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Jean-Louis Gassée Column

The Power of Words June 7, 2000 Appliances, sub-PC, post-PC -- we're still struggling with ways to designate and categorize the objects of the emerging "everything-connected", "IP-on-everything" world. Watching the traffic on various forums, on the info@be.com feed, as well as my own inbox, I realize the power of words to create misunderstanding. Before you tell me this is a trite generalization, let me give some specific examples, if not easy solutions. Minicomputers. When Ken Olsen invented them, he wasn't thinking of a smaller version of mainframes. His company had been making logic modules and, one thing leading to another, adding more logic to their product. That's how the Digital Equipment Corporation became the king of minis while the king of "real" computers, IBM, had trouble catching up. There were many pesky upstarts -- DEC, HP, and Data General. There were others now forgotten -- Varian, General Automation (whose CEO fixed machines by the laying on of hands), Computer Automation, InterData, ModComp, Basic Four. All of this is by way of saying that the tumult, craziness, and abundant fertilizer of today's scene has been, in many respects, well-rehearsed. Once in a while we create a legacy-free moniker, such as bit, byte, or MP3. The rest of the time, though, we use derivative naming, and that creates confusion. If something is a minicomputer, it's like a computer or like a mainframe, only smaller. While such redundant thinking is understandable, it prevented many companies, such as IBM, from focusing on what the mini was *not* like and assimilating the mini's essence into something different. You see where I'm going. But I'll make one more stop en route, at microcomputers. A few months after joining Apple I was horrified when IBM unveiled its new product, a 16-bit homage to the Apple ][. They stole our song and called it The Personal Computer. They had learned by then to focus on the essence of the PC. They understood its strong personal appeal -- it's my computer and I can lift it with my arms, my credit card, and my brains. Others missed this point, including Ken Olsen and a neighbor of mine in the Old Country. He built a PC before IBM, Commodore, MITS, and other numerous and colorful entrepreneurs of the previous generation. But he called it a microcomputer and offered it as a smaller, cheaper minicomputer for accounting and other business applications. For many years he complained bitterly that he wasn't getting proper recognition for inventing the microcomputer. Today, when we discuss IP on everything, we're facing similar trouble. I could use the Microsoft We, when they call their Palm homage a Pocket PC after the even more "complimentary" Palm PC. But they are not converted to the degree that IBM was when they called their new product "Personal." In our case, it's dangerous to call something a sub-PC, because it obscures what IP-enabled devices are *not* like. I personally fell into this trap and it took me a while to disengage from derivative PC-based thoughts. In particular, early in our appliance development efforts, I failed to recognize the role of a strong client-server relationship for the user as well as for our partners. Describing Internet appliances as post-PC isn't as bad as calling them sub-PC. Post-PC points to the fact that while the PC is still today's Internet client, we must look beyond the PC when contemplating uses of the Internet that will enrich tomorrow's education, commerce, or entertainment, or even factory-floor programming of industrial robots. In the past, I've expressed that hope that we'd forge a noun or an acronym. Just as PDA has gained acceptance, I hope we'll find something like IPE or IPED, for IP Enabled Devices. It doesn't capture everything, in particular the role of HTML or XML, but it is in less danger of being captured itself by the PC and its legacy.

Past Columns: March 7, 2001 Intemperance Makes the Suit Look Bad February 7, 2001 The Web Device of Choice at Home January 17, 2001 Transfer of Power December 6, 2000 One Step Closer November 15, 2000 Thoughts on Comdex 2000 November 1, 2000 Watching the Pendulum October 4, 2000 Plus çà change... September 6, 2000 Connected Appliances: A Field Report August 16, 2000 Sub-PC vs. Appliances July 12, 2000 The Victim Microsoft June 7, 2000 The Power of Words May 31, 2000 The First Be Shareholders Meeting May 24, 2000 Intellectual Property and Internet Appliances May 17, 2000 Spreading the Virus May 10, 2000 Numbers and Feedback May 3, 2000 Manufacturing Consent

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