The PC (As We Know It) Is Dead
[With some clever doubts expressed in comments below the article]
Chad Brooks BusinessDailyNews Contributor
June 8, 2011
The rapid rise of cloud computing, coupled with a slew of increasingly powerful mobile computing devices, is killing the PC faster than analysts had predicted.
In fact, some now say, the desktop PC is essentially dead – an immobile zombie that's already irrelevant to many consumers and soon will be to businesses, too.
Yesterday's announcement of Apple's iCloud, which will store content online and synch all of a user's Apple devices wirelessly, is the latest in a series of nails being hammered into the PC coffin. Smart phones and tablets have given rise to a new consumer demand for immediate information at our fingertips, which John Quain, industry expert and longtime technology writer, said has made the desktop computer defunct.
"We don’t need PCs anymore," Quain told BusinessNewsDaily. "They are dead."
PC sales slide
The two-stage death march is evident in surprisingly dim statistics released recently.
Two of the world's largest manufactures of personal computers, HP and Dell, recently reported significant losses in sales to consumers. PC sales to individuals for quarter ending April 30 plunged 23 percent at HP and 7 percent at Dell.
PC sales to businesses have fared better. But overall, a turning point has clearly passed.
This spring, Gartner, Inc. released statistics showing PC sales overall dropped 1.1 percent compared to last year. Meanwhile, IMS Research has forecasted a whopping 213 percent growth for tablets.
While the PC has long been considered a necessity in the workplace, Quain said mobile devices are now giving businesses the chance to break from that mold.
"I see a lot of large enterprises and small businesses reconsidering the need for a desktop computer," Quain said. "The tablet computers are much cheaper, and give small and medium-size business another option so they don’t have to invest in a desktop computer."
Meanwhile laptops, considered to be PC's, are changing rapidly. Apple's Mac Air has the instant-on capability of a tablet computer, and isn't much bigger than one. Intel recently announced Ultrabook, a thin, light tablet-like laptop with a touch screen. The company thinks it'll make up half the laptop market by the end of next year.
And earlier this year, Motorola released the Atrix 4G, a smartphone that docks to a laptop-like device that's really just a screen, keyboard and giant battery. The smartphone is the brains of the operation.
Gone from campuses
Nowhere is the PC demise more stark than among the consumers of tomorrow.
At Penn State University, Director of Education Technology Services Allan Gyorke said the former student staple is now rarely spotted in dorm rooms.
"The desktop PC is dead," Gyorke said, estimating that 95 percent of students now bring a laptop or tablet media device to campus instead of using a traditional PC in their dorm room.
Those newer devices, he said, are easier to store and easier to set up.
While not ready to put the final nail in the PC's coffin, Roger Kay, an industry expert and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, said the growing use of media tablets and smartphones is indeed pushing it out the door.
"Death might be an over-exaggeration, but the wind has been taken out of the PC’s sails," Kay said. "There is a lot of momentum going the other way."
With tablets and smartphones having as many computer capabilities as a desktop PC, Kay said it's only naturally for people to choose the handier option.
"It is hugely more convenient," Kay said. "It immediately changed my lifestyle, in that it offered a type of mobile computing that wasn’t available before."
The wireless connection
The explosion of wireless networks is also linked to the PC's demise. You no longer need to be seated at a desktop computer that is plugged into the phone line next to it to access the Internet, Gyorke noted.
"If there is a wireless connection somewhere, people want to access it," Gyorke said. "That is a real drawing force."
Apple's new iCloud will help seal the desktop's fate by spurring the use of all cloud-based services, Quain said. "It is going to make everyone feel more confident in using those cloud services."
Other analysts point out that the iCloud is mostly an Apple affair, but that Google, Microsoft and others who want a foothold in the cloud are already racing in that direction, and iCloud will only heat that race up.
Evolve or die
Still, even as he acknowledged that PC alternatives like the iPad and other media tablets are slowing personal computer sales, George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, Inc., said he expects the PC to survive by evolving into something else.
"PCs are a very flexible platform," Shiffler said. "There will be something like a PC (in the future), but it won't be exactly what it is like today."
One scenario, he suggested, is to have a further merge of the television and computer.
"I think we may see the desktop move to an all-in-one screen," Shiffler said. "Then it becomes a media center."
Gyorke said he actually sees the future of personal computers headed in the same direction as tablets, with touch screens and app centers.
"The interface will be very similar to the iPad," Gyorke said.
This article was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience.
But some of the comments are challenging:
WHAT A NONSENSE AND BASELESS ARTICLE. desktop PC will still on demand coz PC can do everything heavy tasks like hardcore gaming, memory-cost softwares like 3D and graphic softwares which relies heavily to big amounts of memory(RAM and video) which is PC alone can hold compare to those new techs today like tablets and notebooks and laptops. think of it.
--Moklo, commenting on the above blog
= = = = = = another comment = = = = =
"It is going to make everyone feel more confident in using those cloud services."
Not until the net connection cna hold. Mine drops out occassionally. last year, for 3 weeks, every day at 2PM it konke dout for 15 minutes. During the down time, I enjoyed my music. Can't do that with it trappe din the cloud.
My Desktop is fine. I have little ened to wnader around, and laptop mice and screens are horrid. I need a USB mouse, and laptops have few ports. Otherwise, their blaste dhover tech kicks in,a nd I launch programs I don't want. The screens have to constantly be moved as the sunlight chnages. Or am I to waste electricity by keeping my light son all day and night? Their powercomusption is abysmal. By now, you should last a week n a single charge. Tablets have too small a hard drive. Smartphoens screens are too small for me to see, A TV/Desktop combo would eb nice, but otherwise, a desktop is perfect for me. And many others as well. So what if cllege kids find portable easier. let's ssee their choices/needs after graduation.
-- Mrprongs, commenting on the above blog
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
[subscribers to the anti-spywire anti-virus "Vipre"
program have these stinging words for the "cloud":]
Eyes Only Your Viewpoint on Security Issues
Not So Online
I'm responding to the blurb about online storage and various options thereto. I don't know if this is the right way to respond, but you seem to be soliciting input, so I'm giving it a shot (or perhaps I should be on the forum?).
In short, I simply don't care for online storage, for two reasons:
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Security Concerns
You have asked for opinions about the subject matter. To make a long story short: I feel very bad about security because what is any guarantee worth from any government when there is no real and serious guarantee that there is no backdoor through which it may gain access to my personal data using that blasted excuse of "national security concerns"? This includes super-hyped cloud computing in which I would kind of entrust the whole lot of my (partly top confidential) data in the Internet on their way to and fro the target and my computer. There is no real security in the Internet in my opinion because hackers and "nation security" will always be one step ahead like in the race between rabbit and hedgehog. Furthermore, what happens if the provider encounters a complete breakdown but I do need access to my cloud-computed data? On the workstation or computer, there is at least the chance of doing the job offline, and once the Internet connection is reestablished, I can take up my online job again (e.g. transferring data to an end user). - HGR
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Hey You Get Off of My Cloud
It could be that I'm paranoid but I don't like the idea of my files being in the "cloud." I also don't like the idea of the government, be it federal, state or local and especially the White House having control of the Internet. These days I get the feeling that everything "that is for your own good" means someone is going to help you by handcuffing you or by reading everything you send and shutting you down if they don't agree with it. Sorry, but that is how I feel. - BW
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Privacy and You
Thank you for continuously providing great advice in the VIPRE newsletter. I thought I would provide an opinion on whether the government should become more involved in the internet privacy issues. I think this is a 'slippery slope' because if government is allowed to 'police' internet privacy issues, it will be difficult to remove them later on. I think education and common sense is the best way to protect individuals from privacy issues and fraud. Also, I believe technology will evolve to help keep computer users safe (finger print recognition, retina recognition, etc.). - NI
http://www.livescience.com/14492-apple-pc-dead.html
[With some clever doubts expressed in comments below the article]
Chad Brooks BusinessDailyNews Contributor
June 8, 2011
The rapid rise of cloud computing, coupled with a slew of increasingly powerful mobile computing devices, is killing the PC faster than analysts had predicted.
In fact, some now say, the desktop PC is essentially dead – an immobile zombie that's already irrelevant to many consumers and soon will be to businesses, too.
Yesterday's announcement of Apple's iCloud, which will store content online and synch all of a user's Apple devices wirelessly, is the latest in a series of nails being hammered into the PC coffin. Smart phones and tablets have given rise to a new consumer demand for immediate information at our fingertips, which John Quain, industry expert and longtime technology writer, said has made the desktop computer defunct.
"We don’t need PCs anymore," Quain told BusinessNewsDaily. "They are dead."
PC sales slide
The two-stage death march is evident in surprisingly dim statistics released recently.
Two of the world's largest manufactures of personal computers, HP and Dell, recently reported significant losses in sales to consumers. PC sales to individuals for quarter ending April 30 plunged 23 percent at HP and 7 percent at Dell.
PC sales to businesses have fared better. But overall, a turning point has clearly passed.
This spring, Gartner, Inc. released statistics showing PC sales overall dropped 1.1 percent compared to last year. Meanwhile, IMS Research has forecasted a whopping 213 percent growth for tablets.
While the PC has long been considered a necessity in the workplace, Quain said mobile devices are now giving businesses the chance to break from that mold.
"I see a lot of large enterprises and small businesses reconsidering the need for a desktop computer," Quain said. "The tablet computers are much cheaper, and give small and medium-size business another option so they don’t have to invest in a desktop computer."
Meanwhile laptops, considered to be PC's, are changing rapidly. Apple's Mac Air has the instant-on capability of a tablet computer, and isn't much bigger than one. Intel recently announced Ultrabook, a thin, light tablet-like laptop with a touch screen. The company thinks it'll make up half the laptop market by the end of next year.
And earlier this year, Motorola released the Atrix 4G, a smartphone that docks to a laptop-like device that's really just a screen, keyboard and giant battery. The smartphone is the brains of the operation.
Gone from campuses
Nowhere is the PC demise more stark than among the consumers of tomorrow.
At Penn State University, Director of Education Technology Services Allan Gyorke said the former student staple is now rarely spotted in dorm rooms.
"The desktop PC is dead," Gyorke said, estimating that 95 percent of students now bring a laptop or tablet media device to campus instead of using a traditional PC in their dorm room.
Those newer devices, he said, are easier to store and easier to set up.
While not ready to put the final nail in the PC's coffin, Roger Kay, an industry expert and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, said the growing use of media tablets and smartphones is indeed pushing it out the door.
"Death might be an over-exaggeration, but the wind has been taken out of the PC’s sails," Kay said. "There is a lot of momentum going the other way."
With tablets and smartphones having as many computer capabilities as a desktop PC, Kay said it's only naturally for people to choose the handier option.
"It is hugely more convenient," Kay said. "It immediately changed my lifestyle, in that it offered a type of mobile computing that wasn’t available before."
The wireless connection
The explosion of wireless networks is also linked to the PC's demise. You no longer need to be seated at a desktop computer that is plugged into the phone line next to it to access the Internet, Gyorke noted.
"If there is a wireless connection somewhere, people want to access it," Gyorke said. "That is a real drawing force."
Apple's new iCloud will help seal the desktop's fate by spurring the use of all cloud-based services, Quain said. "It is going to make everyone feel more confident in using those cloud services."
Other analysts point out that the iCloud is mostly an Apple affair, but that Google, Microsoft and others who want a foothold in the cloud are already racing in that direction, and iCloud will only heat that race up.
Evolve or die
Still, even as he acknowledged that PC alternatives like the iPad and other media tablets are slowing personal computer sales, George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, Inc., said he expects the PC to survive by evolving into something else.
"PCs are a very flexible platform," Shiffler said. "There will be something like a PC (in the future), but it won't be exactly what it is like today."
One scenario, he suggested, is to have a further merge of the television and computer.
"I think we may see the desktop move to an all-in-one screen," Shiffler said. "Then it becomes a media center."
Gyorke said he actually sees the future of personal computers headed in the same direction as tablets, with touch screens and app centers.
"The interface will be very similar to the iPad," Gyorke said.
This article was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience.
But some of the comments are challenging:
WHAT A NONSENSE AND BASELESS ARTICLE. desktop PC will still on demand coz PC can do everything heavy tasks like hardcore gaming, memory-cost softwares like 3D and graphic softwares which relies heavily to big amounts of memory(RAM and video) which is PC alone can hold compare to those new techs today like tablets and notebooks and laptops. think of it.
--Moklo, commenting on the above blog
= = = = = = another comment = = = = =
"It is going to make everyone feel more confident in using those cloud services."
Not until the net connection cna hold. Mine drops out occassionally. last year, for 3 weeks, every day at 2PM it konke dout for 15 minutes. During the down time, I enjoyed my music. Can't do that with it trappe din the cloud.
My Desktop is fine. I have little ened to wnader around, and laptop mice and screens are horrid. I need a USB mouse, and laptops have few ports. Otherwise, their blaste dhover tech kicks in,a nd I launch programs I don't want. The screens have to constantly be moved as the sunlight chnages. Or am I to waste electricity by keeping my light son all day and night? Their powercomusption is abysmal. By now, you should last a week n a single charge. Tablets have too small a hard drive. Smartphoens screens are too small for me to see, A TV/Desktop combo would eb nice, but otherwise, a desktop is perfect for me. And many others as well. So what if cllege kids find portable easier. let's ssee their choices/needs after graduation.
-- Mrprongs, commenting on the above blog
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Avoid Cloud Computing
[subscribers to the anti-spywire anti-virus "Vipre"
program have these stinging words for the "cloud":]
Eyes Only Your Viewpoint on Security Issues
Not So Online
I'm responding to the blurb about online storage and various options thereto. I don't know if this is the right way to respond, but you seem to be soliciting input, so I'm giving it a shot (or perhaps I should be on the forum?).
In short, I simply don't care for online storage, for two reasons:
- I want my data when I want it, which is to say, if it's in the Cloud, but my Internet connection is down, then I'd have to get in my car and head to a Wi-Fi location (not entirely secure, as you know) to try for a file retrieval.
- Privacy considerations aside (e.g., if they are honored and online storage companies don't succumb to government demands or subpoenas for information/files) there are still hacking issues. You can bet that *some* hacker out there in the world (many, actually) are going to target online storage companies and see what they can lay their hands on.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Security Concerns
You have asked for opinions about the subject matter. To make a long story short: I feel very bad about security because what is any guarantee worth from any government when there is no real and serious guarantee that there is no backdoor through which it may gain access to my personal data using that blasted excuse of "national security concerns"? This includes super-hyped cloud computing in which I would kind of entrust the whole lot of my (partly top confidential) data in the Internet on their way to and fro the target and my computer. There is no real security in the Internet in my opinion because hackers and "nation security" will always be one step ahead like in the race between rabbit and hedgehog. Furthermore, what happens if the provider encounters a complete breakdown but I do need access to my cloud-computed data? On the workstation or computer, there is at least the chance of doing the job offline, and once the Internet connection is reestablished, I can take up my online job again (e.g. transferring data to an end user). - HGR
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Hey You Get Off of My Cloud
It could be that I'm paranoid but I don't like the idea of my files being in the "cloud." I also don't like the idea of the government, be it federal, state or local and especially the White House having control of the Internet. These days I get the feeling that everything "that is for your own good" means someone is going to help you by handcuffing you or by reading everything you send and shutting you down if they don't agree with it. Sorry, but that is how I feel. - BW
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Privacy and You
Thank you for continuously providing great advice in the VIPRE newsletter. I thought I would provide an opinion on whether the government should become more involved in the internet privacy issues. I think this is a 'slippery slope' because if government is allowed to 'police' internet privacy issues, it will be difficult to remove them later on. I think education and common sense is the best way to protect individuals from privacy issues and fraud. Also, I believe technology will evolve to help keep computer users safe (finger print recognition, retina recognition, etc.). - NI
http://www.livescience.com/14492-apple-pc-dead.html
Savvy Computer Nerds Want Privacy and
unBuggy Electronics -- Their Advice:
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