From: dale@manet.wustl.edu (Dale Frye)
Subject: EO announces!!!
Reply-To: dale@manet.wustl.edu
Organization: Washington University, School of Engineering, St. Louis MO
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 19:09:46 GMT

I've been under non-disclosure so I couldn't say anything but now that  
they've anounced here is a report from someone that attended EO's  
announcement yesterday.

Reposted from the PenPoint mail list.

Dale Frye
Washington University in St. Louis
----------------------


To: penpoint@llustig.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: EO Press Conference yesterday (Wednesday, 4-Nov-92)
From: david@llustig.palo-alto.ca.us (David Schachter)
Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 01:36:38 PST
Organization: Greenwire Consulting, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Oh wow.  Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.  It's not like I didn't understand  
before,
but oh, oh wow....  I've seen the future and it is real sweet.

For years I wanted a way to manage all my information, so that everything  
is
connected, automatically, to everything else, and I can "pull" on one  
chunk
o' data to see everything else attached to it.  The new EO machine is as
close as current technology can get to that dream.

The smaller of the two EO machines seems to run PenPoint about as fast as
my 486/33 (even though EO only compares it to a 386SXL-20.) 
(ed. The 440 is 13 MIPS and the 880 is 20 MIPS)
 The bigger
machine is 50% faster.  The software handles phones, faxes,  
"Daytimer-like"
functions, all with a unified (PenPoint-wide, not application-proprietary)
address book.  It can poll for email and faxes automatically at fixed  
times.
It uploads and downloads via serial port from a PC, converting files from
x86 application data formats to Hobbit/PenPoint application formats (e.g.
Lotus/1-2-3 to Numero) almost transparently.  It has an optional cellphone
and the file transfer software works over that, so you can sit in an  
airport
lounge (my favorite place to relax and I'm sure one of yours), call up  
some
big machine, and grab stuff, or backup stuff.

When I call someone, I can see every transaction I've had with that  
person.
When I send a fax, ditto.  When I send an email, ditto (with optional  
voice
annotations, naturally.)  On the communications side of things, this  
machine
has got it cold.  It is kind of hard to explain on an emotion-free medium
such as this, but you know the feeling you have when you use a properly-
designed appliance?  Like, when you sit in the seat of a well-designed  
car,
and all the controls are exactly where they should be?  And everything  
does
exactly what they should?  And as you continue to use it, you find more  
and
more things to delight you because they are done *EXACTLY RIGHT*?  And the
joy of the product is that it works exactly as it should, precisely as it
should, without hesitation, without error?  That's what I saw today.

I want one.  Oh gosh, I want one.  I've been a good boy all year.  Won't
someone pony up the $3000 for the top-of-the-line, fully-decked out, 8 MB
RAM/64 MB disk/cellular-phone-equipped/V.32bis-modem/ATT Easylink/backlit/
4.4 lb EO?  I promise I'll be a good boy next year too!

By the way, in case I didn't mention it: WOW!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
-

The low end machine isn't too bad either.  It only has one type-2 PCMCIA  
slot
instead of two, and it only takes a 20 MB (HP Kittyhawk) disk drive  
instead
of a 64 MB (1.8 inch) drive.  And its screen isn't backlit.  And its CPU  
runs
at 20 MHz (13 MIPS), not 30 (20 MIPS).  But it weighs only about two  
pounds
and runs for seven hours on batteries (with the optional cellphone: 30  
hours
on standby, listening for incoming calls.)  And like the bigger machine,  
it
has a serial port, a parallel port, a PS/2 keyboard port for bulk text  
entry,
a built-in V.32bis/V42/V42.bis/fax modem, eight MB of software in ROM  
(Pen-
Point + the EO applications I was raving about), and four or eight MB of  
RAM,
expandable to twelve in a separate JEDEC slot (not the PCMCIA slot).  And  
it
powers up in two seconds-- no rebooting.  Just hit the button and ZAP,  
you're
there.

Ok, Santa, if you are on an austerity plan, I'll take just the EO 440,  
instead
of the EO 880.  Cheapskate.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
-

Since Paul is out of town for a while, I get to remind y'all in the San
Francisco Bay Area [USA]: next Thursday (12-Nov-92), the monthly WPDO  
meeting
will feature EO and ATT talking about the new EO machines I saw today and
the Hobbit microprocessor.  I'll send out the official meeting notice  
again,
in reminder form, early next week.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
-

In summary, remember how dull things have been for a couple of years?   
Well,
the future just arrived and things should get real interesting again.   
Now,
how can I convince Senator Gore to connect an EO machine into the NREN....

:-)

P.S. Oh, wow.

__________________________________________________________________________ 
___
David Schachter                                  
david@llustig.palo-alto.ca.us
801 Middlefield Road, #8                   
..!{mips,decwrl,sgi}!llustig!david
Palo Alto, CA  94301-2916                 After 10 am, voice: +1 415 328  
7425

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