[X4U] Widgets...

[Jim Warthman]

On 2005-05-14 4:53 AM, "Peter Saint James" <peterstj at earthlink.net> wrote:

>      I found it interesting that a good many of the widgets only work
> when one is on-line.  It seems that Apple (and probably the kid in
> Redmond) is moving toward assuming that everyone is on-line all the
> time.   How long before dial-up is a thing of the past?
> 
>      If this is truly the way things are going, it seems a sort of
> digression.  At first people used workstations that connected to
> giant computers.  Advent of the personal computer was considered a
> revolution.  Now it seems that personal computers are devolving into
> workstations for the internet.  Will it really come to that?  What
> are the ramifications?  More control over who does what with their
> computer?

I like that (some) widgets access information via the Internet. I think it
brings a very diverse set of information to my fingertips, almost
immediately.

I had an interesting experience in the "early days" of broadband Internet
access. I was a very early adopter of DSL, when first offered in Phoenix. As
soon as I learned about searchable telephone books (e.g. dexonline.com), I
stopped using the hard copy phone books, because it was so easy to pop up a
new web page and find what I wanted. Later, the telephone book services
evolved to provide maps, proximity searches, and all sorts of interesting
tools.

My local telephone company was getting ready to roll out a new product, so I
was invited to participate in a market research project. I was interviewed
and video taped, while they questioned me about what I liked and disliked
about my DSL service. I made it very clear that the "always on" aspect was
high on my list of beneficial features. If I had to make a dial-up
connection, I would not use the Internet in the same way, and DSL would be
less useful.

Turned out, unbeknownst to me, the new service they were about to launch was
exactly what I told them I did NOT like! They brought out a cheaper version
of DSL that was not "always on".  Ah well, I guess I didn't present a very
compelling case.

On the other hand, I think they no longer offer this type of DSL connection.
:-)

Enjoy!

-- Jim