[inforoots] RE: the ' Who first said "laptop"? ' thread...

Tue Feb 21 15:52:09 PST 2006

Esther,

See my off-list reply.

- Evan

-----Original Message-----
From: Esther Dyson [mailto:edyson at edventure.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 6:32 PM
To: 'Computer Collector Newsletter'; 'Open Discussion about the history of
the Information Age'
Cc: 'Sellam Ismail'; 'Glenn Edens'; webmaster at vintage-computer.com; 'Richard
A. Cini'; 'Dave Winer'; 'Michael Nadeau'; edyson at release1-0.com; 'Karen
Tucker'
Subject: RE: the ' Who first said "laptop"? ' thread...

and I was busy trying to coin the term "luggable"!  I *don't* remember
laptop, but I think I would say (then and now) anythingtop  was in the air,
just like Anything 2.0 right now.

thanks for the memories.

[This was so long ago you make me feel I am definitely] Esther 2.0

PS - I'm moving in June (to CNET's NY HQ), and this is as good a group as
any: I'm looking for a permanent home for one of the world's largest
collections of PC/Internet industry T-shirts and assorted other schwag.
Computer History Museum? or where?

At 04:40 PM 2/21/2006, 'Computer Collector Newsletter' wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I just got home from the library.  Dave Winer said he co-authored an 
>article using the term 'laptop' in a 1982 issue of Byte.  I found the
article!  But
>it was the Jan. 1984 issue.   :)
>
>The article is titled "Portables--1984 and Beyond".  In the second page (p.
>244 overall), middle column, last full paragraph, Dave and his 
>co-author
>wrote: "Where will the computer be used? Now that we're designing 
>software for portable computers, we have to consider 'laptop,' 'bedtop,'
'beachtop,'
>'coffee-tabletop,' and 'floortop' use."
>
>I also searched through every issue of 1982 and 1983.  Some interesting
>notes: a preview and then a review of the Gavilan, in June / Sept. 83 
>respectively, but no previews / reviews of the Grid Compass (there 
>might have been a tiny blurb here or there but I only looked through 
>the bylined
>articles.)  Sept. 1983 was a themed "portables" issue.  Editor Stanley J.
>Wszoloa wrote of multiple subcategories of portables (p. 35) -- "pocket 
>computers" (such as the Sharp PC-1211 / Matsushita HHC / HP-75C /etc.), 
>"briefcase computers" (such as the Tandy Model 100, Epson HX-20, etc.), 
>and "transportable computers" (a.k.a. luggables.)  But he doesn't 
>specify which category the Gavilan / Grid / Sharp PC-5000 belong to... 
>In retrospect maybe someone should have coined the term "fliptop" for
those!
>
>Elsewhere in the same issue, Byte refers to the Epson HX-20 and TI 
>CC-40 as "notebook" computers, and then refers to "the lap computer 
>market" re: the HX-20... A few issues later (Dec. 83) a 
>letter-to-the-editor author identifies himself as an HP-75C user and 
>again uses the terminology "the lap / portable computer market."
>
>None of those solves the mystery of who coined the term, since Dave 
>says he heard it from Esther Dyson and she doesn't remember.  Of 
>course, Byte wasn't the only magazine; maybe in the future we can look
through some others.
>
>Another question is "What was the first device actually advertised as a 
>laptop?"  Sellam says he believes it's the Toshiba T1100 (pardon if I'm 
>misquoting you, Sellam) -- but I think the really answer is "It doesn't 
>matter!"  Why not?  Because as Gavilan / Grid / Sharp illustrated with 
>their clamshells by other names, what matters is the innovation, not the
branding.
>(That's why I get so steamed when people claim the Apple Newton was the 
>"first" PDA, since they ignore that handheld electronic organizers 
>existed in 1978!)
>
>- Evan
>
>-----------------------------------------
>Evan Koblentz's personal homepage: http://www.snarc.net
>
>Computer Collector Newsletter:
> >> http://news.computercollector.com
>
>Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists & Museum:
> >> http://www.marchclub.org
> >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/midatlanticretro/

Esther Dyson              Always make new mistakes!
Editor, Release 1.0

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