Historically, the development of a whole new PC architecture has been the computing equivalent of New Coke. Caught an article on Microsoft and HP’s new “Athens” PC. There are precious few details in the article, but the idea seems to be a mix of Windows, Mac OS X, and the XBox in a corporate PC. It’s supposed to be another one of those paradigm shift thingies.The only thing that resonates with me from this initiative is the built-in thumbprint scanner. Biometrics aren’t new; they have never really caught on as a viable consumer or corporate identity management solution. Who wants to deal with USB dongles or wierd mice? It needs to be embedded into the keyboard or the monitor to be effective, and it cannot significantly increase the cost of these devices. Until a biometric device such as a X-Jack style thumbprint scanner is ubiquitous, the use of biometrics to ensure identity at the corporate client or consumer level will remain rare.