The Case to Buy and Buy Again
The full capability of the computing revolution cannot be experienced without continuing to buy and upgrade all the technology you can afford. I hear constantly complaining about Win9x, Apple8 or some other hodgepodge system and WHY-oh-WHY won't Apple or Microsoft do something about. They do. They do it constantly. You need to invest in new stuff to particpate.
The improvements in Video and Music (ignore the file swapping issues for this conversation) alone are justification for the latest hardware, WindowsXP, a MP3 player and Digital Video Recorder. The ability for anyone to create professional movies and music is up the individual. These technologies improve and they empower creativity that was until recently, an expensive and exclusive club.
The Linus folks would argue right here that there is always Linux and Open Source software solutions that do just that, patch and repair and upgrade the software and make it available. This is an alternative for those with more expertise and the patience to navigate and understand the model of a decentralized approach to software development.
Looking forward there will be an convergence of consumer manufacturers, software, entertainment giants and connectivity providers to consolidate and capture their slice of the consumer's time. There is no way that the PC that exists today will be familiar in 5-7 years wireless, broadband and portablity all come together.
The real challenge to software development companies in the US will be coming from the passionate and focussed development systems growing more capable and powerful in China and India. Globalization will be a huge factor in how succesful "for profit" US software development will be in the future for EVERYONE.
Check out the latest processor Intel Releases "Fastest Chip Ever" [Slashdot] and Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition as bringing convergence even closer when we start get the price point of these systems to the U$800-1000 range.
6:30:04 PM 
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