Many people have responded to my negative tone, and in re-reading what I wrote I see that’s warranted. I need to point out that I use a machine equivalent to the Neo as a simple, basic writing tool. I have 2 Newtons (in case one breaks) and 2 eMates. For first draft writing, they are good. Text entry, as Michael Magin said. Sure, why not? But for most of my writing, I don’t do first drafts. I work through, I collaborate, I share and then revise, and an eMate or Neo won’t help me there. I like Kris Browne’s suggestion for how to create a focused environment on a Mac, by the way.

I disagree with saying that “This is a bit like saying that hammers will never catch on because they suck if you try to use them to saw lumber.” That’s a strawman - I would never use a typing program to do graphics (though I did my fair share of dumb ASCII pictures in the 80s). A better analogy would be to say that a hammer without the nail pulling side isn’t as useful. You get the nail puller AND the nail hitter on most hammers, so why restrict yourself? Pulling nails lets you “edit” your construction. And you can still hammer all you want.

As I said, on a computer, it’s easy to turn off the distractions. You just have to choose to do it.