You know, I was just telling a friend that the technology market will remain soft until 2005. Why? Software trends. .NET is still a 1.0 technology (the masses won't use it until it gets close to 3.0, which probably won't happen until 2005). The next major version of Windows won't ship until close to 2005. The Tablet computer won't noticeably impact the technology market, from what I can see. Office 11 is in beta now, and looks good, but will it be a "must have" upgrade? I'll reserve my judgment on that for when my NDA ends, but so far nothing (other than Outlook) has leaked out that would have me running to Fry's to buy a copy. Add to all that the fact that IT managers aren't buying a lot of new computers. So, where's the kicker gonna come from? Will there be anything at Comdex that's interesting other than the Tablet?

Ahh, Comdex is next week. While not as important as past years, Comdex is still the time when Silicon Valley works overtime to get ready to launch products and initiatives. It's the same here at NEC. Busy, busy, busy. Not enough time to comment on the news of the day.

Steven MacLaughlin is talking about the TabletPC today. Yeah, I agree. However, he asks manufacturers to hand them out to evangelists so they can help get the word out. I totally agree that'd be a great marketing technique, there's one problem with that: margins are non-existent.

What does that mean? It means that return on investment for such an act would not be there. How many Tablets would some company sell by giving even a highly-trafficed Weblogger a free Tablet? I doubt we'd sell more than a couple. Our margins on hardware sales are way less than 10%. See the problem? Now, if you can guarantee me you'll sell 100 units or more, let's talk!