Newsweek (1995) on ebooks

[pietvo]

PatrickLacroix tweeted about a blog post that discusses an article from Newsweek in 1995.
The Internet? Bah!
Hype alert: Why cyberspace isn’t, and will never be, nirvana

The Newsweek article was written by the well-know astronomer Clifford Stoll. In general he thought that the internet would be just a hype, and would never become something useful.

To stay on topic: he also made some remarks about ebooks, although that word wasn't used.

How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it’s an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can’t tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure.

(Stoll also responds on Boing Boing about how wrong he was.)

[ardeegee]

Thanks for the link. I read the BoingBoing entry when it came out (and Silicon Snake Oil when it first came out) but didn't notice Cliff Stoll's response on the boinger.