On Feb 27, 1996 at 20:00, Sunny Leung of 3:712/407 wrote:

 SL> Styling is a funny thing. Perhaps the Courier casing has been around for
 SL> such a long time that's it's become part of the Courier image. You know,
 SL> "it's not a Courier if it doesn't come with the black wedge
casing".

Perhaps.  A bit like motorcars, I guess.

 SL> However, I don't like the Netcomm Roadster's outer design (especially
 SL> the transparent plastic version).

My boss has one of the transparent Roadsters .. "Limited Edition"
my foot, what a bloody ugly contraption.  :-(  (Doesn't perform all that
well, either.)

 SL> The Maestro's tower design seems a good space-saving idea.

Yeah, seen one of them - they look quite neat, too.

 SL> Who can forget the connection between Netcomm and marble? I was waiting
 SL> for a Netcomm case to come with a faux marble plastic exterior :-)

They used to have a marble-like exterior on the boxes of the SmartModem
range a few years ago, and even the manuals started going upmarket.  The
current shipping boxes, however, are more of the hype-driven style.  Yuck. 
As you said, style can be a funny thing.

 SL> Like those Logitech mice with the "marble, wood, leather" plastic
 SL> casing.

I remember seeing a rodent range that had "paintings" on them -
to somehow make the mice classic collectables in their own right!  :-)

 SL> I've noticed that USR prefers wedgy, clunky styling e.g. the Sportster
 SL> VI and the Sportster DSVD are examples of new USR modems that reflect
 SL> this. It's hard to visualise a USR with curvy styling a la Netcomm.
 SL> Perhaps its part of US culture to go for big and edgy? :-)

Could be - could be the very reason why the Europeans and Japanese keep
beating the crap out of the Americans in business, resulting in the
incumbent U.S. President trotting around the world warning people to stop
murdering U.S. businesses.  :-)

Cheers..

    - dave
    d.begley{at}ieee.org

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