IBM Corp has living proof that miracles do still happen, for after years of seeing its embarrassing attempts at portable computers being the butt of every cheap stand-up comedian’s jokes – remember the Portable Personal Computer that needed a phone book under the front before you could see the screen, or the Clamshell that only made every potential buyer shut his wallet like a clam when he saw it, IBM finally has a runaway success with its ThinkPads, which are today emphatically chic, so much so that the public relations department has an embarras de richesse when it comes to citing endorsements – do you tout the high-tech associations of the ThinkPad 750C that flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the mission to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope, or do you cite the solemn miracle that the Holy Father is now the humble owner of a ThinkPad 700C colour notebook complete with laser printer and facsimile modem? Coming next – Papal audiences on the Internet…
