The interface is the problem

PC's, whether Windows boxes or Macs, are great at stand alone tasks, with some reasonable connectivity to the internet, by ethernet or WiFi.

But try to do anything else and interfacing becomes a problem. What are the options?

1. WiFi. You can use this to connect to another server running in your connected device, and then transfer digital data in a format similar to Ethernet

2. USB. The most used and probably the easiest, but for some uses (like digital audio) there are sync problems and in other uses speed problems.

3. Firewire. Now being phased out on Macs and never really bought on in PCs. Good for high speed links for video and hi end audio

4. Thunderbolt. So new no one is using it! Must be tricky to implement as makers are very slow to implement on displays, video or audio. Most people use a TB to Firewire converter…

5. Internal PCI cards: exclusive to desk tops, most PCs and the Mac Pro.

Probably the best choice among these is WiFi. This is a wonder solution as it is the only one with no wires, a trend that is popular for obvious reasons. But there are problems of latency here also, and mistiming of packets. So who knows what is best. It is a bad compromise today, and a sad fact that no-one has yet solved the universal I/O problem. Personally I morn the end of Firewire.