Read Online Sycamore (Near-Future Dystopia) by Craig A. Falconer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Craig A. Falconer
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confirmed. “Even the shortcut gestures to answer calls and access messaging without bringing up the OS. It’s got the works.”
“How did you get this done in nine days?”
“We have a strong and talented workforce. Sycamore was already the fastest-growing tech corporation in the universe before you came along, Mr Jacobs. We know what we’re doing.”
Kurt was impressed. He pinched his thumb and index finger inwards on his palm to reduce the size of his dashboard. A three-fingered downward swipe increased the transparency until it faded out and his vision returned to normal. He looked at Amos with no effort to contain his delight. “You son of a bitch. You actually did it.”
“We did. Obviously the available apps are limited at the moment, though. Feel free to explore.”
Kurt swiped three fingers upwards and the dashboard returned. It was a standard tiled interface, designed for simplicity. There was room for sixteen tiles on the first page but only half were occupied: Settings, SycaStore, SycaNews, Forest, Video-call, Voice-call, Messaging and Relive. “Is the SycaStore live?” he asked Amos.
“Not until launch.”
“Fair enough. So what are Forest and Relive? And where’s the web browser?”
“Forest is our new social network. Relive is the app from which consumers can, well, relive their previous experiences by accessing their UltraLens recordings from Icarus. It’ll go live with the SycaStore. And there is no browser. We have no plans to support web browsing.”
Kurt looked blankly at Amos, as though awaiting a punchline. None came.
“Why would we?” Amos continued. “The most visited website in the world is a search engine! That shows that people browse to find things; we want them to know where everything is. Most consumers only use the internet to access their social networks, e-mail each other, buy things, and read news. There are apps for that.”
“But you can’t just... not have the internet.” Kurt’s tone was inflected. He still wasn’t sure if Amos was serious.
“Why? The internet is a mess — so lawless and decentralised. We can’t control the ads on third-party websites, so why would companies pay our premium rates if they could reach our consumers through the backdoor? You’re the one who told me about attachment to method standing in the way of progress. The best method for meeting 99% of the needs of 99% of our consumers is to have their favourite services and content sources accessible through neat, self-contained apps.”
“Someone will make an internet app, then,” said Kurt.
“They can if they want, but we won’t let it in the store. Seriously, what do people use the internet for that they’ll miss out on? Other than piracy there’s nothing. By launch there will be apps for their online shopping, their auction sites, their user-generated encyclopaedias, their message boards, their tube sites, their specialist news sources, their adult needs, everything. What else is the internet for?”
“People use the internet to post unpopular opinions that nowhere else will host. The internet is the only democratising force we have.”
“Come on, Mr Jacobs, they can still tweet. And anyway, if those opinions were any good they wouldn’t be so unpopular. That’s how democracy works: what’s popular is right.”
“You can stop calling me Mr Jacobs now. And no, it’s really not. Democracy is about being able to say what you want and the internet lets people do that.”
“Today’s kids aren’t interested in stuff like that, though, and their generation has grown up without file systems and with apps for everything. It’s what they know. You didn’t insist on an old-fashioned file system so why are you so set on a browser? The internet is like a giant supermarket but people keep buying the same things, so most of the space is wasted. Our system is a vending machine, with neat little tiles that everyone can understand. Push a button and there you are: easy!
“How did you get this done in nine days?”
“We have a strong and talented workforce. Sycamore was already the fastest-growing tech corporation in the universe before you came along, Mr Jacobs. We know what we’re doing.”
Kurt was impressed. He pinched his thumb and index finger inwards on his palm to reduce the size of his dashboard. A three-fingered downward swipe increased the transparency until it faded out and his vision returned to normal. He looked at Amos with no effort to contain his delight. “You son of a bitch. You actually did it.”
“We did. Obviously the available apps are limited at the moment, though. Feel free to explore.”
Kurt swiped three fingers upwards and the dashboard returned. It was a standard tiled interface, designed for simplicity. There was room for sixteen tiles on the first page but only half were occupied: Settings, SycaStore, SycaNews, Forest, Video-call, Voice-call, Messaging and Relive. “Is the SycaStore live?” he asked Amos.
“Not until launch.”
“Fair enough. So what are Forest and Relive? And where’s the web browser?”
“Forest is our new social network. Relive is the app from which consumers can, well, relive their previous experiences by accessing their UltraLens recordings from Icarus. It’ll go live with the SycaStore. And there is no browser. We have no plans to support web browsing.”
Kurt looked blankly at Amos, as though awaiting a punchline. None came.
“Why would we?” Amos continued. “The most visited website in the world is a search engine! That shows that people browse to find things; we want them to know where everything is. Most consumers only use the internet to access their social networks, e-mail each other, buy things, and read news. There are apps for that.”
“But you can’t just... not have the internet.” Kurt’s tone was inflected. He still wasn’t sure if Amos was serious.
“Why? The internet is a mess — so lawless and decentralised. We can’t control the ads on third-party websites, so why would companies pay our premium rates if they could reach our consumers through the backdoor? You’re the one who told me about attachment to method standing in the way of progress. The best method for meeting 99% of the needs of 99% of our consumers is to have their favourite services and content sources accessible through neat, self-contained apps.”
“Someone will make an internet app, then,” said Kurt.
“They can if they want, but we won’t let it in the store. Seriously, what do people use the internet for that they’ll miss out on? Other than piracy there’s nothing. By launch there will be apps for their online shopping, their auction sites, their user-generated encyclopaedias, their message boards, their tube sites, their specialist news sources, their adult needs, everything. What else is the internet for?”
“People use the internet to post unpopular opinions that nowhere else will host. The internet is the only democratising force we have.”
“Come on, Mr Jacobs, they can still tweet. And anyway, if those opinions were any good they wouldn’t be so unpopular. That’s how democracy works: what’s popular is right.”
“You can stop calling me Mr Jacobs now. And no, it’s really not. Democracy is about being able to say what you want and the internet lets people do that.”
“Today’s kids aren’t interested in stuff like that, though, and their generation has grown up without file systems and with apps for everything. It’s what they know. You didn’t insist on an old-fashioned file system so why are you so set on a browser? The internet is like a giant supermarket but people keep buying the same things, so most of the space is wasted. Our system is a vending machine, with neat little tiles that everyone can understand. Push a button and there you are: easy!
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