Return to the archive index

RE: Wearable Thinclient

I must be missing something here... I agree with you - to a degree.  There
is a place for thin clients and a place for full blown wearable PC's.  It is
incorrect to assume that if a "box" doesn't have a PII in it with Gigs of
RAM and Storage that it is not a wearable.

- Tony

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Cochrane [mailto:]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 1998 11:28 AM
> To: 'Adrian Thurlow'; liquid; wearables
> Subject: RE: Wearable Thinclient
>
>
> It is a very narrow minded view!  We have a Gbit/s mobile
> radio capability
> here on this site - so why would you not trade the location
> of storage &
> processing? P
> ______________________________________________________________
> _________________
> To: 'Adrian Thurlow'; wearables
> From: liquid on Wed, Sep 2, 1998 4:37 pm
> Subject: RE: Wearable Thinclient
> RFC Header:Received: by maczebedee with ADMIN;2 Sep 1998
> 16:37:29 +0100
> Received: from arthur.axion.bt.co.uk (actually mailhub) by
> rambo with SMTP
> (PP);
>           Wed, 2 Sep 1998 16:39:11 +0100
> Received: from aleve.media.mit.edu by arthur.axion.bt.co.uk
> (PP) with ESMTP;
>           Wed, 2 Sep 1998 16:36:05 +0100
> Received: from smtp1.mts.net (smtp1.mts.net [205.200.16.74])
>           by aleve.media.mit.edu (8.8.7/ML970927) with ESMTP
> id LAA27121
>           for <>; Wed, 2 Sep 1998
> 11:34:46 -0400 (EDT)
> Received: from Internet90 (adsl1-135.mts.net [205.200.64.135])
>           by smtp1.mts.net (8.8.8/8.8.5) with SMTP id KAA00636;
>           Wed, 2 Sep 1998 10:33:34 -0500 (CDT)
> Reply-To: liquid <>
> From: Tony Havelka <>
> To: 'Adrian Thurlow' <>,
>     wearables <>
> Subject: RE: Wearable Thinclient
> Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 10:35:58 -0500
> Message-ID: <000501bdd687$64e1f1a0$>
> X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
> X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2232.26
> In-reply-to:
> <c=GB%a=_%p=BT%l=
> .bt.co.uk>
> Importance: Normal
> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4
> MIME-version: 1.0
> Content-type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
>
>
> > "It does not really apply to wearable computing.  By taking
> > the computing out of the wearable, and having sole reliance
> > on the network, which at 9.6 kbps is inadequate, I feel
> > this makes the device no longer a wearable
> > computer.  By having such little processing power on the
> > unit, sensors, and other devices can't be connected and
> > the computer's utility is very limited."
>
> This is an incorrect statement made by the ISWC.  I can
> remember a time, in
> the not to distant past, where 9600 baud was "the limit" -
> nothing faster -
> ever.  We used PC Anywhere to transmit screen updates to
> early thin clients
> and accept key strokes, and later, mouse movements, on the
> upgraded system.
> We ran a satellite office 50 miles away for 2 years based on this
> inexpensive yet practical method of thin client computing.
>
> > Is this opinion shared by all, for we firmly believe that the
> > thin client has a future as a wearable.  It is not true that
> > other devices cannot be connected to a thin client and the
> > future may bring us a much thinner thin client.
>
> I do believe that there is a market for a wearable thin
> client that has not
> been serviced yet. But it is time for baby steps.  Lets get
> some out there
> and see how the market reacts.  It is very difficult to get
> end users to use
> new type of computing devices if there are no applications to use.
> Innovation in this market, as most others, is driven by two
> factors: the
> consumer and the technology - push and pull.  Pushing is
> consumer driven and
> is easier than Pulling the consumer along for the ride. e.g.:
>
> Push: We need a 14.4k modem, 32mb of ram, 500Mb hard drive and a QVGA
> screen.
> Pull: You can get a 56k modem, 128mb RAM, 5Gb HD and an XVGA screen.
>
> Push, Pull
> Need, Want
> Cheap, Expensive
> Buy, Sell
>
> Without a firm grip on the technology dial, this market may
> be headed toward
> the same fate as Virtual Reality - over hyped and under
> performing.  It is
> now just starting to come into its own.  VR was stuck with
> the "Solution
> waiting for a problem" moniker, and in most cases it was true
> - because the
> technology tried to pull the consumer along.  With wearable computing,
> moreover, a wearable thin client, a strong applications base
> will create a
> market and product mix beyond what we would expect.  Case in
> point,  the
> Palm Pilot.  A digital notepad of sorts, somewhat expensive
> for what it can
> do but WOW what a market response. Why? My guess is that it
> fit a need.
> Everyone from Geeks to Gurus, Executives to Educators own a Palm Pilot
> because it addressed the lowest common denominator -
> organization.  Now
> there are add-ons and new more powerful versions because the
> market demanded
> it not because the technology was available.
>
> > Imagine a device similar to a Nokia Communicator 9000
> > with the power of a high end desktop machine combined with a high
> > resolution, colour head mounted display.
>
> Here you are falling into the same trap as the ISWC board did: a
> preconceived notion of what a wearable should be.  Imagine a
> device that is
> exactly what you need, no more, no less.  It has the
> capability to expand
> and contract (not the right word, but it works) its
> functionality to fit
> your computing needs.  This device would be appropriately
> priced depending
> on the level of functionality you desire. That, I believe, is
> the perfect
> solution.
>
> Also, I'd like to point out that this dialog only takes into
> account one
> side of the equation - Hardware.  The software side has not
> been addressed
> and is equally, if not more, important for the success of the wearable
> marketplace.
>
> - Tony
>
>
>
>

--
Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with subject of
"subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" to 
Wear-Hard Mailing List Archive (searchable): http://wearables.ml.org

From Wear-Hard Mailing list Archive (WH)
Maintained by R. Paul McCarty

Archive created with babymail