It's nice when someone in the "major media" gets the Always On vision, no matter how they get there.

The vision is simple. It's a wireless Internet platform. You get there by combining robust scalable PC applications with Internet connectivity and WiFi.

The BBC's Ian Hardy gets it, but he approaches it backwards, from the media side.

However you get there is fine with me.

Of course, Hardy is talking to consumer electronics companies, specifically Philips. I don't think he has any blinders on. He is reporting, which is even better, because when reporters stumble on a concept you know it's real.

To Philips, the way to Always On is called the "simple set-up." Here's how Hardy explains it. "The Philips Wireless Music Centre burns CDs to a built-in hard drive, automatically names the MP3 files, and then distributes the audio to up to five satellite players via 802.11g, with no PC necessary."

In other words, the box creates a wireless network. It's too bad that music is the only thing going out on this network. I don't know what operating system the Centre uses, or whether a PC network could control it. (No PC necessary doesn't mean no PC possible.)

But if you get this solution for your music, you as a customer are bound to start asking yourself, "If my music is moving around in this way, what else might move this way?"

Suddenly you have a customer for Always On applications. They may or may not require another platform to make it happen, but they're in the market.

And that's what we need. Customers.