You Just Can't Kill The Beast...
Alexa and other such devices are just the tip of a very big iceburg.
Many of you will have heard of Multics and probably thought it was obsolete and just a waypoint on the path to the operating systems we have today.
That is only partly true, the hardware and software technology of Multics faded into the mists of time, having done their job and inspired the creation of newer, more achievable, cheaper tech.
The problem is that Multics was not just an OS it was also a business model and that is very much alive and indeed thriving.
The original idea is that people and businesses would not own computers, they would instead rent capacity on giant central computers. All of their data and processes would be kept centrally.
Did you really think cloud computing was a new idea?
Now on the way, the business model of Multics seems to have fallen in love with Orwells 1984 and Alexa is the bastard child of a very unholy alliance.