| Throughout the history of computing, there have | | | | to have full computing power away from the |
| been trade-offs. For years, desktop computing | | | | desk. Whether the employee is working at a |
| was priced just out of reach of the middle | | | | home office, or in the local park, or on the top of |
| middle-class, only accessible by the upper middle | | | | a mountain 500 miles away, the capability is there |
| and upper classes. As technology improved - | | | | for an affordable portable computer solution. So |
| more memory, faster processors, and more disk | | | | many more people will have connectivity, allowing |
| space - the prices stayed the same. Finally, the | | | | the world to be more flexible and in touch. |
| icicle of desktop prices began melting, slowly | | | | What this will really mean for society is yet to be |
| thawing with a few drips at first but eventually | | | | seen, but think of it like this. Automobiles were |
| turning into a roaring river. | | | | once for the elite driver; now they're everywhere. |
| The same thing has happened with laptops, just | | | | Televisions were once for the elite viewer; now |
| shifted a few years. Up until now, it has been | | | | they're everywhere. Cell phones were once for |
| impossible to have computing power and mobility | | | | the elite consumer only; now these phones are |
| and mass availability combined; you could have | | | | everywhere. And laptops were once for the rich |
| any combination of two out of three, but never | | | | and/or the techie; soon they will be everywhere. |
| all three. As laptops became more sophisticated | | | | This will change how businesses operate, especially |
| and more powerful with better quality, the prices | | | | the more low tech shops that have had little use |
| remained nearly constant. The lower middle class | | | | for technology in the past. The employee in the |
| couldn't easily capitalize on the technology and had | | | | field who has relied on phone calls to relay |
| to resort to doing computing on the home | | | | information may soon have access to laptops |
| desktop. | | | | that are as affordable as cell phones. It's not that |
| The prohibitive cost of laptops stimulated the | | | | much of a stretch to think of anybody in the |
| growth of the hand held devices. Granted, these | | | | service industry pulling out a laptop to record or |
| devices will not go away - they have a definite | | | | retrieve data or to issue a billing statement. |
| advantage over laptops for many applications and | | | | The cheap laptop that allows the masses to tie in |
| in many environments - but hand held devices do | | | | and get connected like never before may also |
| not have the same power and user interface | | | | instigate social changes. No longer will the laptop |
| advantages that a laptop inherently has (larger | | | | user be confined to being the man in the business |
| display screens for viewing multiple things at once; | | | | suit waiting for his flight at the airport gate. The |
| using a keyboard for input instead of fumbling | | | | laptop user will be the worker who has stopped |
| with thumbs on tiny buttons; and a wealth of | | | | at a fast food place to eat, or the farmer out in |
| software). Now that laptop prices are approaching | | | | the field, or the hunter hiding in a duck blind. Well, |
| the cost of a hand held, the average consumer is | | | | maybe that's a stretch. The point is that there will |
| going to have more options. | | | | be changes. The doors have been opened and the |
| The consumer will have more freedom than ever | | | | sky is the limit! |