Your Own Network

By MICHAEL KRANTZ

For decades now, technologists have conjured futuristic visions of the "smart home," whose every appliance leaps to attention at your command: finding and dialing the number you request, diagnosing that ping in your car, displaying the recipe you choose, deciding which ingredients you're missing and ordering them for instant delivery from the grocer. What's more, each machine would borrow the computing power it needs on a moment-to-moment basis by accessing a wider network via wireless signal, without the annoyance of the endless peripherals yoked to today's desktop PCs.

That vision, called "distributed" or "ubiquitous" computing, is suddenly getting very real. Last week brought notice of Sun Microsystems' new software platform, called Jini, which brings the era of distributed computing from sometime in the hazy future to about Christmas 1999. That's how long it will take for Sun to release details of the Jini software (due within months) to its electronics partners (there are 30 already) so they can then build the first Jini-compatible products, from cell phones to PC peripherals.

So why do we need to discuss this now? Because the gadgets you place under this year's Christmas tree will be the ones you plug into Jini networks (or someone's networks; Microsoft, big surprise, is apparently developing a competing platform) come the millennium. If those gadgets aren't functional in a "distributed" world, you'll have to shell out again for ones that are.

How to avoid that sorry fate? You'll want to weigh two crucial questions. One: Is the gadget digital? In short order, virtually all data will be rendered in computer language to move fluently through the Net's electronic sprawl. Analog phones and plain-film cameras will be about as worthwhile tomorrow as Betamax movies are in our VHS world today. To be sure, you'll still pay extra to go digital: ordinary Canon cameras, with their quaint loadable film, run from $200 bargains on up the price scale, while the digital Canon Sureshot costs $699 at New York City's 47th Street Photo. This gap is even wider for videocameras: $599 to $799 for Canon's GS series, vs. a sweat-inducing $2,300 for the Optura digital model.

Is it really worth paying that much for a machine that will plug into the digital future? Maybe so, if it also passes Question Two: Can it be networked--can it communicate with the Web and smaller networks? A number of digital cameras already come with input/output ports like FireWire, which links with your PC and printer for easy editing, storage and printmaking. Ditto for cell phones: Nokia and Ericsson already sell digital models with networking capabilities, and others will soon follow.

Occasionally, conservatism is the best bet. As the first digital TVs roll out next year, for instance, their four-figure price tags will entice only cost-be-damned hobbyists. The rest of us will buy analog sets with built-in digital converters and wait for steep markdowns on those high-definition beauties. The network revolution is coming, though, and quickly. Think twice before choosing the wrong side.

Michael Krantz is a TIME staff writer. Our regular columnist, Josh Quittner, returns in two weeks. Read more about Jini and distributed networks at time.com/personal