Just how insignificant the PC has become in the grand scheme of things could be observed at Comdex Fall '98 in Las Vegas recently, where Intel rented the Hilton ballroom to pack in a full audience for a staged panel that mimicked the successful late-night ABC show "Politically Incorrect," complete with host Bill Maher. There was Craig Barrett, president and chief executive officer of Intel, jousting with Maher and fellow panelists Penn Jillette, of the Penn & Teller magic team; Bill Nye the Science Guy from the hit show on the PBS/Disney Channel; and-for technical legitimacy-Esther Dyson, PC industry analyst and chairwoman of EDventure Holdings.
Following the familiar format of his nightly show, Maher tossed out provocative questions for the panel to debate-only this time they had nothing to do with Monica Lewinsky. To queries about the future of the PC, he got the expected answers, like, "Sure we know that PCs are not meeting expectations for the large portion of the populace, but this will all work itself out. Before long the PC will be just another commonplace of our lives, the way books became after Gutenberg."
Maher shook things up with a pointed last question: "Do you think that in the last 50 years we have witnessed more technological advances than in any other period of recorded history?" The panelists agreed vehemently, in unison. "Wrong!" exclaimed Maher, who began ticking off a list of achievements of the preceding 50 years, such as the electric lightbulb, radio, TV, airplane, car, etc. (not to mention the atomic bomb). His point was that the PC industry, as usual, was taking itself too seriously, more inclined to think of the box itself, as opposed to what has become more important-the connection outside the box.
There was consensus that the Internet has become the great equalizer, albeit not the secret sauce that will close the gap between the haves and the have-nots (don't worry: according to Penn and Dyson, that will eventually even out . . . somehow!?). But the Net has emerged as an equal-access vehicle to the www.shoptillyoudrop.com virtual malls and to the information centers on the Web. And with the stock of Amazon.com, the Web-only bookstore, at about 145 vis-a-vis the 110 average for Intel and Microsoft on the Nasdaq, it seems almost bad taste to brag about PC hardware achievements. Indeed, the PC is taking on the relative importance of an expensive information appliance. For while it may be politically incorrect to talk about PCs as just access points to the Net, it has become technically incorrect to remain in awe of them.
Fifty years from now, the PC will be remembered as a data point on the landscape of the Information Age. It's time to put the emphasis on the "personal" in designing today's personal computers, and stop pretending that the whole is not more important than the sum of the parts.
— Nicolas Mokhoff is editor of EE Times Online.
