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COPYRIGHT 2003 Information Today, Inc.
Almost everything about personal computing has changed in the 22 years since the first IBM PC appeared--but if you compare today's typical personal computer with that relic, you'll find three key similarities:
* Both use Intel CPUs.
* Both run Microsoft operating systems.
* What's called the "PC" in both cases is a rectangular box containing the CPU, memory, and related circuitry, power supply, and storage devices, with essential and optional "peripherals"--keyboard, display, speakers, printer, scanner, mouse--housed separately and connected to the box by cables.
There are exceptions to all three norms. A significant percentage of PCs use AMD, IBM, or Motorola CPUs. Some PCs use Apple Macintosh of Linux operating systems. But most non-Microsoft, non-Intel PCs are also boxes, even as notebooks get more powerful and more varied. PC Magazine published a "perfect PC" extravaganza in its June 30, 2003, issue, offering 10 "perfect" configurations for 10 different categories of user and use. Six of the 10 configurations are traditional boxes.
Many computing pundits and prophets have signaled the "death of the box" at various intervals over the past 2 decades. Why does the box still survive, and indeed still dominate personal computing, as well as the corporate (and library) desktop?
NON-BOXES IN PC HISTORY
Consider the very early days, before...
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