I sortof agree with Heins. Why would new form factors for computing be limited to watches and glasses?
The smartphone era is winding down, and computing is about to explode with new ways to interact with computers and the internet. He may be off on the 5-years comment, but I don’t see why we would be spending our time (in 5-ish+ years) on tablets and smartphones when we will have so many other ways to play games, read, communicate with others, etc.
It’s more like the world of Vernor Vinge’s Rainbow’s End is coming at us quickly, which is what I think Heins is trying to say.
Most of the comments on this post reflect a poor understanding of how complicated this is. It’s not just a matter of making people pay for what should pay for anyway.
It is undue burden on small retailers, which is why the supreme court voted the way it did in the quill court case way back when. Yes amazon is different and could handle any changes in laws, but this would absolutely be an expensive mess for smaller online retailers to implement, as they’d have to somehow track, collect and distribute taxes for 50 states and god only knows how many local municipalities on top of that.
And for anyone who doesn’t think this is a gateway for new taxes, look at Maryland. They have tried to pass a law requiring sales tax on digital downloads. They are only waiting for the cover of an internet tax to pass this digital download tax, but here is what it would mean for you. If you’re driving in a car through Maryland, decide to download an app from Play or wherever, and you’ll be on the hook for sales tax.
Don’t be stupid, nobody should support this law. Amazon is only behind it because they know B&M stores are farked and this will drive smaller online retailers either out of business or into amazon marketplace stores.
