On Mon, 25 Jan 1999, John Foust wrote:
Any portable device with a display and storage
abilities (on floppy
or RAM) of a meg or so could easily contain such a web page, as text.
Sure, my Psion Series 5 would work just great (8MB internal plus another
8MB Flash RAM) but its a pain in the ass to open up, turn on, select the
database, hit the "search" key sequence, type in the item to search for,
move the unit around to get it out of direct sunlight, then read the
entry.
Plus, how many people carry around Psion's? Or HP 100LX's? Or
PalmPilots? Or Atari Portfolios? Or whatever? You'd have to port
this database to all sorts of handhelds, and not all of them will have
the capacity nor the capability to deal with such a database. I'd prefer
a book.
Even a book won't beat a brain when it comes to
being able to spot a
significant device hidden in a pile of other junk. That, after all,
is what each of us has trained our brain to do when on expedition
to an auction or a warehouse.
Sure, but I can identify that a piece of junk may be something
interesting, but not necessarily what that junk may be. I'd need the
field guide to hopefully look up any distinguishing name plates or model
numbers and determine if what I have will make me rich on ebay or not
(either way I tend to take anything I find that I don't already have).
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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