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I, Cringely On A Momentous Week

rocketjam writes "Robert X. Cringley offers his take on three recent high-tech occurrences, saying they add up to an 'inflection point' that will change the landscape of the personal computer, video game, and electronic entertainment businesses forever. He briefly points out that Bill Gates' revelation that the next-gen XBox will offer music and movie playing capabilities as well as web-surfing will put MS into direct competition with its hardware OEM customers. He also touches on Yahoo's new music service and Apple's rumored movie download service. The meat of the article though is his take on the significance of Google's Web Accelerator. He says, 'If surfing can be doubled in speed for nothing, of course nearly everyone will go for it', the upshot of which is that AOL, MSN and Earthlink lose their relevancy. From this point more speculation on the implications of Google's success in this endeavor ensues."

14 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. Gasp! by Meagermanx · · Score: 5, Funny

    The computer world is changing? OMFG!!

    1. Re:Gasp! by learn+fast · · Score: 3, Funny

      Thank god we have Robet X. Cringely to explain these things for us.

  2. Re:ooOO by Stanistani · · Score: 4, Funny

    so...
    That makes the Xbox 360 a girly-box?
    Me confused.

  3. Damn you Robert X. Cringely!!! by Mr.+Flibble · · Score: 3, Funny

    I swear, each time he comes out with a new article about a given toy that does "XYZ" or can be hacked in some way I am compelled to go out and buy one and tinker with the damn thing.

    Stop Robert! Stop for the sake of my pocketbook and my sanity!!!

    --
    Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
  4. Re:ooOO by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oops. Forgot who my target audience here is. Next time, I'll leave comparisons to women out of my analogies.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  5. Re:ooOO by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Aristotle says we should always begin our reasoning from what is familiar to us.

    --
    Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
  6. Re:As Seen On TV is in trouble.... by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 4, Funny

    In fact, Bob and I exchanged e-mails briefly just a few hours ago. I was happy to confirm for him that I am, in fact, male.

    He said he was too.

    So we have that in common.

  7. Re:More on XBOX 360. by Rorschach1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, the 'install modchip here' silkscreen on the motherboard was a dead giveaway.

  8. So... by Kirby-meister · · Score: 1, Funny

    So...you could say you sent him a confirmation e-male? *rim shot*

  9. His powers of prognostication astound by mcc · · Score: 4, Funny

    So.

    Cringely is impressed that Google is offering a web accelerator service, something AOL has done for years; that the XBox will play music and video, something the playstations 1 and 2 did, respectively; that Yahoo is unveiling a service almost identical to the Napster service that appeared in the wake of the iTunes Music Store; and that Apple may, at some unspecified point in the future be releasing a product.

    Well, that's all well and good. But I think the really important thing for the tech market is, will Gore or Bush win the election? Because Cringely doesn't weigh in on that at all.

  10. Re:As Seen On TV is in trouble.... by Hawthorne01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So now we have a Slashdot article about a tech writer who referenced a Slashdot post who wrote to the writer and mentioned it in the comments in the comments of the Slashdot article about a tech writer who referenced a Slashdot poster who...

    --CTRL - BREAK --

    Phew. Got out of that one... :-)

    --
    "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
  11. Re:My thoughs by cardmagic · · Score: 2, Funny

    Thanks Anonymous Coward, I am glad you reminded me.

  12. Re:More on XBOX 360. by Gleenie · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've so much always wanted to say this:

    > I work at Microsoft as do several of my friends...

    Oh, I'm terribly sorry!

    Simon

    --
    -- Your mother uses Emacs.
  13. Re:More on XBOX 360. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Word.