Daniel asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I'm finishing my second read of the Vorkosigan Saga and loving A Civil Campaign—it’s been a while since a book made me laugh this much! Quick question: Did the comconsoles emerge because mobile smartphones didn't yet exist, or was it intentional to keep the internet "as a place" (like desktop computers)? Thank you :)

Lois McMaster Bujold
The fictional tech of the Vorkosiverse began with my first Vorkosigan novel in 1983, when only landlines existed and the internet was not thought of outside of DARPA of which few had heard. (Though I put a modern-style fully commercial internet on Beta Colony the following year, 1984, when I wrote The Warrior's Apprentice.) Dial-up modems were beginning in the mid-80s, upon which iirc one set one's telephone receiver to connect -- my Dad had an early one, slow, noisy, and kludgy. So for the following decades comconsoles were just series consistency. I have allowed my wristcoms to quietly update, however, from Dick Tracy's "two-way wrist radios" to in effect smartphones with 3-D projections.

(Now let's see how many people under 50 know who Dick Tracy was...)

Ta, L.

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