“Personal computers not only will get cheaper but will quite
likely be given away free with other services, said speakers in a
Comdex/Canada panel discussion today. Many of those PCs might run
the Linux operating system, suggested Michael Cowpland, chairman
and chief executive of Ottawa-based Corel Corp.”
“Cowpland and other senior people in the Canadian computer
industry offered their opinions on a handful of technology
questions during a midday panel focused on ‘Late-Breaking
News.'”
“All agreed that free PCs – given away to facilitate consumer
and business use of services such as Internet access – are very
likely to proliferate in the next few years. ‘This is inevitable,’
said Dan Servos, president of 3Com Canada Co. in Toronto. And Chris
Scatliff, vice- president for Canada and Latin America at UUNet,
said the trend is the best evidence that the PC is becoming an
appliance.”