One of the reasons for information brevity might be the decreasing size of the devices that now connect to the internet.  I’ve just taken delivery of a  neat Toshiba netbook.  It feels like one of those portable typewriters that Hemingway or Orwell might have taken to Spain in 1936.

The keyboard just about works, even for a big handed clumsy touch typist. The weight and size (both physical and computer wise) are big pluses.

It’s the screen size that’s interesting; the initial thoughts are about how much clutter applications have; the number of menus, toolbars and so on. On a big screen all that stuff is distracting, but no a smaller screen it’s even more claustrophobic.

The other point to note is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get netbooks with Linux on them (Asus has stopped shipping them) – the rumour being because of pressure from Microsoft.  The one being used here has got XP on it. Talk about confusing. Microsoft is currently between XP, Vista and Windows 7. It doesn’t instill much confidence does it?

The technology on this netbook is presumably more sophisticated (even in some slight way) than my laptop which I bought last year. But the newer technology has the older operating system.  What does that say about Vista? Oh we all know the answer to that…