1.1.2 Home Applications家庭应用
In 1977, Ken Olsen was president of the Digital Equipment Corporation, then the number two computer vendor in the world (after IBM). When asked why Digital was not going after the personal computer market in a big way, he said: ''There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.'' History showed otherwise and Digital no longer exists. Why do people buy computers for home use? Initially, for word processing and games, but in recent years that picture has changed radically. Probably the biggest reason now is for Internet access. Some of the more popular uses of the Internet for home users are as follows:
1. Access to remote information.
2. Person-to-person communication.
3. Interactive entertainment.
4. Electronic commerce.
1977年， Ken Olsen在DEC（Digital Equipment Corporation）当总裁。当时，这家公司是全球第二大计算机生产商（仅次于IBM）。当问及为什么DEC不大胆进军个人计算机市场时，他说，“没有理由让每个人在家里都有一台计算机。”然而历史证明，事实并不像他说的这样，而DEC如今也不复存在。为什么人们为了家用而购买计算机呢？最初的时候，是为了文字处理和游戏，但近年来，这种情况发生了很大变化。也许，现在最大的原因最主要的理由是可以访问Internet。对于家庭用户而言，Internet几个最流行的用途是：
¨ 访问远程信息
¨ 人际通信
¨ 交互式娱乐
¨ 电子商务

Access to remote information comes in many forms. It can be surfing the World Wide Web for information or just for fun. Information available includes the arts, business, cooking, government, health, history, hobbies, recreation, science, sports, travel, and many others. Fun comes in too many ways to mention, plus some ways that are better left unmentioned.
访问远程信息有很多种形式。可以浏览网页获取信息或者纯粹是上网娱乐。可利用的信息包括艺术、商业、烹饪、行政管理、健康、历史、业余爱好、娱乐消遣、科学、运动、旅游及其他一些信息。通过Internet进行娱乐的方式有很多是可以提及的，也有一些最好是不提为妙。

Many newspapers have gone on-line and can be personalized. For example, it is sometimes possible to tell a newspaper that you want everything about corrupt politicians, big fires, scandals involving celebrities, and epidemics, but no football, thank you. Sometimes it is even possible to have the selected articles downloaded to your hard disk while you sleep or printed on your printer just before breakfast. As this trend continues, it will cause massive unemployment among 12-year-old paperboys, but newspapers like it because distribution has always been the weakest link in the whole production chain.
很多报纸有了在线的版本，并且可以个性化。例如，有些时候，有可能告诉一家报纸你需要关于政治腐败、大型火灾、有关名人的丑闻、流行病的信息、而不要足球信息。有时，甚至可能在你睡觉的时候，这些被选出来的文章（自动）下载到硬盘上或者早餐前用打印机打印出来。随着这种趋势的发展，会使得大量12岁的报童失业，然而，报社喜欢这样，因为发行在整个生产链中已经成了最弱的一环。