I 'm curious of what you think about the stuff below I stand behind it 100%

[G+_George Kozi]

I'm curious of what you think about the stuff below. I stand behind it 100%

 

Originally shared by George Kozi

 

The Death of the Desktop.

 

I don't know if you noticed, but there is a new hobby bouncing left and right within the Tech community. It flies around between the pundits like a buzzing magic bandwagon, and one by one, they jump onto it. 

 

Once on board, they join the doom chorus that announces the imminent death of the desktop computer. To that, I (mister beige from the suburbs) have to say: that's a set of low hanging bollocks! 

 

I like my desktop. I like having the machine in front of me, at my desk, where I sit and do stuff. I like to know that I have something plugged into the wall, something with enough muscle to let me play around with grownup graphics programs and video editing software.

 

No matter how shiny the tablets are, they still run on ridiculous batteries, and you can drop them. They are, nice, sophisticated and expensive... toys.

 

The true workhorse is, and will remain for a very long time, the good 'ol desktop.

[G+_Colin Jones (Ponder - F]

The latest tablets are great, but I don't think the Desktop is going anywhere soon. It's still the best way to get so much done that no mobile device can handle.

[G+_George Kozi]

the desktop is my workhorse... my house machine.

[G+_Zarthan South]

Perhaps not dead but it's heyday has passed. Workhorse machines will be with us for some time yet. When I got my first smartphone more than 10 years ago I envisioned a time when I could plug my phone into a dock that had a big monitor and keyboard. 

[G+_Tim Allen]

But tablets and touch are over too.  The next thing is voice, speaking to your watch or glasses, you know...  That's the thing I hate about the tech press, it's always THIS or THAT.  Nothing can ever coexist.  In order for Apple to succeed Google or Microsoft must fail, etc, etc.  The funny thing is I very rarely ever hear one of them say they do their own work on a tablet, it's almost always a desktop.  

[G+_George Kozi]

I think the Leap motion gesture controlled computing has a big future. You wave at your monitor, you don't have to touch it and leave your fingerprints on it.

[G+_Zarthan South]

Almost 20 years ago I was on a panel at Comdex or ??? and I predicted that withing 4 or 5 years we would be interacting with our computer with voice. That was after I saw a beta demo of a voice to text application. The voice to text worked extremely well. 

 

So 20 years later why do we not interact with computer by voice. That ability has been on our devices for a long time and current voice services like SIRI and Google Search and any of the dozens of voice services available work very well. Some of it may be related to us feeling self conscious talking to our phones or computers, but I think it is just that we just haven't spent time working with it. Think about how much time it took to learn to type. 

 

I can't imagine the big hand waves and other big gestures will work if we have trouble with voice interaction with our computers. Swiping a screen is a normal way we interact with physical books. Babies seem to get it almost immediately. 

[G+_George Kozi]

tablets have a place of their own, and they may be the right device for some... But It would take a heck of a tablet to make me get rid of with my PC.

[G+_Shawn Lowery]

I agree to an extent.  My wife and children use phones for most of what they "do" now that they used to "do" on the PC.  However, when it's time to write a paper or do "real work", they grab their laptop or migrate to the desktop.

 

Desktop sales have fallen, but i believe it is simply because those who do not need a desktop to play simple games and update their social networks, will not replace their desktop.  For them, the "consumers", a phone or tablet works well.  And there's nothing wrong with that.

 

I look at it like this, most people only need a four cylinder automobile to get back and fourth to work or go shopping.  However, we still need diesels, semi's, work vans, backhoes, dump trucks, and a myriad of other "more powerful" machines to keep society running smoothly. 

 

For creators of programs, creators of data, and creators of the content that the "consumers" consume, they need more than a phone or tablet.

 

Those who have work to do will either buy a high power laptop or a desktop. My aunt, my teenage cousins, and many others i know, they will use their phones and tablets to update their status, send messages, and play games.  They will only search for a laptop or desktop to use when they need to do real work.

 

I believe we will no longer be able to have much desktop selection in "consumer" based stores for very long, and we will be buying our computers online or at specialty shops again, but maybe that's ok.  Everyone has a need to service with technology, and right now, a simple phone or device can fill that need.

 

Some other time, i'll tell you how this lady i know had to show me how much faster her phone was than her computer.  She pulled up her facebook app and said "that takes forever to come up on my computer". Ahhh bless her heart*

 

* (Bless your heart: an old southern united states saying commenting on someone's naivety, in a nice way. Similar to "Well isn't that nice".).

[G+_Bryan Miner]

We still have needs for desktops

[G+_David Mossman (Mossdadd]

It's a truck. You must be a truck driver. What's the problem?

[G+_S. LeBeau Kpadenou]

Adam powell I think Apple wants it to move that way and microsoft feels they have little choice. I, ve long been a windows hater (I'm a Linux guy), but i really hope for the sake of most people i know that ms alternate touch releases with mouse/keyboard releases.

[G+_David Mossman (Mossdadd]

There will always be a need for powerful devices for a small segment of users.  The real difference today is that there are devices that combine more appropriate levels of power with ease of use for a large segment of the population.   In the past this segment struggled to use machines that had more power than they needed and required more knowledge and expertise to harness that power.  For them, the tablet is wonderful.

 

When I was in the work world, our company provided a pc and a full blown copy of Microsoft Office to every employee.  We had clerical employees who never used anything but Excel and then inappropriately to create lists and documents more often than actual computations.  At the other end of the spectrum were Executives who could master e-mail.  In the middle were employees that could actually use a good portion of the power the suite provided.  However, this was a minority group.

 

Hopefully the future will hold devices that are even more tailored to the tasks the users needs to accomplish.  So I guess I would say there will always be a need for powerful machines.  However, I don't know how the form factor may evolve.

[G+_Pete Marus]

My next computer is going to be a desktop for daily driver and gaming. I have an iMac and as much as I like it, all in ones are not a good design for someone who can and want to fix and upgrade their computer

[G+_Shawn Lowery]

Precisely David Mossman , It's nice that people can use only what they need in a somewhat more secured environment.  Fixing my parents PC was a monthly thing, when all they wanted was a browser and a way to play simple games. Now we can get the exact power we need, and i don't see that changing (probably).

 

Why do i say probably? Because if Microsoft keeps trying to pull in the Win8/RT/Metro/AppStore style of interface, those of us who need to use really serious computing power will be forced to a more robust and customizable platform that we can multi-task easily and use to create with.  Thing is, when i'm developing something, i have lots of information displayed at once, not just my IDE, but a browser, maybe some notes, and often a seperate monitor to run "tests" in.  I would imagine it's the same for many people.  If we loose the "multitasking' desktop in favor for a "full screen" window to operate in, it will make things a bit more complicated for most of us who do develop things.  I need more than a "big phone screen interface".

 

The best thing i can think of for the future of office users is a better way to sandbox processes and whatnot.  I would love the safety of browsing in a tablet style "sandboxed" environment for office workers instead of the constant battle between letting them access the things on the internet that they feel they need, and having to keep them extremely firewalled and locked down for safety reasons.  Luckily, now most all office workers can do their facebooking, messaging, and whatnot on the devices that they bring in using the "public" side of our wifi. So they are happy, the IT Department is happier, the network is safer from malicious code, it's a good day.

 

Sorry i was a bit long winded in this :)

[G+_Felix Adewoye]

That only exists in the tech world whereas in the real world people just want their computer to do what THEY want it to do.