From: david@llustig.palo-alto.ca.us (David Schachter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.pen
Subject: EO Press Conference yesterday (4-Nov-92)
Date: 5 Nov 92 10:06:41 GMT
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.)  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!

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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.

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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.

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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