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Comment by axod | Hacker News Reader

Most people already have. Look at what most people run on their computers - browser, email first and foremost.

24/7 internet connectivity will be a certainty in the future. We'll have complete global coverage. You'll be diving and able to tweet. You'll be checking facebook on that space shuttle.

The idea that everyone needs a large computer with a lot of horse power is outdated. And the hassle that comes with is not something people want - lost data, viruses, maintainence, etc.

People want small 'appliances' that connect them to their data and applications in the cloud. They have spoken. That's what they want.

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> Most people already have.

For varying definitions of most. People living in Silicon Valley and/or San Francisco and spending all of their time with other techies have a skewed perspective of how many people out there actually have access to 24/7 Internet. I'm not talking about a broadband connection vs dial-up here. I'm talking about an Internet connection no matter where you are (which 3G only brings you if you live in urban areas... as long as you don't hit a deadzone or a tower that's congested... ).

And even we privileged techies sometimes have to take our phones into the subway or onto a plane.

"24/7 internet connectivity will be a certainty in the future. We'll have complete global coverage. You'll be diving and able to tweet. You'll be checking facebook on that space shuttle."

I question that, or, at least, I question that the quality of coverage will be in the same class everywhere. More likely, coverage will be better in wealthy areas, and not so good—and more expensive—in the poorer ones. So will running networked applications be viable in the poorer areas? It depends on the app and how network intensive it is. The optimism about network apps, everywhereallthetime, has optimism about infrastructure catching up implicit in it, and (for reasons beyond the scope of a deeply nested comment) I don't share that optimism.

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