Bookstores [Was: Re: Going OT [Was: Re: Replacing PBXes with Open Source]]

[Bill McGonigle]

On Aug 30, 2004, at 08:57, Fred wrote:

> There is something
> about holding a physical book in your hand, curling up under a shady
> tree to read it, proudly displaying your book collections on shelves in
> you library, etc.

I suspect you'll see Moby Dick on bookshelves for years to come but 
Wireless Hacks from O'Reilly (thanks to whoever recommended that here) 
is going to be obsolete in a few years.

More important than the romance of paper books is the resolution and 
interface.  Screen resolution is awful at the moment, in comparison to 
print.  High-res LCD, OLED or fast color electronic ink are probably 
only a decade away.

But paper doesn't have fast comprehensive indexed searches.  For 
fiction there's little need, but for technical reference, it's close to 
worth the resolution trade-off.  I've tried the O'Reilly Safari and 
it's pretty compelling.

If there was a high-res oled laptop with a detachable screen and a 
scroll wheel and maybe a couple buttons on the side for navigation that 
would save me some heft in my briefcase and I could bring my reference 
library with me.  Ideally it could serve as a notepad too.  Today's 
tablet is probably the great-great-grandfather of what I'd be willing 
to use.

-Bill
----
Bill McGonigle, Owner           Work: 603.448.4440
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