“You can see them at the horizon. Long hidden, they approach
slowly, but with the determination of marginalized individuals
gathered together in the singularity of Purpose. In their hands,
you see torches, pitchforks, banners reading “Death to the PC!”
“Long Live the Net!” Like shadows cast by resentment and rage
itself, they darken the ground with every encroachment, march
closer still, muttering, mumbling beneath their breaths of the
tyranny of hard drives and the Interconnectedness of All Things.
You could cower behind nearby rocks, or join their growing, ominous
ranks … But they are “coming” no longer. They are here….”
“Fortunately, most of the members of this grim band are
marketing folks – long-winded, a bit highfalutin’, but not
especially dangerous. Still, they don’t mind sending whole segments
of the population down the old rabbit-hole every now and then – for
fun and profit. And, true to nature, they are at it again. Yes,
the PC as we know it will not last forever. And, yes, the power of
an increasingly wired world is likely something that will. But
whatever the service, device or system that heralds the New Dawn
might be, the Internet appliance (IA) – that i-opener, epod,
Dot.Station, web phone, etc. – is not it.“
“In the rush to arrive at the post-PC era, the Internet
appliance is a sideways move at best: a less capable, marginally
less expensive PC, marketed to a population that is somehow
anti-PC, yet chomping at the bit to get “news! stock quotes!
e-mail!” over the Internet. Near the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle,
where a set of Komodo dragons has taken up residence, is a
billboard that reads: “There is a reason you’ve never met anyone
from Komodo …” Something similar could be said for the legions of
anti-PC, pro-Internet consumers allegedly waiting to purchase
Internet appliances by the bargeload. Do you know why you’ve never
met any of them? Because there aren’t any.”