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Re: [TCLUG:1551] Anyone feeling entrepreneurial?



On Fri, 2 Oct 1998, Eric Hillman wrote:

> 	Anybody feel like giving the iMac a run for its money?

I was thinking about the ideal user-centered NC or "information 
appliance", in terms of hardware and software that it would run, and I'm 
interested in the idea of a business built around it. Unfortunately, no 
one here would agree with me -- for one thing, I'd want to ditch X 
altogether and replace it with something like GGI/Berlin.

Another thing would be hardware. Again, I'm thinking user-centric:

1. a flat-panel LCD display with speakers mounted on the sides
2. very small form factor CPU enclosure (laptop-like)
3. miniumum mess: run cables between components in a single line, rather 
than a million cables coming out of the CPU (mouse -> kbd -> display -> 
cpu ; one giant cable coming out of the display carrying audio, video, 
mouse/kbd and power)
4. New UI from the bottom up and apps to match

Underlying this is the philosophy that the computer should have as 
minimal an impact on the environment as possible, in terms of damage to 
the ecosystem (low-power LCD display and ARM CPU, diskless) and to the 
user's body (all hardware ergonomic, perhaps even an ergonomic desk and 
chair as part of the package). And of course the software should be ergonomic 
(the "desktop" is really furniture emulated in software, after all), a la 
MacOS or NEXTSTEP. You know where I come from on this.

Needless to say, this is expensive. I don't think the cheap, disposable 
PC model of hardware is the best in the long run, and we'd have to make 
this case convincing to our prospective customers:

1. The hardware is made from good quality parts and won't randomly die. 
Also easy to service, in the rare case this is necessary.
2. Linux is efficient and that, in combination with the open source, 
means obsolescence works much more slowly. You'll own this hardware for 
longer and get more productive use out of it.
3. Your employees will work more efficiently with a user-centered 
hardware and software design.

Think in terms of long-term return on investment and total cost of 
ownership. I think the low-ball, make-everything-as-cheap-as-possible 
approach is ultimately the wrong one to make.

_____________________________________________________________________________
Christopher Reid Palmer : jaymz@acm.cs.umn.edu : innerFire on IRC (EFNet)

Free Software Special Interest Group : acm.cs.umn.edu/~jaymz/sigfs/
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