On my planet "Microsoft did" NOT "put a computer on every desktop." Or on any desktop, for that matter. Even though I switched from CP/M to DOS at a moment's notice. Just the same, "the iPhone" DID NOT "put the web in our pockets." Unless, of course, what you mean is on YOUR PLANET they made it a fad. While Apple gets too much credit for iPhones, which are, after all, only a VERY small percentage of all cellphones sold in their times, Apple also gets too little credit for bringing us the PC, period. So, perhaps on your planet this makes it all balance relatively. I prefer a balance just slightly closer to the facts. If you've been on this list long, you've seen my references to the Nokia Communicator 9000, as shown in the movie "The Saint" [1997], and therefore in existence when it was shot and set in 1996. . . . Such phones were commonplace in Europe a decade ago, I saw them. The US has always been way behind in cellphones, and still is, iPhones notwithstanding, cuteness notwithstanding. However, I will give you that fads have their place in progress, bringing things even more to the masses. After all, THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE eBOOK!!! ;-) Michael On Fri, 22 Jan 2010, Walter van Holst wrote:
On 1/22/10 3:27 AM, Michael S. Hart wrote:
Just one little correction/emendation:
Apple's iPhone wasn't first to "put the web in our pocket."
As I recall it is not that old.
I have phones with browsers and wifi that are TWICE as old!
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. The bird is right when he says that the iPhone put the the web in our pockets in the sense that it, just like the iPod before it, had almost next to nothing that was new in terms of technical capabalities, but through extremely clever packaging made those techincal capabilities interesting to the masses.
Just like Microsoft put a computer on every desktop, but didn't invent hardly a thing in that era.
Regards,
Walter _______________________________________________ gutvol-d mailing list gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org http://lists.pglaf.org/mailman/listinfo/gutvol-d