Why I really don't want a PC in my house
Why I really don't want a PC in my house
- The story so far
- I don't keep my money in a old sock under the pillow (so why
should I store my data on a hard disk in the study?);
- When I want to send money to the USA, I expect the bank to
sort out the transfer, so that my contact receives dollars and
not pounds (why should I have to wrestle with computer
compatibility issues?);
- If the bank is raided, I don't expect them to say "sorry, it was
YOUR thousand they got away with last night!" (so why should I
lose sleep over virus attacks?).
- Let other people's keyboards dwell on fireproof backups,
upgrade pathways and format translations (as Jane Austen
might have put it)
-
The PC has become something of a dinosaur, so taken up with
internal management procedures that it has great difficulty in
standing upon its own four feet. It will be pushed into extinction
by internet-style technology, with centralised data processing and
storage. Give me a keyboard, a printer and a screen - you can keep
the rest!
All I ask is that you back up my data across three continents, and
keep things simple with virtually no moving parts. I expect to have
a self-starter and some synchro-mesh, but I can take or leave the
electronic choke and the automatic transmission. If you must include
the bells and whistles, then make sure they work in a robust and
seamless manner. Needless to say, I will also need virtually
zero-cost access, preferably through a virtually "ever-open" line -
although I may have to be prepared to read the odd advertisement
that gets thrust under my nose.
The internet is learning how to become reliable, affordable and
accessible by all. Its processing capabilities will now have to
conceal themselves within the product, as when Amstrad launched not
a "computer" but a "word processor". The big box machine must give
way to the portable phone with web technology, the kitchen
magiboard with web technology, the home entertainment centre with e
web technology, the answering machine with web technology, the
calculator/word processor with web technology, and, yes, the
microwave and toaster with web technology.
-
Into the mainstream (Prestel & Telecom Gold never quite made
it - the internet surely will!)
-
Speaking at the Royal Television Society's 1997
convention in Cambridge, the then controller of "BBC Online"
(Edward Briffa) said that the internet in Britain was "already
moving away from the world of the computer 'nerd' and becoming
'mainstream'" - and this was happening at the expense of
broadcasting. Another BBC executive, David Docherty, urged
delegates to embrace the new media or face extinction: "If we
don't understand where 14 year olds are getting their media from
in 20 years' time, we won't have the BBC and once it is
de-invented it will never be invented again".
There is a tremendous race going on at present between all the
major players, who are making and breaking alliances from day to
day. The aim is to own an entire supply chain, from production to
delivery, along with all the associated financial transactions.
To play the field, you will need a desirable product range and a
reliable fulfilment chain, plus as many of the following as you
can manage to draw into your consortium: a well-connected
telecoms company, a digital television channel, a set-top box
manufacturer, an innovative software house and a secure payments
system.