CompuServe Messages

But unless you're a company, you probably never had the choice between a "mainframe" and a "desktop". For you (as for me), it was more likely buy this year's desktop (PC) or save your money for next year's (hopefully) more powerful version. True, things change — just look at the game machine market. Question is, is that the return of a fad or is it a real market? CDTV without writable storage is just another "VCR" with some "more computer-like" operations "(and thus harder for joe-blow to operate…" — you seem to be making my point for me :-). It will be interesting to see whether CDTV/CD-I can differentiate themselves from the label VCR/"game machine" (gee — where have we heard that before? ;-). So its not should CDTV/CD-I go in the living room once I've decided to get it — its should I get it for the living room since I already have the VCR, stereo, TV. OTOH, CDTV/CD-I *with* writable storage could be the thing to get a computer into the daily lives of most average people. There is no reason that the interface to most "home productivity" programs (calendars, checkbooks, files, etc.) couldn't be gotten down to a few button clicks (after the system has had a chance to learn your usual style of use). The problem will be that, in this economy, there is a price/performance tradeoff with pencil and paper. David – via Whap!