Computing's Columbo

Techno-elite: Mossberg's attitude doesn't always endear him to the digerati. He's been called "brain dead" in certain Web colloquies. He flames right back. "I make no bones about it," he says. "I'm an enemy of what I call "computer theology.' There's a class conflict out there. There's a techno-elite that lives in a different world." What makes the problem worse is that this techno-elite includes just about everybody who works at a high-tech company, so they can be out of touch with the concerns of typical consumers. "I'm not singling them out; they're a good company," he says, "but if you walked into Netscape headquarters with a plain old modem from CompUSA they'd think it was a garage-door opener."

Mossberg says things haven't improved much. The nightmare of DOS may be gone, but the Internet has brought a host of new terrors, errors and crashes. Many believe the computer industry needs to change its culture if it wants to attract new users. PCs have penetrated 37 percent of all homes in the United States, according to Odyssey, a San Francisco research firm. But growth is slowing, and computer ownership increased only slightly in the six months ending in January. The percentage of computer buyers who are first-timers has shrunk to 32 percent from 49 percent a year ago. Many in the industry think low prices will lure new converts. "But it's not price, it's price for what," says Odyssey's president, Nick Donatiello. "It's value, knowing that what you buy will last a while and not be too complicated to use easily." Mossberg believes that the answer for a lot of people is a simpler machine. He advocates a kind of "information appliance" that can send e-mail and surf the Net--a line of thinking that gives much of the computer industry fits. "I'm saying, start over," he says. Meanwhile, Mossberg is going a bit more mass-market himself. He and New York Times writer Stephen Manes plan to host a program on public TV this fall, "The Digital Duo," that will be a kind of Siskel and Ebert show of the high-tech world. Instead of thumbs up or down, they'll have "save" and "delete."

© 1997