[thechat] IT is here!

[Chris Spruck]

At 01:30 AM 12/5/01 +0000, Garrett Coakley wrote:
>On Tue, 2001-12-04 at 20:34, Chris Spruck wrote:
>
> > Completely underwhelmed by IT,
>
>Yeah.. but but... when you get off.. it stays upright!?!.. now thats
>cool!!

OK, I'll admit the pure geek in me agrees, after reading the detailed 
specs, that it's a technological marvel, considering what it does and how 
it does it. Gyroscopes and accelerometers? Sheesh! But when anyone starts 
beating his chest and frothing at the mouth about changing the world a la 
Jobs or Bezos, my BS meter flips on and goes into overdrive.

I agree with what Joe said earlier - basically we have a LOT bigger fish to 
fry. How about fixing what's already broken instead of introducing 
something else that, in some aspects - both physical and intangible, will 
probably break too? Someone ought to start a betting pool for when the 
first fatality occurs from an IT. Imagine all the litigation that will 
ensue once someone falls off one, or twists an ankle or hits someone coming 
out of a storefront? How well does it work in rain or ice? How many hours 
and more importantly, taxpayer dollars, will local and state officials 
waste debating regulations and whether it qualifies to be allowed on 
sidewalks? (I know they're trying to head that off by getting the postal 
service and police personnel to adopt them first).

Plenty of cities already have pedestrian- or bicycles-only zones, but of 
course, the cities that need them the most are the ones that will never 
consider it or supply appropriate infrastructure like usable mass transit. 
Atlanta is the worst - one north-south and one east-west train line that's 
great for tourists to get around the sightseeing corridor, but lousy for 
residents who actually want to go someplace useful on a daily basis, and a 
bus system that's sketchy at best with buses running seemingly at random. 
Our air quality is worse than or close to Los Angeles on a regular basis - 
you'd think that would be important to somebody, but apparently it's not.

Anyway, rant-off. As cool as something may be, I'm just really skeptical 
about anything that's hyped until my ears bleed, including IT and all the 
implied greatness that we've yet to see. Here's hoping I'm completely wrong.

And so this wasn't just a complete waste of your time, check for and update 
your anti-virus definitions - there's a new worm out today that hits 
Outlook and ICQ  - details at 
http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.goner.a@mm.html

Chris