As I've tried to get across, a large part of the consumer market is now
"upgrade"... == wiser. The consumer market is becoming increasingly
sophisticated in its appreciation... and demands. Digital cameras,
digi-videocams, home media centers/networks, etc will do that.
I work with a lot of families through high/middle school connections,
here in Silicon Valley, and it's my experience that the bulk of
computer users really don't have a clue what's in their box. They
know the brand name (HP, Dell, whatever) and (generally) the OS, but
don't have any idea the CPU speed, AMD or Intel, even how much RAM or
how big a HD they have. They get advice from a salesman at Best Buy
or a friend who reads PC Mag, buy it, and that's it until it quits
working right and they call someone to help.
Sure, the techies know that stuff, but there are so many more people
who still have all the vendor-installed icons on their desktop (Free
AOL Trial!) a year after they bought it because they don't know what
they can delete or not, or even that they *can* delete it. IME, the
bulk of PC consumers today have no more idea what's inside their PC
than they do what's inside their TV.
Neil Maxwell - I don't speak for my employer