Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerome who wrote (30619)	5/27/1999 8:49:00 AM
From: Katherine Derbyshire	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

"Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time."--Thomas Edison And, of course, IBM's famous conclusion that the total market for desktop computers was only a handful of machines. The reason why IBM was wrong is instructive, though. They assumed that desktop computers would be used only for the same things as mainframe computers. Instead, accessibility made them useful for a whole array of other things, too. Now, IMO, the desktop PCs lack of accessibility will be its downfall, as cheap microprocessors are tied to a whole range of devices that do a few "limited" functions very very well. (The PalmPilot being the most visible current example.) All of those devices still use chips--the trend toward pervasive computing continues--but they are much more price sensitive than the Intels and Dells of the world are used to, and that's likely to force some changes in business models. Katherine