>From Jed: ...
> I depend upon paper printouts quite a bit, but I recently > added a second screen to my computer -- a 19" flat panel. > It reduces the use of paper because I can compare full- > page documents side-by-side. Sooner or later, someone > will build an e-book style "e-printer" the takes output > to a printer port and displays it on a 20" flat panel > that lies on your desk (horizontal and flat!) and does > nothing but flip back and forth between pages and page > thumbnails. That will eliminate maybe half of the > printer market I use a dual monitor system as well - a 20" and a 19" monitor to help me create my digital art. I would never go back to a mono-monitor system! At present most graphic artists are forced to rely on huge bulky CRTs as they are the only reasonably priced devices available in the market capable of producing accurate colors. It will be a great day in the professional illustration world when equivalent sized flat screen monitors are capable of generating the same specs that most high-end 20+ inch CRT monitors currently display. I also won't have to worry about rupturing myself every time I'm forced to move one of these horrid monsters. I agree with Jed that it's only a matter of time before conveniently priced 20-inch flat screen e-books make it to the market. Personally, I think it's possible within the next 5 - 10 years. I suspect the biggest obstacle will be the price however. The printer market is not the only industry that stands to experience major disruptions in sales. I suspect it has already been predicted by a slew of visionaries that when large full-color 20" sized e-books are eventually massed produced at reasonable prices it is likely to be disruptive in many corners of the publishing industry. I suspect the key to its success really comes down to when the population starts using flat screen e-books as the PREFERRED way to read most of their literature for both at work and at home. When that transition occurs the traditional publishing industry will be forced to rethink many of their current business models. Their markets may be reduced to generating quaint coffee table books printed on acid-free paper, or large atlas-sized maps, and Thomas Kinkade (Ugh!) calendars. Come to think of it, a nice twenty pound coffee table photo book of the solar system complete with the latest robotic rover images would look nifty placed next to my set of Encyclopedia Britanicas. The good and the bad in all of this is that anybody and everyone will be capable of publishing the best and worst American novel (and art books too!). The information glut is likely to only intensify. The playing field will be leveled even more than it is today. As for those rare writers and artists that are deservedly capable of turning pro, the collection of royalties through electronic distribution could be a real nightmare considering all the bootlegging that goes on today. Hopefully this will be worked out. But Jed, don't stop there. The ENTIRE SURFACE OF MY DESK should eventually be converted into flat screen display. This would allow me to shuffle documents whether and neither. IMHO, an Ideal office desk would consist of the entire surface of a desktop converted into a display screen ALONG WITH an equivalent sized vertical flat display behind the desk as well. I think Robert Heinlein already envisioned an equivalent "desk top" concept decades ago in one of his classic novels "A Door into Summer." Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
