January, 2000      Diablo Blue      Page 3

(Continued from page 2)

and act as its own ASP. Don't you think Bill Gates would find it attractive to eliminate the middleman completely?)

Note the terms "remotely hosts" and "centrally located servers." That means accessing software via the Internet, or perhaps a gigantic corporate Wide Area Network (WAN) or an Extranet. Whatever, it essentially leaves grassroots users out in the cold. Can you imagine trying to use a modem and dial-up access use all your software if it was located on the Internet? It boggles the mind! Most of us don't have the broadband Internet access available to big corporations. But if leasing of software becomes the norm, how else could vendors control their user base other than by having them access it from a central host that could be monitored easily? Not to worry, corporate spokesmen hasten to assure us, the PC is dead anyway. Oh really, and when did this happen? Last time I looked PC sales were up last year over the previous year-which were higher than the year before, etcetera, etcetera-despite shortages of chips and other components caused by the Taiwan earthquakes. IBM's 1998 annual report issued last spring had a whole section titled "The PC Era Is Over." Major PC antagonists such as Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy and Oracle's Larry Ellison have been singing the same song for several years. But how much of that is sour grapes? Are McNealy and Ellison still pouting because their vision of the Net PC died on the vine? IBM CEO Lou Gerstner believes that "new personal computing devices, such as personal digital assistants, Web-enabled TVs, screenphones, smart cards, and a host of products we have yet to imagine" will gradually replace the personal computer. Maybe so, but I don't expect to be tossing my PCs on the scrap heap anytime soon. I do expect to be upgrading and/or replacing them with new, faster, more capable machines well into the 21st century, which will not start officially until January 1, 2001, of course. What's your opinion? I'd love to hear from you on these points. I will revisit this subject of more computing changes we can expect in an upcoming column-and I will include insightful comments from readers.

(Continued from page 1)

Steve collected from all of those cowering vendors who were unable to turn him away without giving him a freebie!
DVPC meetings are held in the lobby conference room in Building B at the Bank of America Technology Center office complex in Concord, located near the northeast corner of Clayton Road at Galindo (see the Map to Monthly Meetings on page 15). Please use the main entrance of the building, which is in the center of the front of the building that faces Clayton road.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. We will have the next installment PC 101, a class run by Craig Peterson on how to use the computer. The classes will be open to all members and start at 6:15 in the back of the room. This month's class is titled "E Mail or How to get 100 pieces of junk mail each day". Following the class, the New User's SIG will have their meeting from 6:30 to 7:00.
We'll also have the Networking Table from 6:30 to 7:00; if you have something to sell or trade, need technical help, or just want to exchange views, visit the Networking Table. We'll probably have one of our ever-popular mini-auctions with great products, so bring your checkbooks and cash! Also, as usual, we'll have library disks and those great DVPC mugs (version 2) for sale, SIG news, random access, and some of our usual great door prizes.
See you at the meeting!