Newton OS is a discontinued operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple Computer, Inc. between 1993 and 1997. It was written entirely in C++ and trimmed to be low power consuming and use the available memory efficiently. Many applications were pre-installed in the ROM of the Newton (making for quick start-up) to save on RAM and flash memory storage for user applications. Features Newton OS features many interface elements that the Macintosh system software didn't have at the time, such as drawers and the "poof" animation. An animation similar to this is found in Mac OS X, and parts of the Newton's handwriting recognition system have been implemented as Inkwell in Mac OS X. Sound responsive — Clicking menus and icons makes a sound; this feature was later introduced in Mac OS 8. Icons - Similar to the Macintosh Desktop metaphor, Newton OS uses icons to open applications. Tabbed documents — Similar to tabbed browsing in today's browsers and Apple's At Ease interface, documents titles appear in a small tab at the top right hand of the screen. Screen rotation — In Newton 2.0, the screen can be rotated to be used for drawing or word processing. File documents — Notes and Drawings can be categorized. E.g. Fun, Business, Personal, etc. Print documents — Documents on the Newton can be printed. Send documents — Documents can be sent to another Newton via Infrared technology or sent using the Internet by E-Mail, or faxed. Menus — Similar to menus seen in Mac OS, but menu titles are instead presented at the bottom of the screen in small rectangles, making them similar to buttons with attached "pop-up" menus. Many features of the Newton are best appreciated in the context of the history of Pen computing. Software Shortly after the Newton PDA's release in 1993, developers were not paying much attention to the new Newton OS API and were still more interested in developing for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. It was not until two years later that developers saw a potential market available to them in creating software for Newton OS. Several programs were made by third-party developers, including software to enhance the disappointing hand writing recognition technology of Newton OS 1.x. The basic software that came with Newton OS: Works — A program for drawing and word processing, with typical capabilities such as: rulers, margins, page breaks, formatting,