Recently, we at AtAT had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing an Apple-branded handheld computer to replace the Newton; if you'll recall, earlier this year when the Newton project was canceled, Apple claimed they'd be re-entering the handheld market in 1999 with a new device running a version of the Mac OS. But consider the fact that 1999 starts in just a little over two months and every single Apple product roadmap we've ever seen since Newton's death indicates only four products-- consumer and professional versions of a desktop and a portable. Three of those four already exist, and the fourth, the consumer portable codenamed "P1" and due in 1999, while originally surmised to be the Newton replacement, looks more and more like an iMac-styled low-cost PowerBook every time new details about it slip through the cracks of Cupertino's silicon fence. Promises, promises.

And so it was that we were forced once again to consider getting a PalmPilot, despite that just about the only things we like about it are the size and the price. (We'd grab a remaindered or used Newton MessagePad 2100 in a heartbeat, but even after the whole project was scrapped, people remain fiercely loyal; prices for used units seem to hover in the $900 range!) And just about at the point where we were going to swear an oath to rely solely on a pad of paper and a pencil-- sometimes low-tech is really pretty cool, you know-- Mac OS Rumors dug up some interesting new insight that gives us new hope. According to their sources, Apple is indeed working on a handheld device separate from the P1, which will feature a Newton-style touch-screen interface but will run some version of the Mac OS. As we've long suspected, Apple reportedly plans to yank Newton's excellent "Rosetta" handwriting recognition engine (no jokes, now; if you've used a 2100, you know just how far things have come since that original MessagePad and "Eat Up Martha") and build it into the Mac OS, which explains why Apple never sold off the Newton technology.

We're thrilled to hear these rumors of a new handheld, and intrigued with the rather obvious idea of adding handwriting recognition to the Mac OS at large. Just imagine how cool it would be if you could enter text into your desktop Mac by scrawling some notes on a graphics tablet; Apple's already hinted at such possibilities in its Advanced Chinese Language Input Kit, or whatever that was called, which allowed Chinese handwriting recognition with a tablet. Sure, it's not a great idea to base our 1999 buying plans entirely on thin rumors and no hard facts, but hey, the iMac was kept so secret just about everybody was stunned when it was finally unveiled last May. What's to say that Apple can't pull that off a second time?

So ever since that Fortune interview with Steve Jobs surfaced last week, people have been talking about how Apple tried to buy the PalmPilot from 3Com, but 3Com wasn't selling. In fact, it's not just that 3Com wasn't selling to Apple; apparently they weren't selling to anyone, since they also turned down an offer from Microsoft who wanted to buy the Pilot's operating system. (Windows CE isn't good enough for Microsoft anymore?)

We consider it sort of a shame that the Apple deal never happened, really. We'd like to think that over time, Apple could have brought some of the Newton's strengths over to the Pilot, like a more elegant operating system, true handwriting recognition in addition to Graffiti, etc. On the other hand, we're sure that there are plenty of PalmPilot fans out there who would disagree heartily, and figure that Apple would only have screwed up the Pilot if they had actually been able to buy the device-- by perhaps doubling the size and the price. It's all just speculation now, anyway, but it's interesting to note that people are talking about it, like in this Reuters article.

But what is up with that statement that the Pilot's "handwriting recognition software, called Graffiti, is easier to learn and is more accurate that the Newton's?" Excuse us while we unroll our eyes. First of all, how is learning Graffiti (an admittedly simple task, mind you) easier to learn than just printing normal English text? There's literally nothing to learn to use a modern Newton's handwriting recognition at damn near 100% accuracy, at least based on our untrained test-drives at the local computer store. Secondly, Graffiti started on the Newton as an add-on for those early MessagePads whose recognition was fond of turning written phrases like "Sheena is a punk rocker" into, say, "Shadow is a pink ranger." As far as we know, you could always buy and install Graffiti on your MessagePad if you wanted to. It just goes to show you, public perception paints the world-- and recovering from early PR blunders isn't easy.

Here we are at episode 6 of the new "Redmond Justice" season, and the plot is still bogged down with poor Netscape head guy Jim Barksdale still stuck on the stand. On the plus side, though, other factors are heating up and making the show more enjoyable again. Specifically, we're talking about the interesting new direction Microsoft's personality is taking; we're detecting not-so-subtle hints that the software company's undergoing a gradual metamorphosis in attitude. Whereas they once took the stance that they're being picked on by jealous competitors and bored politicians for successfully innovating for the good of their customers, it looks like they're starting the slippery slide into developing elaborate conspiracy theories and living a life of outright paranoia. In other words, they're becoming our kind of people.

For instance, consider this Computer Reseller News article about Microsoft's latest take on that infamous June 1995 meeting between themselves and Netscape. The government's stance is that at this meeting, Microsoft illegally offered to divide up the browser market with Netscape. And whereas Microsoft's early defense has been more geared to showing that the whole meeting was originally Netscape's idea, they're now claiming that the whole thing was actually a deliberate and elaborate attempt by Netscape to entrap Microsoft and get them mired in antitrust troubles. It was, in their own words, "a setup" intended to get Microsoft out of the way so that Netscape could have the whole browser market to themselves. Therefore, it's Netscape that's guilty of anticompetitive behavior. Wow! If Microsoft lawyer John Warden ever gets tired of litigation, we could use him on the writing staff here at AtAT, because that's one good conspiracy theory right there.

And that's not all; the government is in on it, too, according to Microsoft-- making it a conspiracy in the truest sense of the word. In a San Jose Mercury News article, we learn that Microsoft has accused the government of deliberately suppressing evidence in an attempt to railroad the software company. Apparently a June 23rd letter from Gary Reback (a well-known anti-Microsoft legal crusader) to the Justice Department didn't show up until last Friday, after Microsoft's lawyers spent Thursday playing up the contents of a later letter from Reback dated July 28th. The government claims that they didn't find the June letter until recently because it was part of another investigation. Fishy? Perhaps. All indications are that this thing is going to get a lot bigger before it goes away. Bring it on!