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The Status PC

By Frank Greenhalgh

At a luxury box at the U.S. Tennis Open the president of Rolex (a sponsor) was asked, "How's the watch business?" "I wouldn't know," he answered, "I am not in the watch business." He was right, Rolex is not a watch; it is a status symbol. Status symbols are multi-tasking devices. They perform a function, usually as well or better than the equivalent non-status device, but they also show that the person possessing the device has a desire for the best and the money to back it up. He also doesn't mind reminding you of this.

As an engineer I used to wonder why people would spend between $2,000 and $20,000, (as it morphs from stainless steel to gold) for a watch that is less accurate than the Casio quartz, black plastic, nerd special that cost about $50. Owners of the status watch will quickly point to the fact that the technology of the self-winding watch is the greatest. "Listen to the thing hum," they say, and tell you that their watch possesses a sapphire bezel that will not scratch, and that it can operate down to 300 meters water depth. It never requires a battery replacement, and finally it is also a long lasting piece of jewelry that elevates the impression they convey to others.

A true status symbol is a common item that sells for a ludicrous price because it reflects the best available. Many companies try to get the "Best and Most expensive in Field" award but generally only one or two brands achieve it. The Bose wave radio, Louis Vuitton luggage, Coach leather, the Rolls Royce automobile, are some prime examples.

What of the computer industry? Intel made a brilliant status move when they stopped calling their processors 286,386 and 486. The soon to be "586" became the "Pentium" which was trademarked and could be distinguished from the AMD586. "Pentium Inside" became the advertisement, assuring Intel a major market share of the industry. But this is not the same as having a status PC. IBM ThinkPad's used to convey status when they cost $6000, but today you can get one for about $1700, status in this case being a victim of price deflation.

Who would want a status PC? What would one be? To find out I consulted with Seymour Status, of Status Systems. Seymour's company provides the industry with what I would guess is the first real "Status PC." I met with Seymour in his very impressive office on William Street in New York City. We entered a large conference room with, wooden and leather chairs and individual desk lamps. I looked around and immediately asked where the PC was. Seymour pointed to a carved wooden table just to the side of the conference table. On it was what looked like a piece of sculpture. It looked like a polished black onyx cylinder, about 2 feet in diameter and 10 inches high. The top had a chrome band around its diameter with a vertical chrome ring forming an arch across its center. The arch housed a 20 inch black square about 3 inches thick which was anchored on its four corners.

Closer inspection revealed that this beautiful object had some other use. Seymour pulled a small credit card sized remote control from his shirt pocket. He pointed it at the sculpture and it came to life. The vertical ring rotated around such that the black square was fully visible, only now it wasn't black but showed a company logo. The black square was actually a 20 inch LCD screen! As we drew closer, Seymour pushed another button and the round onyx box came to life. A sliding door slowly opened on the base of the creature. A keyboard and mouse appeared as if magically. They popped out. No cables though. Seymour explained that the mouse and keyboard were wireless, not infrared. I detected a sneer when he used that word. A quick click of the mouse and the logo gave way to an applications menu. Seymour smiled and said, "This is the Status II Executive computer. She's really a beauty isn't she?" I agreed. When it was shut off it did not at all look like a computer. I thought about this. My first DOS computer was an IBM PC-AT. It came in an ugly steel beige box with a lot of wires hanging out of the back and two floppy ports and a lock on the front. My latest PC, a 300mhz Pentium looks exactly the same. No lock and a DVD replaces one of the floppies, but still as ugly. If you look at all the PCs today, they all are ugly. All except the Status II. I started to get interested. I asked Seymour what the processor was. "It is adequate" he answered, the same answer a Rolls Royce salesman uses when asked the horsepower of his chariot. "Can I try it," I asked. "Go right ahead," he said.

I quickly looked at the custom menu on the screen and saw "Word Processing" as one of the choices. I clicked it and Microsoft Word appeared. "Beautiful screen," I said. Seymour nodded. I started to type on the keyboard and the feel of it was exceptional. The keyboard was on rollers; it was heavy though and with a press of a button two rear feet came out to stabilize it and hold it in place. The screen brought me back to reality. There was the office toolbar looking just like it does on my PC. "Want to dictate?" Seymour asked. I didn't understand. He touched a button on the remote and a microphone icon appeared on the screen. As I talked, I noticed that my speech was now turning to text and appearing on the screen. Seymour smiled "Speech to text," he said. Now I was really starting to be impressed. Still I could buy some software and a mike and duplicate this on my PC. I exited word and clicked on the Internet. Microsoft Explorer came up. Big deal I thought. That was until I started to access web pages. They didn't download, they popped on the screen. Seymour smiled. This Status II is connected to a T1 line. Seymour explained that the Status can be configured for T1, ISDN and DSL (when it comes) lines. He didn't think that a 56K modem was adequate at this quality level.

I pulled up some programs using Real Audio, watched CNN and listened to classical music on WQXR. The sound was exceptional and the normally stunted video even was worth looking at. Seymour explained that the video improvement was due to an exceptional video card and the high-speed connection. The audio was due to a 24 bit sound card and the large pair of external amplified speakers hanging on the wall behind the table. I was sold. Almost.

"Where are the ugly wires?" I asked. Seymour said the Status has only one wire connected to it. He showed me it. A cable about a half-inch thick protruded from the bottom rear of the unit. "This cable has all the I/O required," he said. We combined the power, modem, LAN, audio, video, printer and USB. The cable terminates into a distribution box behind the drapes on the wall and it is then split and sent to the projector, printer, sound system and T1 line. A flick of the remote and a projector appeared in the ceiling above the conference table, a screen lowered and the computer video was now on the eight-foot screen. Seymour pointed to a small camera mounted on the top of the LCD screen. It turned to face me and I soon saw my image eight feet wide on the screen. "Wonderful for video conferencing," Seymour said. I was impressed. You can videoconference with all Status II computers. They software allows split screen operation. So you can see both sides of the conversation.

Seymour explained that his computers were in large corporation boardrooms, richly decorated lobbies, showrooms and executive offices. "The Status adds beauty to the room and functionality to the PC." Seymour said, he then added. "We also supply a personal trainer and continuous monitoring and upgrading of the PC. Many executives outside of tech industries are too busy and too inexperienced to just have a computer dumped on their desk. Many are afraid to admit they can't type and also are afraid of the computer. They know they need to use it to keep abreast but it scares them.

"The personal trainer interviews the user to determine skill levels and software required. He then loads all the companies' software and whatever applications he determines the person requires. Then he trains the person while customizing the PC to the customers' desires. This can include training the voice recognition software, loading all the desired URLs into the favorites area, setting up screen savers and default directories auto save features. Basically the personal trainers does what you have to do when you take a PC out of the box. When the personal trainer leaves the customer has a stable computer with custom menus seamless operation and complete knowledge of the software he will be using. The PC is then monitored from time to time through the phone connection. If there are upgrades available your software will be automatically upgraded. If you experience any problems our technicians can access your operating log and determine the cause of the problem and fix it on line. All files are backed up off site daily."

The thought of it all boggled my mind. Anyone who has spent time with a PC knows that it is a love-hate relationship. When it is working correctly, you love it. When you have problems with it freezing, when new software doesn't work, when you realize the P/P stands for plug and pray, when the dialog box says "Missing file xxx.dll," you hate it. Here was a man telling me that if I own this device it will be love-love. My computer will be taken care of the same as my lawn is. And it will be the most beautiful computer available. I had to have one.

How much does it cost? Seymour winked and said, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

He co-founded CEAG Electric Corporation (now ABB CEAG) and developed the first mainframe power system using the droop paralleling concept. He has written numerous articles and columns, presented papers at the milestone PowerCon convention and consulted for ABB CEAG and other companies. Recently his accomplishments include the development of two Web sites, www.fgl.com with the Power Corner and www.amityville.com. Frank is presently functioning as "Director of Technical Sales" for Toritsu Tsushin Kogoyo Corp.

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