Shakey/ others:
Shakey makes a good point considering today's technology limits and the prospect of needing two or three Strats over Texas sounds good to me so long as they're all providing services that people want to pay for.
Still, considering that Moore's law has the number of transistor-equivalents per given surface area doubling every 18 months or so, the 3000 pounds aboard future generations of Strats will be able to able to outperform the first operational Strat by some significant factor.
Quick story for you: Once upon a time (1958 or 1959?), young Caradoc blew his paper route savings of $43.00 to buy an innovative product being distributed by Delmonico International, a small import firm in Los Angeles. The product was Sony's first 7-transistor radio: about 3" by 5" and 1" thick. AM, FM, and two shortwave bands. The inside of that small box was as beautiful as fine jewelry. I was pleased/proud to recognize the little 1" square variable condensor with its paper-thin elements sealed in a tiny clear plastic box. First letter I ever typed was to Delmonico, praising the elegance of the radio and making several suggestions toward upgrading the miserable "Japlish" owner's manual toward standard English. Their response said "thank you" and allowed as how if I could come up with $1,500 they'd ship me a bunch of radios and set me up as exclusive dealer for Sony products east of the Mississippi. This really scared me because for all I knew you could get arrested for impersonating an adult.
Ever notice that the ads for today's radios rarely even mention how many ICs or how many transistor equivalents per IC? Same thing will apply to Strat payloads as time goes by. One Strat may do a lot more than you'd think.
Caradoc
PS: Anybody who has seen Lowell Wood of Lawrence Livermore National Lab square his fingers while describing a "solid quartz computer no larger than a deck of playing cards but with the capacity of a Cray supercomputer" has had a glimpse of the future. I've been there, and I think those future silicon wonders will be at work 65,000 feet up aboard airdhips built by GTEL.
