Hype List
Hype-List
Millennium Madness
It's true that as the millennium approaches there are more signs the world is on the brink of insanity. But most of these signs have to do with the millennium itself. Who, for example, would have ever thought Cobol programmers would be getting paid US$75 an hour? Or that an entire industry would spring up around the simple operation of expanding a data field from 2 bytes to 4? We've replaced the religious hysteria that normally accompanies the millennium with something even more superstitious: fear of our own machines.
Linux
Everyone loves an underdog, and there is no doubt that in the operating-system arena Linux plays David to Microsoft's Goliath. But that still doesn't explain the buzz over Linux - which is really just a free, hacked-together version of Unix. Part of the answer is that new shrink-wrapped variants don't require an über-geek to install. But Linux's success mostly stems from the Net's ability to support worldwide collaborations. Even Microsoft can't compete with the whole world.
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
You'd think the meteoric success of the Net would have finally ended X.500 hype. Ten years ago, you may remember X.500 was a much-ballyhooed directory protocol. Proponents claimed it was essential for any network that supported thousands of users. But the Internet and the Web proved that people can get by just fine without a directory. Nonetheless, X.500 is back, except it's now called LDAP. Don't be fooled: we didn't need it then, and we don't need it now.
War for Eyeballs
Esther Dyson has pointed out that the most important finite resource in the late 20th century is people's attention. Now the TV and PC industries are engaged in a battle for what's left of it. The PC side's latest armament is push media - perhaps more accurately called "interruptive media" - in which the mountain comes to Mohammed. But as TV moves to HDTV, the PC industry will try to keep up by cramming even more of the mountain through a thin telephone straw.
Handheld PCs
Forget the PDA - that term has been tainted by the image of John Sculley, Apple Newton in hand. The heir apparent is HPC, for handheld personal computer. Microsoft's previous attempt at creating an operating system for handhelds - called WinPad - failed miserably. Now Gates & Co. are trying to pretend its new breed is just like a PC, only smaller. But what works on the big color screen doesn't translate to a monochrome display. Next year, HPC will sound as laughable as PDA.
This Month's Overhyped Memes
