| Late next century, when scholars are
scripting the definitive history of the PC, these last few years of high-octane
growth may actually be {{U}}(1) {{/U}} as the Dark Ages. Historians will
marvel at {{U}}(2) {{/U}} we toiled in front of monolithic, beige BUBs
(big ugly boxes), suffering under the oppressive glare of cathode-ray tubes
{{U}}(3) {{/U}} our legs scraped against the 10-pound towers beneath our
desks. They may also mark 1999 {{U}}(4) {{/U}} the start of the PC renaissance, {{U}}(5) {{/U}} manufacturers finally started to get it: design matters. In this holiday season, computer shoppers will {{U}}(6) {{/U}} unprecedented variety in shapes, sizes and colors—and {{U}}(7) {{/U}} in Apple's groundbreaking line of translucent iMacs and iBooks. {{U}}(8) {{/U}} every major PC maker now has innovative desktop designs {{U}}(9) {{/U}} the way to market, from hourglass-sculpted towers to flat-panel displays with all the processing innards {{U}}(10) {{/U}} into the base. {{U}}(11) {{/U}} industrial designers, who still think the PC has a long way {{U}}(12) {{/U}} you'll want to display it on your mantle, the only question is, what took {{U}}(13) {{/U}} ? "The PC industry has ridiculed design for a long time," says Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frog Design. "They {{U}}(14) {{/U}}their customers and have underestimated their desires." PC makers are finally catching on-and it's partly {{U}}(15) {{/U}} desperation. Manufacturers {{U}}(16) {{/U}} to sell computers by trumpeting their techno bells and whistles, {{U}}(17) {{/U}} processor speed and memory. But since ever-faster chips have given us more power on the desktop {{U}}(18) {{/U}} we could ever possibly use, computer makers {{U}}(19) {{/U}} on price——a strategy that has dropped most units below ＄1,000 and slashed profits. Last week IBM limped from the battlefield, {{U}}(20) {{/U}} it would pull its lagging Aptiva line from store shelves and sell it only on the Web. Competing only on price "made an industry shakeout inevitable," says Nick Donatiello, president of the marketing-research firm Odyssey. |