I like to be able to access the Internet at anytime and (almost) anywhere. Though I don't like the stuff they are offering nowadays as Internet connected devices (like smart phones). Those things might be nice for traveling suits, I want and need the real thing.

What is the 'real thing'?

It has to have Unix (or Linux) as an operating system (ok, the IPhone would match that). But it also needs to have a command prompt (shell) and it MUST have a keyboard. It's hard to type "ls -al | grep ^d" on tiny little icons with a stylus. It should be able to connect via WLAN, it must accept GSM/GPRS/EDGE whatever USB-Sticks, bluetooth would also be nice. Ah, and before I forget it, Duke Nukem 3D must run on it.

I went through several iterations of Sharp Zaurus devices (the SL C3000 delivered the fastest IRC-kick in history, I kicked a user from a channel while on the highway - and no, I wasn't driving). I own a OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) and two generations of eeePCs. Each and every computer went through extensive operating system modifications and, for a time, became my favorite pal.

Strangely I haven't got a new toy for the last 12 months. Because my trusted eeePC 901 fits my requirements perfectly. It runs Linux (my personal flavor), has a keyboard, wifi, bluetooth, webcam and accepts and supports mobile phone USB Internet sticks, has no limitations in regard to Skye or Voip, a decent screen resolution and it fits into my purse or briefcase. Its batteries are good enough to keep me going for a day and it generally behaves like, well, a computer. It usually also generates a few laughs at airport security: You call that a a laptop? Little do they know that my eeePC is way more than a glorified "smart phone" or a calculator on steroids.

People are paying hundreds of dollars for IPhones, IPods or other hype gear. It simply looks crazy to see grown people working a tiny device to read or write email. It reminds me of chimpanzees trying to get a cookie out of a small jar.

I own a 20 bucks Motorola phone and my 300 dollar eeepc. That's my survival gear. I can do almost anything anywhere. I love my swiss pocket knife eeepc. That is what I wanted to tell you about.

As usual - just my two cents.

Michaela

I am very fond of network- and phone companies. After all, they have the wires that allow us to connect and to use our Internet. A few days ago, while in the shower, it hit me: There is a universal equation covering the development of new visions and/or ideas into features and services. The translation into mathematics goes roughly like this:

X=Existing phone or network company
N=New visionary service or feature

X!=N

I know, it's a complicated formula. It simply states, that new visions and ideas usually take the phone- and network carriers by surprise. Those companies have the wires, the customer relation a working subscription system - why can't or won't they translate it into rocket fuel that propels them to the top of the foot chain?

Take Skype. A more or less simple system that allows people to talk, video-chat and even phone people - bypassing the carriers in the process. Same with IPTV and video on demand. The phone-companies just slept through the (ongoing) process of development in the Internet. Think about PayPal - how easy it could have been realized by phone companies allowing people to buy stuff and pay with their phone-bills.

The network-carriers did nothing. They made their wires 'wireless' but they relied on their wire-bound and old-fashioned concepts of long-term contracts, tethering or playing real-life Monopoly. How sad to see all that muscle go to waste. They are now spending millions of dollars to convince politicians and the public that an uncontrolled, free and wild Internet is bad. They want to force their way of thinking upon us by trying to manipulate who will be allowed into their first-class, Orwell controlled and censored "walled gardens" and who would be "stuck" in a slower, more unreliable "free" network. It's the war of the worlds. A civilization (the carriers) having ignored the signs and developments are now trying to capture another civilization (us) not by vision, developments or cooperation, but by lobbying and force.

Unfortunately, a lot of former "free thinkers" are happy to oblige. Take Apple or Google for example. They sell us their hardware and tether us to a carrier. Now the carriers define what software we are allowed to run on our devices. They are trying to turn back the clock to pre 1968 - when livin' was easy for them. Nobody was allowed to attach anything to their precious wires - no modems, fax-machines or other phones. However, in 1968, the Federal Communications Commission allowed the Carterfone and other devices to be connected directly to the AT&T network - allowing innovations like answering machines and other stuff.

Without the FECs intervention, we might not have the Internet today.

What does that tell us? Innovation needs liberty. As long as phone-companies or carriers are allowed to block whatever they don't like to see in their networks, visions or great ideas are muffled, blocked or even extinguished. We shouldn't allow this to happen.

I have been hired as a consultant by quite a few different carriers. I suggested new ways to use their networks, new services, new products - all in harmony with what is available and in good, fair cooperation with the Internet community. They paid me, thanked me and continued to do what they did for the last 80 years or so - charge people for their "minutes" while trying to prohibit alternatives.

I am very fond of network- and phone companies - no tongue in cheek. They could contribute greatly to the development of a universal, fast, reliable and affordable universal communications environment, with and without wires. They could play a pivotal role in multimedia and entertainment delivery, safe, flexible payment solutions and so much more. However - as long as they play their muscle game, we have to hope for another farseeing FEC ruling. It should come soon, or we might find ourselves flung back into a past where all programmers wear suits and listen to Petula Clark on expensive digital "single song" storage devices (also known as "singles").