JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:

> none wrote:
> > the truth hurts sometime
> >
> > The term "personal data assistant" was first used on January 7, 1992 by
> > Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las
> > Vegas,
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona...istant#History
>
> First, wikipedia is interesting, but it is not an authoritative bible
> when it comes to facts. Sometimes it takes time for the facts to be
> straightened out.

yes, but in this instance it is 100% factual.

> And even if Sculley was the first to use the acronym, it doesn't mean
> that the Newton was the first device for which the term PDA could be
> applied.

there is no "if", it's a fact he is the first to do so. what has gotten
lost in the shuffle is the Newton still remains the only PDA. the "A"
stood for "Assistant", that actually asked you questions, no common PDA
or "Pocket Organizer" ever did that pre-PDA or post-PDA.

The "A" in the Newton allowed the software to anticipate the behavior of
the user and act on those assumptions. For example, Newton would filter
an AppleLink email, hyperlink all of the names to the address book,
search the email for dates and times, and ask the user if it should
schedule an event.

Pretty slick, nothing comes close to it even today.

> Before that, the term "Pocket Organiser" was often used.

yes, and those were Pocket Organizers, or PO's even PDO's, but not PDA's.

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