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More from Steve Steinberg
With set-top boxes, we will be pressured to replace at least part
of our TVs annually in order to get features we don't really need.
- 1994
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Both those who believe patents are crucial to the industry and those
who believe patents will cause irreparable harm [are] claiming that the
unique nature of software requires sweeping changes in U.S.
intellectual property laws ... The problem isn't the much-maligned
patent office, it's people's egos. - 1994
~~~
Experts point to anti-pollution laws and two-career families as the
driving forces behind telecommuting's resurgence. While the Clean Air
Act may cause a small increase in telecommuting, most employees still
believe that physical visibility is necessary for promotions, and this will
keep telecommuting from catching on. - 1994
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The idea of an intelligent agent that can whisk away our tedious work
is incredibly seductive. But it is also a dangerous idea to promote. In
the 1980s, many database companies discovered that promoting a
"natural-language interface" is the kiss of death because customers
then expect too much. To connect your product with "intelligent
agents" risks far greater customer disappointment. - 1994
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Sure, we all knew that the Net was going to become more commercial,
but it still is somehow unsettling to see your formerly pastoral town
filled with new high-rises, billboards, and gawking tourists. What's
strange is the mass media's portrayal of net.pioneers as a bunch of
rabid anti-business hippies - as if most people are delighted with TV
commercials and junk mail. Advertising may be inevitable, but it's still
worth bitching about. - 1994
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We just need to figure out why telephones should merge with
computers in the first place. True, the combination could help
telemarketers. But for most of us, it's as useful as a computerized
toaster. - 1995
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The upcoming battle that really matters is the up-start Microsoft
Network versus the older, but crowd-pleasing Internet ... It says a lot
about Microsoft's reputation that even though the Internet weighs in
with 30 million subscribers to MSN's zero, it's the Internet that's being
painted as the underdog. But my money is on the Net, a wily opponent
with a record of swallowing up any competition. Forget age versus
youth; this fight will be a morality tale about hubris. - 1995
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By providing a low-cost, high-quality phone service - with the freedom
of mobility thrown in - PCS vendors will gouge the revenues of local
phone companies. Your home phone and mobile phone will be one and
the same. Once again, technology will have destroyed a monopoly
where legislation failed. - 1995
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Because people are used to owning information, not leasing it, tangible
forms of media like CD-ROM will be with us for a long time. - 1995
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The history of U.S. technology is the history of a recurring U.S. dream:
new inventions will empower the individual more than the corporation
... A current variant is the prediction that the anarchic Internet will
turn people into media makers and kill off more restrictive commercial
services like America Online and CompuServe. This prediction has two
flaws. First, in a society satisfied by "Baywatch" reruns, few people will
produce or consume the amateur media. Second, no matter how nice
the Web viewer, the unstructured Internet will always be much harder
to use than an online service. - 1995
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Who wants to participate in the kind of sterile, cartoony world that
companies like CompuServe and Prodigy are doomed to create?
Perhaps a few ... but the rest will want to move into grittier, less-
planned online worlds. This new digital landscape will not offer
architects or urban planners the jobs they're really angling for. - 1995
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The dream is to use the existing cable network to bring high-speed Net
connectivity to the home. While in theory the cable network can
handle transmission speeds that leave phone lines in the dust, in
reality much of the network will need to be refurbished to support such
data transmission. Nonetheless, the specter of cable modems should
help to spur on ISDN deployment. - 1995
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