[etal]

This new resistance to higher system requirements is interesting in the context of ESR's "World Domination 201" (http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/world-domination/world-dom...), which looked at the 16-bit and 32-bit transitions and predicted that the 64-bit transition would shake up the computer industry again, in 2008. In theory, the middle of the bell curve of computer users would be buying 64-bit systems with 4+ GB of RAM this year, and if Windows cracked under this requirement, Linux or Apple would have a chance to break into the mainstream.

But we're halfway through the year, and 4GB of RAM still doesn't seem to be the median for new computers. Is it because we're finally satisfied with what a desktop computer does? Are smaller, lighter laptops changing the market? Or are retailers and hardware manufacturers deliberately hitting the brakes, having watched Vista go sailing off a cliff ahead of them?

[hernan7]

Maybe ESR was making numbers out of thin air?

[hello_moto]

ESR writes small (but useful) UNIX tools. He ain't no analyst (for a big thing).