] "One of the problems the tablet PC is supposed to solve
] is the barrier that's formed between you and another
] person when you use a conventional laptop. The screen is
] purportedly some kind of offensive shield that cuts
] people off from one another and erects an insulting wall
] between them."

There are some interesting observations in this article about the dissonance that laptops have had fitting into a world designed for paper. Laptops with big screens hide faces in meetings... PCs teetering on college lecture desks designed for taking hand written notes on a small notepad...

At Nanog, most of the people in the audience sit on their laptops during talks. People will often get up to speak and make the mistake of commenting on it critically. This is a great way to signal to the audience that "I've never been to nanog before and I'm a little clueless so you can kind of half listen to me." Many of the people in the audience sit on IRC during the talks. The channel is usually about 80% "passing notes in class" and 20% useful filler information and critical thoughts about the talk.

The question is, who will bend:

1. The culture.
2. The technology.
3. The environment (start designing desks for meeting rooms that have cavities for laptops).

The answer will be found by determining how these peices can work together in a way that does not eliminate any of the functionality that each provides.

Any ideas?

Laptops and social norms...