Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 19:02:19 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> Cc: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr>, Miguel Mendez <flynn@energyhq.homeip.net>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The road ahead? Message-ID: <3CE5B62B.2B26239B@mindspring.com> References: <20020516004909.A9808@daemon.tisys.org> <20020516151801.A47974@energyhq.homeip.net> <20020516172853.A7750@daemon.tisys.org> <3CE40759.7C584101@mindspring.com> <20020516220616.A51305@energyhq.homeip.net> <3CE43D08.1FDBF0A3@mindspring.com> <20020517163624.GB9697@hades.hell.gr> <3CE58F73.1A7F50AF@mindspring.com> <p05111717b90b4c01f392@[10.9.8.215]>
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Brad Knowles wrote: > At 4:17 PM -0700 2002/05/17, Terry Lambert wrote: > > A bad example from personal experience was the Whistle InterJet; > > it had a lot of buttons on the front, which not only raised the > > overall cost, but implied configuration and exposed complexity > > (there was plenty of both, in fact). > > I desperately wanted an InterJet. Problem was that I couldn't > find a place where I could buy one, and I desperately did *not* want > a Qube. That was really a marketing issue (pre-IBM) and a license and intellectual property issue (post-IBM), wrapped up in a little bit of "subscription vs. sales" revenue slant (also post-IBM). Archie and Julian can both speak a long time on the inability for people to actually buy the hardware directly (pre-IBM). In theory, it was to avoid undersutting dealer networks, which was based on so many assumptions that I could never refute all of them. 8-(. > > People bought InterJets to connect their small businesses to the > > Internet. They were less painful than the precursor, but they > > could hardly be said to represent an epitome of good technology. > > I wanted to buy one as the ideal home mini-server -- running FreeBSD. Julian and Archie both use theirs this way to this day, I think. So does Jim Li, one of the original Whistle founders, and a number of other people. > > A much better paradigm would have been a single round green > > button on the front, wich connected your small office to the > > Internet. > > Naw, you want something that just automatically works, and > doesn't require any buttons. You always require a button to turn the thing on. There's really no choice. Overloading the same button to turn it off is just convenience -- you'd need a button to turn things off, even if you used the availability of electricity to turn the thing on, since even if engagement is automatic, you need to explicitly disengage. My favorite example is the Western European road-side-assistance kiosks: One big yellow button that meant "fullfill your purpose". It was so compelling at the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art, Industrial Design exhibit, that I was almost thrown out because I was so captivated by the artifact itself, I totally ignored the below knee level "do not touch" sign, and went an pressed the button. > > There's actually a German company building an InterJet-like > > device. You can buy one today, off the shelf, from Fry's > > electronics, for around US$400. It has a keypad, like the > > InterJet, and it has an LCD panel (at the bottom, rather than > > the top). > > Really? Can you give me the name of the company? I might be > able to find a place over here where I can buy them locally. Celestix. http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/stories/review/0,12070,478772,00.html The thing runs Linux, by default. For U.S. people, you can buy them at Fry's. But as I said before: I think they missed the boat with the design, since they are just copying the InterJet (IMO), and the InterJet missed the boat, too. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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