Skepticism, like twilight, is a gradual process. Just as twilight slowly obscures the details of the landscape, so too skepticism creeps up on us and extinguishes alternatives, reducing our visibility until the only thing apparent is our immediate situation-the status quo. For that reason, we hold on to our optimism and reserve criticism, in general, for what it would take to bring technology into the mainstream. Windows95 roll-out hype? We were charmed. OS/2 Warp Connect? That’s lovely. Unix on the desktop? If only. Copeland? Can’t wait. Real-time video on demand across the Net to the home? Now, wait just a minute, there’s only so much we can grin and bear.