D E A R   S A N T A :   F O R G E T   T H E   C O M P U T E R   T H I S   Y E A R .

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This year, it makes more sense
to put WebTV under the tree.

By DAN SHAFER | Illustration by Richard Sala

for the first time in the 15-plus years I've been in this business, I'm recommending to you — and to my friends — not to buy a personal computer this Christmas season unless you really can't wait a few months. The computer manufacturers have done themselves and you a tremendous disservice this season by announcing and then delaying several important new technologies that won't be available on computers that ship before the end of the year. Don't get me wrong. The computer business is always busy obsoleting itself. In fact, that's the only way it can survive. Most of the time when people ask me, "Should I buy a computer now or wait until the next whizzy thing comes out?" I smile and suggest that they buy the computer now. There is a cost associated with waiting: economists refer to it as opportunity cost. It takes into account the things you don't do at all, or as well, while you wait for the technology to "settle down," which, of course, it never does. Years ago, Ralph Nader wrote about "planned obsolescence" in the automobile industry. The computer makers must have learned that lesson and taken it to amazingly new heights. This Christmas, though, the story is different. Next: Be patient, and all will become cheaper and faster.