American History 1988
Chapter 382 - 371: Handwriting Computer

Chapter 382: Chapter 371: Handwriting Computer

In December of ’95, things heated up because of Microsoft’s press conference and Dean’s public response.

It was a big deal that this industry giant announced its foray into the Internet, but it was even more of a news sensation when the world’s richest man publicly mocked it as a copycat.

While the editorial world had always been critical of Microsoft’s dishonorable history, someone as influential as Dean openly picking a fight had a completely different effect.

It was as if the major media had conspired together, all using the photo of Dean in front of Netscape’s door on the front page headlines.

"The Silicon Valley giant strikes back!" "The rage of the richest man" "Dean Price: Gates is a robber!"

Alright, these media outlets fully reflected what it meant to love a spectacle, as one headline competed with another for attention.

Dean’s unusual statement excited them, but most importantly, these media wanted to stir up the conflict between the two "richest men."

Business competition, operating systems, browsers, now they weren’t concerned about those anymore, they just wanted to see blood in the water.

Then the day after these newspapers were published, reporters began rushing towards Seattle again.

They wanted to shove microphones in Gates’s face to see what explosive response he had.

Unfortunately, they were received by a Microsoft spokesperson, but Gates was nowhere to be seen, the official statement being that Gates had already left for his Christmas vacation.

Of course, in response, Microsoft’s spokesperson also directly denied Dean’s accusations.

"The browser wasn’t Netscape’s original creation; they were plagiarizing Berners-Lee’s ideas as well!"

Anyone with discernment knew that what Dean referred to as copying meant that Microsoft had followed suit with various functions of the Netscape browser.

But Microsoft purposefully blurred this point, always emphasizing that the original concept of the browser was not from Netscape.

This was much like when Jobs accused Gates of copying their graphical operating system, and Microsoft responded similarly.

"We both have a rich neighbor named Xerox; I broke into his house intending to steal the television, only to find that you had already stolen it."

Yes, in Microsoft’s eyes, the browser was much the same. Netscape was just like Apple back then, simply one step ahead of Microsoft.

This was Microsoft’s logic; quibbling was their forte.

And Microsoft’s shamelessness thoroughly infuriated Netscape.

With the meticulous crafting of their technicians, a side-by-side comparison chart of Explorer and Navigator’s functions, along with update times and dates, were all laid out clearly.

On the left was Netscape’s browser, and on the right was Microsoft’s. A close comparison revealed that Microsoft was practically copying Netscape’s updates step by step.

This comparison chart was not only published in the Los Angeles Times but was also the first featured image on Yahoo’s homepage.

Dean finally began to exercise his influence in media, backed by Hollywood and grasping at the throat of Internet portals.

For him to get an article to the top of the news was easy.

Of course, that was all he did; he didn’t respond further to reporters.

As an influential public figure, he understood the importance of "golden silence."

You shouldn’t speak to the media lightly; occasionally is enough.

So despite how much the outside media incited, neither Gates nor Dean entered the fray again, maintaining some unspoken truce.

"OK, I understand. Thank you for your care, Congressman Charles," Dean said a couple more words before hanging up the phone.

Alright, someone was giving him a message; the competition between Netscape and Microsoft should be limited to the business arena.

Gates wouldn’t comment on it, but in exchange, Dean also couldn’t respond to reporters anymore.

It seemed that even politicians backing Microsoft were stepping up, as even the Congressman with some connection to Dean gave him a call.

"Right, where did we leave off?" Dean cast aside this matter and focused on the present.

"Uh, Palm’s first PDA..." Jeff Hawkins reminded him.

"Correct, that’s it!" Dean snapped his fingers, "So our hand-held computer has come out, right?"

He was now at Palm’s Mountain View offices, and after more than a year of development, Hawkins and his team had achieved their anticipated goals.

"Our engineering prototype has been finished, and after testing, it fully meets the market standards.

including verification of mass production at the contract factories, we’ve pretty much resolved all these issues."

Jeff Hawkins pushed a carefully prepared box across to Dean.

"This is...?" Dean’s eyes lit up.

"Open it and see," Hawkins and Donna, among others, watched him expectantly.

Dean examined the packaging box; perhaps due to haste, there was nothing special about it.

Aside from a coating of glossy black, it lacked any other designs, instructions, or information.

It was clear Palm had just finished and Hawkins notified him at the first opportunity.

Dean opened the black lid of the box, and a sleek, pocket-sized black device came into view.

"Wow, it looks very exquisite," Dean raised an eyebrow, his interest deepening.

He had seen hand-held computers of this era before, such as Apple’s Newton assistant, Zoomer, GRiDPad, and so on.

But without exception, these hand-held computers all looked very clunky, typically about the same size as a common laptop.

However, the device now in front of him by appearance could truly be called a hand-held computer.

Dean took it out of the box, weighed it in his hand; it was the perfect fit for a single palm grip.

"It’s so light, I even feel it weighs less than my Nokia phone," this once again impressed Dean greatly.

Hawkins and his team chuckled, "As a matter of fact, it weighs only 160 grams—a weight anyone can easily handle.

As for its size, it’s 12 cm long, 8 cm wide, and less than 2 cm thick.

During the design process, we targeted it to be easily held in one hand by people of all races."

"An astonishing design." Judging by its appearance alone, Dean thought he was holding a smartphone from the future.

But saying that wasn’t incorrect—a screen that takes up a large portion of the device, with just a few physical buttons below it.

Isn’t this the consistent design style of most later handheld smart devices?

Dean hadn’t expected to see such a product in ’95; judging by its appearance alone, it had a more sci-fi feel than the current keypad mobile phones.

"These few buttons..." Dean was drawn to the few physical buttons under the screen of this PDA.

They were adorned with various logos, such as a clock, telephone, notepad, pen, and so on.

"The green button is the power switch. The four round buttons are for the date book, address book, to-do list, and notepad.

The two buttons in the middle are for page scrolling, and there’s a stylus slot in the top right corner.

On its back, there’s also a memory slot, as well as a reset button, battery compartment, and other designs."

Hawkins detailed the hardware layout of this handheld computer to Dean, and although it was compact, it boasted a full range of functions.

Okay, Dean had thought that the button with the telephone icon represented some extraordinary feature.

Turned out it was the address book, but thinking about it, that made sense—Palm was just starting up, and this was their first product.

Dean fiddled for a while before pressing the green power button.

The monochrome LCD screen in front of him immediately flashed the Palm company logo.

Dean counted silently, approximately ten seconds. The screen finished loading and began to display menu buttons.

"Not bad, a significant improvement over the previous Zoomer." Dean remembered his experience using another product here last year.

That time, it took a full half-minute to load, which ordinary consumers would hardly have the patience for.

Hawkins’ face flushed with embarrassment but was quickly replaced by pride.

"Palm’s system has been completely redesigned. We simplified many operations and optimized the underlying logic several times."

Ten seconds of boot time, although still long by future standards, was already quite good for the present. After all, the startup time for a computer was much longer.

And nowadays, the wait time for loading a webpage also happened to be around eight seconds.

By this comparison, a ten-second startup time for Palm was definitely something to be proud of.

As the menu finished loading, the first thing that appeared on the screen were the application icons for this PDA.

They were arranged neatly from top to bottom, just like the App applications on a smartphone.

Dean glanced over them briefly— they were all business-oriented applications like a calendar, notepad, dictionary, etc.

Time, battery life and other details were also displayed, which was very convenient.

However, at the bottom of the screen, there was a separate area designated, presumably for handwriting recognition.

Dean pulled out the stylus, opened the notepad, and randomly wrote a few words.

Not bad, the system could almost accurately recognize what he wrote, as long as it wasn’t too sloppy.

"How long is the standby time?" Dean continued to scribble without looking up.

"With 2 AAA batteries, it can last about two weeks with normal use."

"Good," Dean nodded in satisfaction, business people would like it.

"By the way, what are you planning to name this PDA?"

"Palm Pilot," Hawkins said with a proud smile, "We hope the name reflects its portability."

The word Pilot usually means an aviator in English, and Hawkins thought this was very fitting for their product.

"Just call it Palm," Dean offered his opinion.

"What?" Hawkins and his group were taken aback.

"Keep it simple, like your handheld computer. Get rid of unnecessary features, only retaining the essence."

Dean pointed to the office logo on the wall, "We need to build Palm’s reputation, so name it directly after it.

Moreover, a simple and easily remembered name will also benefit the spread of the brand."

Hawkins and Colligan exchanged glances. Palm—that name didn’t seem bad at all.

"OK, let’s call it Palm." They agreed readily.

That was Dean’s first suggestion for the product, and compared to the headache of changing the design, changing a name was simple, wasn’t it?

"Last question," Dean set down the Palm he was holding, "How much does it cost to manufacture, and what’s the retail price?"

Whether a hardware product can be profitable comes down to this key issue.

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