“This weekend, fans of Apple’s long-discontinued Newton will gather in Paris to celebrate the PDA that will never ever die. Six years after Apple Computer terminated the Newton, the Worldwide Newton Association is holding its first conference to determine the future of the platform,” Leander Kahney reports for Wired News. “Indeed, the Newton may be getting a new lease on life.”

“The first Newton hardware emulator will be unveiled at the show, which may allow the Newton operating system to run on other hardware, including full-color handhelds or Tablet PCs. Though likely to be a modest gathering, the Newton conference marks the remarkable transition of the Newton platform wholly into the hands of its users,” Kahney reports. “Apple discontinued the Newton in 1998. Without Apple’s support, the Newton should have floundered and died. But not only has the number of users remained more or less steady, but the Newton has even attracted new fans and has been kept remarkably current technologically.”

Full article here.