From: stevenw@best.com (Steven Weller)
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 14:31:04 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: The future will be easy to use (fwd)
Message-ID: <v01530506ace05744708d@[206.86.1.35]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>> One thing that David didn't mention is security add-ons to the "network
>> computers" that are supposed to be rolled out within the next few months --
>> the successors to X terminals, $500 boxes with a good screen/sound,
>> cheap cpu, and a few megs of ram and flash memory to hold a web browser.
>> I expect some folks to make a good living by writing add-ons (including
>> crypto add-ons) to these gizmos.
>>
>
>Don't hold your breath. The current market surveys say that there is no
>market for them. Check out this weeks PC Week or Mac Week, as they both
>have several articles discussing this. Bottem line is that the under $1000
>computer seems to have no future either in industry or the home.
>
>Realisticaly, who in their right mind would buy a diskless workstation to
>connect to Internet? You certainly wouldn't do crypto on it because it has
>to boot from somewhere else and this leaves all kinds of security holes.
>Also, there is the fact that at the current time there are no generaly
>useable apps on Internet beyond the web and most companies would rather have
>their employees doeing something more productive than hanging ten.
>
>Anyone who bases their business on this technology won't have a business.

The same sort of things could be said of the telephone compared with
written correspondence. Why would anyone have one in their business or
home? Anyone can overhear a conversation, people will just chat, the only
thing you can do with it is talk, there is no record of the correspondence,
why would anyone want to talk to people on the other side of town? etc.

Think telephone, not computer. Think people over 40 who want a
communication tool with zero maintenance and zero learning curve.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Weller                      |  "The Internet, of course, is more
+1 415 390 9732                    |  than just a place to find pictures
                                   |  of people having sex with dogs."
stevenw@best.com                   |       -- Time Magazine, 3 July 1995