I am so sick of spin doctors. Every company wants to be on the front page of the trade mags delivering the next big thing. Today it was big blue, IBM.

IBM announced that by the end of the year they will ship a $700 internet box capable of email and web browsing. Be still my beating heart.

Excuse me one moment while I look something up in Computer Shopper. Oh, how interesting. Right now I can get an AMD 100 mhtz, with 8 megs of ram and a 33.6 modem for $850 right now. How interesting!

So what is this news from IBM now? They are going to release some proprietary piece of equipment that probably can never be upgraded that runs Netscape and gets email? For $700 by the end of the year? And I can get that now for $850?

It seems to me that all of these internet boxes are simply brand new, shiny, 3 year old technology. By the end of the year I’ll be able to buy a PC for the same, if not cheaper, price as IBM’s netbox. Oracle? Are you listening?

They might as well have announced that by the end of the year you will be able to get a car for under $30,000 and you will be able to buy a coke for a dollar. Whoopie. Hold the press. Front page material!

I hate spin doctors. Always trying to polish up a turd and sell it as shinola. Network Computers are a joke. PC’s will always be able to match the price and offer you more functionality/upgradability.