Net Books and Smart Cars

I see a silly trend. When companies run out of ideas they try to pitch something that is "less" as something "new".

Everyone keeps trying to get rid of the personal computer platform. Because what we want is less power, less accessibility, less capability right?

That's of course just wrong. What people are looking for in a "net book" is a small and light personal computer. That's why Apple got it mostly right. They did not try to make an incapable dumbed down machine, with the Mac Book Air. They designed a personal computer making compromises only to achieve weight and size limits.

These stupid concepts like a "dummy terminal" or a "dumbed down" laptop called a "NetBook" are marketing ploys that are trying to mask the failure to produce a smaller size Personal Computer.

No one wants a less useful machine.

It reminds me of the Mercedes "Smart Car" which is an idiotically small car that is supposed to be a compromise for fuel efficiency without actually providing much better gas mileage than many larger, more convenient vehicles from Honda, Toyota and even BMW.

These things like the Smart Car and Net Book are silly marketing games being played by companies who are trying to convince you that you don't want the real thing and I think they are wrong.

=sw