Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!ucsd!ucbvax!decwrl!purdue!bu-cs!kwe
From: kwe@bu-cs.BU.EDU (kwe@bu-it.bu.edu (Kent W. England))
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Walkman computers
Message-ID: <27363@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: 19 Jan 89 18:13:42 GMT
References: <8932@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <8901191651.AA10945@pinocchio.UUCP>
Reply-To: kwe@buit13.bu.edu (Kent England)
Followup-To: comp.society.futures
Organization: Boston U. Information Technology
Lines: 39

In article <8901191651.AA10945@pinocchio.UUCP> 
bzs@pinocchio.encore.com (Barry Shein) writes:
>
>Personally I've never seen the attraction of portable computers, I
>don't often get the urge to write a program on a bus or plane...

	I wouldn't expect anyone to use a Walkman computer for
programming.  How about using it to read your electronic Personal
Newspaper?  Usenet news?  E-Mail?  Electronic books?  Think of uses
for computers for people who aren't programmers (at least, not in
today's sense of the word programmer).

>In a way it *is* a lot like a portable phone, which would I rather do,
>drag a phone around or assume there's one available wherever I go (how
>hard *is* it to pull over on the road and find a pay phone?  I realize
>some folks are in too much of a rush or spend their time in the
>boonies but that always costs.)
>
>I think a more useful development would be the ubiquity of computer
>stations and, perhaps, national file systems. ...

	If we had ubiquitous national networks of homogeneous
computers, then your phone analogy above would be appropriate.  I
don't see that happening anytime soon and when it does, I think you
will still have to transport your personal environment with you.  That
could be on an optical storage card or in a Walkman computer.

>Are people really serious that they want a computer they can use while
>jogging? Sounds silly to me.
>
	I don't think I can read and jog, but I can read and ride the
bus and I can take my Walkman computer with me like I now carry
appointment books, manila folders, and notebooks.  Don't take the
"Walkman" appellation too literally.  What I think of is "portable"
and "personal" when I imagine a personal computer like the Walkman.
Of course, the Walkman is only one of many computers I will use
regularly. 

	Kent England, Boston University