Very Computer

from
http://www.nytimes.com/techweb/TW_IBM_France_Telecom_Align_For_Net_De...

Quote:>By Alan Tillier, Contributor for TechWeb, CMPnet

>          PARIS -- France Telecom and IBM announced
>          Tuesday a joint venture designed to speed
>          France's entry into the Information Age via new
>          cheap Internet terminals such as screen phones.

>          The companies said they would develop an
>          open-standards software platform for low-cost
>          Internet-access devices. Several
>          telecommunications-equipment vendors have
>          been approached about the manufacture of
>          devices to run the software platform.

>          France Telecom said it wants to attract users of its text-based Minitel
>          system to the new more sophisticated information access devices.

>          "The deal with IBM does not make the Minitel obsolete, but we want
>          users and the service suppliers to migrate toward new, cheap -- and
>          above all -- uncomplicated terminals," said France Telecom
>          spokeswoman Ute Mahieux. "French people don't care for technology,
>          so we are offering them the best of both worlds," Mahieux said.

The French have become ever-more interested in Linux...so why not
produce a specific-use device using a Communicator/Linux combo? It
could be really, really cheap, and with IBM behind the project, it
shouldn't be too hard to make Linux invisible to the end user.

Also, I believe Linux would be perfect for this because it wouldn't
crash. You wouldn't even know you were running software.

Quote:>          France Telecom and IBM will work with telecom-equipment vendors
>          Alcatel, Lucent, and Nortel Networks on the new screen-phone
>          terminals that would sell for half the price of PCs.

Just think, IBM could use the knowlege it gained from producing the
Minitel devices to create similar ones for the US market...

Quote:

>          The terminals will have smart card readers, according to France
>          Telecom. "They will enable Internet access in a fraction of the time it
>          take using conventional personal computers," the companies said in a
>          joint statement.

>          The new software platform will be the first specifically designed for a
>          new generation of low-cost Internet-access devices, said Louis
>          Gerstner, CEO of IBM, in a statement.

Hmmm, that sounds a whole lot like a Linux machien to me...

Quote:>          Both companies said they hoped to sell the new software to telecom
>          operators in countries where PC prices have held back Internet growth.

>          In France, the immediate aim is to attract 15 million French people away
>          from their interactive Minitel teletext boxes that have offered basic online
>          services for the past 18 years. These have included booking rail, air, and
>          theater tickets, checking the weather and company news.

That's another thing--I keep trying to figure out if Internet
Appliances will merge with phones, or if they'll be a separate thing
all together. I mean, do you really _need_ your phone and your netpc
to be different contraptions? Actually, I could see in some instances
where that might be the case. What might happen is you will have a
videophone with voice-recognition built-in so you won't need a
keyboard to use it.

lee

L. Shelton Bumgarner -- Keeper of the Great Renaming FAQ
Nattering Nabob of Narcissism * http://www.nottowayez.net/~leebum/
ICQ#: 9393354 * "Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time
to reform." -- Mark Twain  

Quote:> from
> http://www.nytimes.com/techweb/TW_IBM_France_Telecom_Align_For_Net_De...
> That's another thing--I keep trying to figure out if Internet
> Appliances will merge with phones, or if they'll be a separate thing
> all together. I mean, do you really _need_ your phone and your netpc
> to be different contraptions? Actually, I could see in some instances
> where that might be the case. What might happen is you will have a
> videophone with voice-recognition built-in so you won't need a
> keyboard to use it.

The whole problem with NetPC's is that the technology they (could)
make use of changes so quickly, and every netPC design I've seen
is pretty much a sealed toy.  Unlike TV's and telephones, an NC
would be obsolete as soon as you took it home.

Rather than try to make the PC into an appliance, which I don't
think its suited to be, why not engineer a case design and form-factor
that densifies the PC, while maintaining its upgradability?

Me?  I got the most attractive case I could find and put a P200
in the living room that handles the TV, the DVD, the phone, and
the stereo.  All on the cheap. (yes, it dual-boots into Winders
to run the DVD...)

P.S., Kibo says hi.

--

I keep trying to tell my boss that no, Satan is a tool of Linux,
        not the other way around.

On 7 Oct 1998 15:31:00 GMT, Clancy Dalebout

Ahh, but TV is simply _not_ the way to go (except for interactiveTV
stuff like Video On Demand) Net use is a personal, private thing.

Quote:

>P.S., Kibo says hi.

Uh...hi..back.

lee

L. Shelton Bumgarner -- Keeper of the Great Renaming FAQ
Nattering Nabob of Narcissism * http://www.nottowayez.net/~leebum/
ICQ#: 9393354 * "Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time
to reform." -- Mark Twain