Howard Stearns wrote:
> I'm thinking not in terms of what it is, but rather how and in what
> context it would be used:
>
> * To be used ubiquitously in any context, it needs to not only be
> small and have good battery life, but it needs to be cheap and
> "losable."  I think Alan gives an example of taking it to the beach or
> a raft in the pool. (This also implies replicated external storage.)
>
> * I don't want to just execute prescribed tasks with it, I want to
> explore and problem-solve (e.g., in the http://nakedobjects.org
> sense). This may be getting beyond the scope of an electronic book,
> but I think this is consistent with the general thrust of the dynabook
> and dynamic languages community. 
This is consistent with what I understand the Dynabook to be: a dynamic
medium that molds to one's needs; a unique and personal extension of
one's work and play. And, this system should be able to be updated with
object enhancements authored by others. For instance, if a new video
playback medium is invented, the Dynabook should be able to
update/adapt. Squeak isn't quite there yet, today. It has problems just
moving objects from one version to another. (it can't even playback all
video and audio formats.) But, it's a solvable problem: maybe one area
to look at is not at the object, but at the message. Maybe the objects
are different on each personal machine in that they match they needs
locally (the user's modifications and the HW.) and the message is what
is unique across Dynabooks.

I also see the Dynabook interoperate with other Dynabooks and other
external objects. Not that a user pulls up a web browser and surfs, but
access external objects as if the objects are locally resident.  Today,
Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are a buzzword (those applications that
access the network for their own need w/o a browser) -- but this is
something Squeak has had fundamentally from early on and croquet has
developed further with islands. Again, not completely usable in Squeak
today, but solvable. Web data should be manipulated as any other object
inside the Dynabook.
Security is a concern that needs more research.

The idea of a projector is interesting in that removes real estate from
the product. But, it means the product is less personal and not be able
to be used outdoors. I like the idea of the XO's display and technology.
Maybe it's be a good candidate for the Dynabook display.

> I don't think the hardware -- or the software -- is quite there yet to
> accomplish all this, but it's getting close. To the degree that one
> believes that the dynabook hasn't really happened yet, I wonder if it
> is because we have not yet satisfyingly achieved all the above
> simultaneously.
I don't know. Not that the Dynabook will ever be in stone, I think a
version of the Dynabook can be pretty much thought out and planned
today. I think the hardware is there, or extremely close (1.8" HD are
reaching 100-120GB). I think the software is almost there (of course,
"almost" is relative!) What I see is that we are past the concept and
idea phase and the rest of the work is mostly sweat - with the
occasional, and needed, brilliant light bulbs along the way to encourage
new development ideas. Alan, Dan, Yoshiki, Andreas and Ian's paper is a
good example of this thought process. Now, I think it is a matter of scale.

I want one now, though ;-)