RE: movie ad

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Bill Swallow wrote:

>So anyone with a clue uses a $200-$1200 piece of silicon rather than a
>$12 organizer? Is paper wrong? I don't have a Palm. I'd like to, but I
>can't afford the cash when my DayRunner suits me fine. But... do people
>really take their Palms to the movies?

A few weeks ago, I was using a tag-line from Terry Pratchett:
"never use any personal device that weighs less than its
operating manual." :-)

Palms (like cell phones) are a good example of how technology is
tied to conspicious consumption. Wireless e-mail will be, too. Do
most of the people who buy these things really need them? 
Probably not. Most people's affairs aren't that complicated, and
if they can't organize themselves with a Daytimer, they won't
organize themselves with a Palm, either. In my experience, the
majority of Palm owners don't use most of their functions,
either. 

As for the other status gadgets, I'm generally against them: I
like the idea of not always being available for work. I work long
hours, and I don't want my leisure hours interrupted by something
that can wait.

Then there's the question of the appropriate level of technology.
I'm not convinced that everybody needs the latest technology, or
has habits that work well with it. When I strike up conversations
with people who don't work in high-tech, they often ask rather
anxiously whether they should learn more about computers.
Although computers are central to my life, I always tell them,
"Only if you want to, or if you need to do something you can't do
now." 

I'm far from a Luddite, but I don't think that a Palm would make
me any more efficient than my scribbled To Do lists. And Harlan
Ellison, one of my favorite writers, does his work on a manual
typewriter, because that's what works for him, and he sees no
reason to change. I admire this attitude, because it's a refusal
to get swept away by manufactured needs.

-- 
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com | Tel: 604.421.7189

"And pale was the fading moon as shadows passed him by,
High overhead were the brightest stars, when he hear the howlet
cry,
Singing, "Why do you ride this way? And wherefore came you here?'
'I seek the Witch of the Westmoreland who dwells by the widing
mirror.'"
- Archie Fisher, "The Witch of the Westmoreland"