But underneath, it was about the slow but sure progress toward user-centric computing.

FORBES: CES Summary: Evolution Of User-Centric Computing

Linux acquired 12 million customers, all at the leading edge of Web-centric computing.

FORBES: Fat, florid, farcical

The Pixel is a showcase, and it's a step forward as the percentage of tasks that can be addressed using web-centric computing continues to creep upward.

ENGADGET: Switched On: Chrome on the range

User-centric computing is a theme we can expect to hear articulated in many ways next week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

FORBES: Surrounded By Devices, We Inhabit A World of Increasing User-Centricity

The solution: For a few billion dollars, Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) could get into the phone business itself, buying the spectrum it needs to offer not just voice service for all those iPhone users, but to build the broadband wireless links it needs to offer next generation, network-centric computing, communications and entertainment.

FORBES: Why Apple Won't Become A Phone Company

Krim thinks consumer computing will continue to become more Web-application centric, and he wants to put Jolicloud in a position to take a cut.

FORBES: The Disposable Operating System