Tom,
There used to be some interesting numbers floating around about what percent of consumer PC's were XXX MHz or under. I haven't seen data like that in a long time, too bad it would be helpful to determine where we are in the consumer upgrade cycle. I'm sure Intel has that data, and I'm sure they won't give it to us <g>.
There are other possibilities than buying a new PC. But the other options must be cheap, easy to use, and compatable. PCs aren't easy to set up, Macs aren't cheap (but getting there), bandwidth isn't there (yet) for storage on the net, Tivo/Replay TV isn't compatable.
Yes I think the PC will remain at the center, for storage and processing, of all the new data appliances that are or will hit the market. MP3's, digital cameras, handheld computers are great mobile appliances, but don't really work well, if at all, as stand alone products. A bad analogy is old "transistor" radios or handheld TV's, great products to have but they didn't displace home stereo's or big screen TV's.
I'm not calling for the end of the home PC, just saying that things don't look good (to me) in the near term. And I'll drop what appears to be an unpopular topic.
John |
