Denys writes:
> I wrote a long answer to Wirt's post, and then opted not to send it.

The Cancel button *is* your friend :-)

> The low-cost PC's, some approaching $500, doomed the NC before the latter
> even got off the ground.

The "NC" or super-intelligent terminal still has a lot of potential I think,
but they can't catch on until the applications are there.  Once that happens
the "NC" style hardware can spring up overnight.

> The problem for PC makers is that PC's are now too powerful.

I think a fundamental change happened some time this year, when the office
desktop ceased to be a driving factor in PC hardware evolution.  As Denys says,
you just don't need anything faster (right now) and it's going to take a major
software revolution of some kind to make the desktop a driving force once again.

On the other hand, there are two areas which *are* seriously pushing the
hardware now more than before:

1) PC based servers running general purpose (read: relatively inefficient)
   OSes such as NT and Linux.  The price/performance advantage of cheap Intel
   boxes means that people are trying to move more and more traditional
   server applications onto PC hardware.  These can always use more horsepower.

2) Entertainment (that is, Games).  High end PCs with fast CPUs, lots of
   memory, and hardware 3D acceleration are now making possible some really
   impressive stuff.  Take a look at the PC game "Unreal" for example.

> We'll talk again in 5 years.

Promises, promises, :-)

G.