!
Jennifer Heise Net: jahb@lehigh.edu
Reference Dept., Phone: (215) 758-3072
Fairchild-Martindale Libraries #8A, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015
"You know I don't know so many things, but I know what's been goin' on:
They put in a nickel, and they want a dollar song"
My opinions are my own. No one else would HAVE them anyway.
