Re: PC-less good stuff
Yeah, the telephone is a pure terminal. dumb as they come unless & until it delivers you to the power of the network. The network in that case is pretty good, very redundant & intelligent, even if it's not available for public use like Internet 1 is.
And the tv, also a pure terminal. dumb as hell, too, unless & until it gets connected to the network - a one-way network that is also virtually closed to the public.
So now we have the displays that are designed to process 3D graphics. And they're being given new uses, as rich input devices, as devices that connect to the network & give us a 3D interactive view of what's on the network.
Microsoft knows this. They have kept X hidden under a thick, dense cloud of Thin Client, Terminal Server noise, but they can't make X go away, they can only keep most people from knowing about it. And the people who do Linux & ignore the remote user experience are actually kind of complicit in helping Microsoft as they portray Linux as merely something that can replace Microsoft on the desktop. A pity.
There are ticking bombs that could go off and change things quickly, though. One would be a USB or CF or SD device that had a network upgradeable X server in it, another would be a network upgradeable X server for Windows Mobile devices. Another would be an X server for the upcoming handheld playstation, assuming that it will have wireless net connectivity.
All the handheld devices only have to run that one program, ever, the way I see it - the X server. It's like a TV tuner except that it handles the remote part of any X application, and supports the interactivity.
