There's a great article by HP Senior VP Dr. Joel Birnbaum
in the December HP Journal. The article is entitled
"Communications Challenges of the Digital Information Utility."

I couldn't find the text online :( but there's a PDF at

   <http://www.hp.com/hpj/97dec/de97a1.pdf>

Dr. Birnbaum argues that in time there will be a "digital
information utility" just as today there are power and water
utilities.

Some of the statements he makes fit right in with some of
the recent threads on this List. For that matter, the article
sounds similar to something our good friend Alfredo would write
(minus any Mac references ;). For example:

   "For a technology to become truly pervasive, it must
    transcend being merely manufacturable and commonplace.
    It must become intuitively accessible to ordinary
    people and deliver enough value to justify the
    large investment required to build the supporting
    infrastructure."

If we apply this to today's computers--which I believe
is NOT what Dr. Birnbaum intended--then about the only
"intuitive" item is the mouse, and those whose first
impression is that of a "foot pedal" would likely argue
even that. Fortunately, Dr. Birnbaum provides an example:

   "Think for a moment how easily most of us can use
    a telephone or drive a car with an automatic
    transmission..."

I believe that neither technologies are "intuitive"
to the point of being operable without ANY training.
That gives us a LITTLE lattitude, but not very much.
(I'll stop here. ;)

Separately, Dr. Birnbaum also points out that

   "Because only people born after a technology has been
    invented think of it as part of the environment, and
    not as a technology, tomorrow's children will think
    of computers the way we think of telephones and TV today."

Anyway, I found it an interesting read. :)

--Glenn Cole
  Software al dente, Inc.
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