The Boringness of Computers.(Brief Article)

Technologies come and go, but fame is even more fleeting. Back in the 1980s when a few techies with connections to the Defense Department were playing around with computer networks, who cared? It wasn't until Web browsers made it possible to point and click your way through the Internet that things really got interesting. Likewise, computers in the 1960s rarely made the evening news, but now everybody knows the story of those two kids in a garage who created the first Apple. In each case the technology had become personal. Computing and networking existed before they became popular, and they will continue to exist long after most of us stop thinking about them altogether.

That day began to seem a whole lot closer last week when Hewlett-Packard Corp. announced its plan to acquire Compaq Computer. Each of these firms entered the public consciousness by making tangible products that had a visceral appeal. At a time when PCs were deskbound, Compaq put them in a shock-resistant case, turned the keyboard into a lid, and sold the first "portables." (Which only a football player could lug through an airport, but never mind.) HP's products were a whole lot nerdier, but you didn't need to understand them to be charmed. Sleek and solid HP scientific calculators had a design and manufacturing quality that were sensual. And what pleasure could compare with turning the knobs on an HP oscilloscope (a device for measuring electrical signals) and watching the squiggly lines change shape on the little round screen?

Now Compaq's portables exist only in museums, and HP sold its instruments division years ago. Both companies make personal computers, but these have gotten so boring and static that they no longer inspire. Neither do their measly profit margins: PCs are now commodities fit for only the leanest of manufacturers, such as Dell. By merging, HP and Compaq are trying to get away from selling hardware altogether in favor of computer know-how--computer services, in industry parlance. From a business point of view, the appeal of the services business is obvious. IBM, the company that HP and Compaq most emulate, makes big profits on its services business, which employs more than a third of its 300,000-plus work force. Analysts estimate IBM and other firms make 30 or 40 cents in profits for each dollar in services revenue. PC makers are lucky to get a few pennies.

Services do not make the heart beat faster. It is the toll-free phone number you call when your brand-new PC crashes after loading your favorite videogame. When your techie friend tells you whether or not you should upgrade to Windows XP, that's a ...