Captain Randy Goes Partisan

Maybe the Ideal Thin Client?

I'm seeing lots of complaining on the web, but I think this might be the ideal Thin Client for a mobile population: The Macbook Air.

The complaints: it doesn't have a CD/DVD Drive. It doesn't have an ethernet port.

The response: you don't need those.

Why? This is a mobile device. If you use a full sized laptop you know - it's heavy. I use a Macbook Pro, myself, but use it primarily as a desktop machine and lug it home or when traveling. The key word is "lug". In the year and a half that I've had it, I've probably used the CD/DVD drive 3 or 4 times.

I've never used the ethernet jack - I use wireless both at the office and at home.

In the ideal world, I'd use a powerful desktop system and use something like the Macbook Air to carry with me. It's easy enough to VPN back to my office where all my data would safely sit. Or use Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) feature that allows you to remote control another Mac.

So, although expensive, the Macbook Air could be safe, data free, and give me all of the capabilities of the desktop. If I want entertainment, I can download music and movies. If I need to load software from disc, I can "borrow" a PC or Mac drive wirelessly. This is getting damn close to the light, completely sealed, and disposable client that I've long imagined.

And so, a little story I pulled from my archives - written in 1993.

Can I Help You?


A picture of a man stared at him from the screen. It examined him for a few moments without expression, then raised one eyebrow carefully. “Can I help you?” it asked him.

A smile crept onto Arthur's face and he shook his head, then brought the back of his hand up to hide his mouth from the screen image.

"Actually, I'm here to help you. I . . . "

"Excuse me, but I am Mr. Cole's agent. May I asked how you came in possession of Mr. Cole's notebook? I can instruct you how to return it if you… "

"I don't have business with Mr. Cole or with his notebook. I want to talk to you."

The agent looked back at him for several seconds without changing, then remembered to present human expressions, blinking and eye movement, tilting and changing the angle of its head. The agent had been customized as a Caucasian male, age 30 to 35, black hair cut short. The small window also showed white shirt and a simple black bow tie.

"If you have no business with Mr. Cole, please return this notebook to the nearest postal substation, which is located" the agent paused and looked down at what what would have been a desk had he been an actual person. The pause allowed for a referencing fix on the notebook from a positioning satellite, "two blocks north on Front street." A map and compass appeared next to the agent's moving picture and pointed out the way to the post office.

Arthur turned the screen away from the bright, noonday sun, now almost directly overhead, to avoid the glare. He looked up Front street, then back at the notebook's screen. "I'm not stealing this, I only…"

"This notebook is the personal property of Stuart Cole. If you do not return it immediately to Mr. Cole or deposit it with the police or in a postal receptacle I will terminate the data link and render the unit permanently inoperable. It will not be possible to reactivate the unit after I terminate the link, thereby rendering the unit useless. In addition, I am prepared to alert the authorities with your location and description."

"I'm the authorities! Please give me a minute. I just need to speak with you for a few seconds." Arthur reached for his wallet to show the agent his badge when the screen suddenly went blank and he felt the back of the unit warm, uncomfortably hot.

"Damn!" Arthur flipped the unit over and held it carefully by one corner. "Why couldn't you wait!" One of the uniformed officers shook his head at him and grinned knowingly. Arthur tapped the screen tentatively with his pen, but he knew that the agent had completely discharged the power cell into the tiny bit of circuitry that made the notebook a notebook. Now it was useless piece of plastic. The screen remained gray and inert.

"I told you not to try it here. They always do that." The officer turned to watch the paramedics zip Stuart Cole into the bag and lift him onto the gurney.

"They do not always do that." Arthur grumbled. He straightened, shaded his eyes with the dead notebook. He thought for a moment about putting it in the bag with Mr. Cole but decided against it. He turned, dropped the notebook into a sidewalk trash can and headed for the bus.