Network computing, personal computers, and you

I think it is a great idea, I commonly use my desktop to just ssh into a unix server. The only problem with a mobile terminal sorta thing, and a laptop is that with a mobile device you can only get data when you are in range of wireless etc, while a laptop can always have your data. In my old highschool they used roaming profiles in os X, the machines basically became dumb terminals, where the hd only stored the OS. Also, a portable device has a disadvantage when it comes to display size and input methods.

Oh I sure hope not. Our school is migrating to 100% WYSE thin-clients. Let me tell you, they're not nearly as great as they seem. The performance on anything but text and basic graphics is poor. Example, flash based stuff is really bad.

>the personal computer will be rendered useless by upcoming hybrids of dumb and smart terminals always connected to the internet and your personal data.

Wait, where will your personal data be stored, then? Surely not on somebody else's server? My understanding of these things was that they had no local storage and relied 100% on servers.

At any rate, I really hate that idea, as true as it may become.

Kyle-

I think your on to something. This process is already underway with cel phones. Cel phones have overtaken computers in sales.

Your data in the proprietary data format from these proprietary devices goes through the proprietor's network and [anything you send over the internet may be monitored] stored in their database to datamine (secondguess) what you are going to immediately want to buy on impulse. Yeah, right.

I think there might be an emerging market for fritter-types (hackers, electronics engineers, etc) to build and sell "open" devices and services for "open" systems. The notion of a dumb "set top" box is not that appealing to some people, and that seems to be where things are going with cel phones, music/video players and game consoles, at the moment. I see the divide in open vs. proprietary hardware in much in the same way as currently there is a growing divide between the adopters of linux/bsd and the proprietary OS's. It's difficult to put any numbers on this as the stats consistently come from backers of the proprietary crowd. I no longer believe that Windows has 90% of the market, if you take into consideration all the new proprietary hardware and people who, unknown to the stats, remove Windows (and Mac OS) and install a *nix distro.

The Windows marketshare is usually measured in current sales. There is a huge discrepancy between current sales, and installed user bases. The installed Mac user base was recently estimated as high as 16% last year. I wonder how high the Linux user base is? Even with just the Apple 16% and an imaginary 10% Linux base, Windows has fallen below 80% and is probably lower if we consider all the alternative systems like the BSD flavors and any current growth from "switchers" and new buyer of Macs included since last year andnow with the Intel switch.

This idea is not a bad one, and I think it'll be a big thing in the future, but we won't see it within the next 10 years, I reckon. Data networks haven't evolved enough to sustain this model. Wireless connectivity is flakey, at best. Here at the University of Calgary, they embarked upon a wireless-campus initiative with 802.11b/g rolled out in every building with student study spaces. It's fast, it's slick and it's great - when it works. About 40% of the time, you can't get an IP address from the DHCP server. Another 10% of the time you can't reach the authentication server (no authentication, no access to anything). So, half the time, you can't get on the network. That's bad enough when all you need it for is internet access and e-mail, but if I was dependent on that for all my files? Forget it, I'd have to go back to paper-and-pencil.

I was discussing this with a buddy of mine, and he said "Well yeah, when the wireless dies, just plug it into the network!" To me, that completely defeats the purpose of the whole idea. If I have to be tethered to the wall, I at least want some big iron (relatively speaking, of course) to play with. What's the point of having an ultra-portable network computing device that has to be tethered to the wall?

Cheers,

The Czar