In his blog-style forum thread, Mike Cane’s Live 770 blog, Mike sent me careering down computer memory lane back to a couple notepads I owned back in 1983 and ‘84, which no one has ever heard of — a Convergent Technologies Workslate (pictured above) and a Sord IS-11. Convergent was a high-flying startup that managed to burn through all its VC money and go broke in a period of two years; Sord was a Japanese computer company that didn’t make it in the U.S. with its first efforts and then gave up.

Both computers had small LCD screens, full-sze keyboards and microcassette storage. The Sord was pretty much a word-processing device. The Workslate was sort of a dedicated spreadsheet computer — all its apps used an underlying row-column cell structure. That made sense for its core spreadsheet app and the financial calculator and even the phone book. It made for odd text files though. It was intended for travel all the way and included a built-in modem; you could even use the tape drive for recording voice memos.

The Workslate had serious design flaws — not only could you not extend the RAM, you couldn’t extend the apps either: it couldn’t load any apps at all except those few sorta-spreadsheet adaptations. But it was sleekly designed, rich black with striking round-topped keys that lacked the natural utility of normal concave key tops. Convergent must have designed it for businesspeople who didn’t want to learn how to use a computer, as though that were a growing instead of shrinking market back then. The Workslate reminds me actually of this year’s Sony Reader, another one-trick pony hoping that a single-use computer can win people over by its good looks alone.

I haven’t thought of the Workslate in years. Must be a reason for that, I guess. I read today that only 5,000 or so were sold.

Now the Nokia 770 has a 180-degree different attitude towards things than the Workslate. Instead of “our software or none” (actually almost the same thing), Nokia has labored hard to make the device friendly for others to bring software to it. Instead of a sky-high price, the 770 has jettisoned irrelevant features to keep the device affordable.

And instead of trying to replace full-computing with a limited-capability handheld, the 770 is designed to complement your other computers and do what they have problems doing — fit in your pocket to carry anywhere, instant-on so that a one-minute computer session is possible (I’ve done it, to answer a question at dinner), and grab email and browse the web effortlessly (well, that’s what PDA’s have trouble doing; also, I’m thinking how easy it is to get to the web by pairing with a Bluetooth phone).

Boy, times have changed.