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--- "etymes -at- lts -dot- com" <etymes -at- lts -dot- com> wrote:
[Snipped a very informative summary of a newspaper article.]
>
> I'm really puzzled by what this might mean. I can't conceive of an
> economy that no longer needs high tech. I can't imagine that business
> and consumers have bought almost all of the computers and devices using
> new technology that they're going to need for the next five years.
Elna, your summary of the article was informative in and off itself. Thanks for
taking the time.
I don't think it's the situation that the economy no longer needs high tech.
It's more of a case of the economy having to digest the high tech it has eaten
before it needs anymore. Oh, and in the mean time, some of that high tech was
mere cotton candy that didn't satisfy but gave us a tummy ache.
It occurs to me that high tech created a situation of over capacity: too many
companies trying to do much the same thing. Too many telecoms, too many dot
coms with no viable business model, and other thing I'm sure will get mentioned
elsewhere. In creating this overcapacity, they created an equally artificial
labor market that was undersupplied, thus driving up the price of labor.
Take palm pilots and the like. I don't have one. I don't feel I really need
one. I'm not willing to pay the exorbitant prices for palm technology with
cellular hookup that gives me nothing of real value to me. Same with the cell
phone. Everyone who really needs them at the moment has them. The rest of us
will wait.
Oh, and I think most folks now realize that high tech is still searching for a
viable business model for the Internet. Either that will happen, or businesses
charging increasing fees for use (such as the persistently rumored thread that
Yahoo! will start charging me for my email box), will actually lead to a
shrinking of the Internet as people determine that they don't want to pay for
vanity sites and extra email addresses or even to buy books, CDs, DVDs, and
hold auctions.
The whole thing seems shaky and will continue until the economy digests what it
has and moves in a sane direction from a business perspective. Meanwhile, say
goodbye to the "good old days" when writers could name their own salaries and
perks. It's back to business as usual.
=====
Tom Murrell mailto:tmurrell -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com
Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/index.html
Page Last Updated 03/14/02
--If the U.S. is such a horrible country, why is is we get asked to solve everyone else's problems?--(me)
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