As I See It...

A weekly commentary
by James E. Felton

No. 1

Several years ago my mad scientist little brother (with a Masters Degree) tried to interest me in digital audio tape. Fortunately my background is in mechanics/electronics so I knew better.

Contrary to popular opinion....

Digital video, and audio do not produce better quality pictures and sound. Have you ever plotted points on a curve? That's basically what digital does to analog signals. Do those points give you a smoother curve than the original? Certainly not. Digital reproduces the original analog signal much like the "connect the dots" puzzles children play with. And it uses a huge amount of memory recording the locations of all of the points of the curve.

So, what then is the attraction to digital?

Digital electronics gives us the ability to store information in hardware such as memory chips that require little, or no power to maintain the information. And that information is available almost instantly. The flip side of that is that memory chips are expensive and have a very limited capacity in comparison to something like the amount of analog audio that can be stored on a cheap C-60 cassette tape. (For those who aren't aware of it, the disadvantage of analog cassettes is locating, and rapidly accessing the needed information that is stored on them.)

So, how does this relate to Network Computers versus Personal Computers?

Computing has evolved in the last 20 years from an expensive laboratory curiosity to a relatively inexpensive, and very effective means of mass communication. We are now moving rapidly toward Digital Interactive Multimedia Communications. People will tell you that the current hold up is bandwidth. That's not completely true. The hold up is actually more a matter of throughput. In order to send and receive continuously streamed multimedia (Interactive TV) comparable to analog television requires that huge amounts of information pass through your computer. If you were to try to save that information one full length movie would not only consume your RAM, but it would also consume your entire hard drive. If you've ever priced a memory chip, or a hard drive you should know that this is still a very expensive way to store information.

So, once we achieve the throughput necessary for Interactive TV there will be little, or no point in installing, and maintaining huge programs, or files on a personal computer. The program is already installed on the server. All we need to do is use it. As for your personal files, a zip, or jaz drive would be nice, but those files can also be saved on a server.

• I frequently hear people say, "I don't want to be dependent on the network". Baloney! Does it bother you to be dependent on your phone, or water, or electricity? It is exactly the same thing. Don't think so? Try running your PC when the power goes off!

• I've heard NCs compared to car pooling, and subways (subjects certain to rile most Americans). This IS NOT car pooling. Car pooling, and subways put you physically inside a vehicle with other people you may not want to look at, talk to, or smell. Using an NC is more like using a phone, or cable TV.

• I've heard NCs referred to by many prominent figures as dumb terminals. They're not near as dumb as the people who think they're going to continue to save everything on their PCs!

The simple fact is that the sooner we quit throwing our money away on PCs and packaged software the sooner we can build the infrastructure to supply the necessary throughput for Digital Interactive Multimedia Communications to become a reality.

Here's a little simple math for you. If you assume that 35 million PCs that have been sold with Win95 pre-installed at an average of $2000.00 that amounts to $70,000,000,000.00. If those people had bought WebTVs, or something similar for $329.00 we'd have $58,000,000.000.00 left to spend on infrastructure. Call me stupid, but it seems to me that if we spent $58 billion on infrastructure digital multimedia would literally fly down the pipeline, and Windows would find it's rightful place beside the abacus!

Related Information:
Multimedia's Dark Side

Digital Audio Basics

Why In The World...

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