A Box is Just a Box … Unless it’s Something Else
Those who know me or who think they know me because they’ve been following this space know that I’m not a fan of boxes. My theory is, if there’s already a box that does the job, then you don’t need a second box to do it as well. If you have a set-top box that works the TV or the satellite or the telco video system, that’s enough. You don’t need another one to do another application; make the first one do the job or, better yet, outsource the job to the cloud.
A box, after all, is just a box. And more often than not you don’t need another one.
Maintaining a strict stance on any subject, however, runs the risk of boxing a person in so I’ve always said that there might be room for another box under certain conditions. Those conditions have been met by a box being developed in India that will go for $35 — a tablet, to be exact, but that doesn’t fit well with the train of this thought. This is no ordinary box (tablet); it’s a cloud-connected computer that can bring the wonders of the Internet to the masses without the need for a bigger box full of applications no one needs.
The idea is genius. It’s being promoted by the Indian government, which hopes to eventually bring the price down to $10, as a way to get broadband connectivity and online learning into the hands of everyone. Without advertising it, the new tablet cuts all the corners. It’ll be Linux-based with touch screen, no hard drive, storage based on memory cards and a solar cell option to charge it up.
What charges me up is the thought of empowering more people to connect to the vast amounts of information in the cloud. Gone are the days of having to purchase a library of CDs that contain your electronic encyclopedia (sorry Encarta, nothing personal). It is, in short, a box with a plan. So, in this case, I’ll make an exception to my rule. I don’t like boxes—unless those boxes do something that needs to be done. Bringing Internet to the masses at a reasonable price and making the best use of the cloud is something that needs to be done.
