From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sat Mar 25 2000 - 10:03:49 MST
On Sat, 25 Mar 2000, Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
>
> I've come to the conclusion that ZDnet is nothing but the propaganda organ
> of techno-fascists. Remember, they were the ones hyping the NC so much a
> few years ago, until I suggested that too many underpowered machines in
> offices would likely increase the rate of postal episodes at work...
If the economies of scale had not turned PCs into NCs, the idea
would have been good. But you can't produce a low cost terminal
for the price of a PC when your volumes are so much lower.
That and the fact that the execution of the idea was highly
mismanaged and motivated primarily by the desire to pull the
rug out from under Microsoft made it a questionable business
venture. It was a high stakes game that became irrelevant when
the web took off.
Larry made an interesting comment at the CATO conference
last year I think. The gist of it was that you should leave
the configuration, management, backup, etc. of machines of non-IT
people in the hands of IT "professionals". It was a MIS mentality,
derived from the NC efforts and when I heard it I didn't like
it. But given the amount of time I spend installing, upgrading,
debugging, etc. software, there is merit to the argument.
I've spent the better part of the last 2 weeks upgrading
to Win2K, reinstalling software, testing it, etc. Now its
great once you have it done, but for people who are from
outside the industry it has got to be a nightmare.
Oh, and I don't know whether it was the trial that did it or
whether Microsoft finally got it that the customer counts,
but dealing with the Win2K support people is actually a
*pleasant* experience. Highly, highly unusual in the software
industry. Intel, still doesn't get it and they are claiming
they aren't going to provide Win2K drivers for their early
model USB cameras... ("Buy our devices and we will make them
obsolete for you!")... I can't wait until I get their support
manager on the phone and tell them every single machine I buy
or any company I'm involved with buys for the next 50 years
will *not* have Intel processors in them. Vote with your $$$!
Robert
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