Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello: Life After The Computer

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Life After The Computer

TECHNO CHILLS

“

How long before the PC as we knew it is dead? About five years I reckon, or 1.5 PC hardware replacement cycles.

Nearly all of us are on our next-to-last PC.

Microsoft knows this on some level. Their reptilian corporate brain is beginning to comprehend what could be the end. That’s why the company is becoming increasingly desperate for ways to maintain its central role in our digital lives. We see the first bet-the-company aspects of that in Redmond’s recent decision to run the Windows 8 kernel all the way down to ARM-powered phones and tablets even though it requires shedding features to do so.

I doubt that will be enough. [ I, Cringely.]

It'll just take another form, like a chip in your gonads, although the players may be different.

”

Rodger the Real King of France 7/08/2012 11:00:00 AM 9 Comments

"If the number of Islamic terror attacks continues at the current rate, candlelight vigils will soon be the number-one cause of global warming. "
Argus Hamilton

9 comments:

Kristophr said...: The smartphone retards think it will die.

They are huffing glue.

I have a smartphone and several PCs, laptops, and an iPad.

You can't do serious work on a smartphone. It is simply a way to get to the internet while traveling.; 7/8/12, 12:48 PM
Anthony Neville said...: A tablet is a low powered PC with a leaner form factor and a smartphone is a device for a different market. You'd expect Microsoft would want people running windows on these devices in addition to PCs. There's no sign of the PC market declining. In fact it's growing even in little ol' New Zealand. There are more PC/PC parts retailers now than ever.; 7/8/12, 2:47 PM
18Echo said...: My daughter gave me her iPad.

99% of the time it starts directly in the Kindle app. What sold me is that I can set the font on the books so din't have to wear my glasses to read.

Total win as far as I'm concerned.

Plus you can take it where ever you 'go' and the backlight lets you read in a dark room.; 7/8/12, 6:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Kristopher,

More and more peripherals can be connected to a smartphone. Monitors, keyboards, mice, etc. Many via wireless like bluetooth or wifi. Give Moore's law, a few more turns and the smartphone will be plenty fast enough for most things.

Desktops and laptops will be pushed to the side. I don't think they'll completely die, but mobile is the future. Get used to it.; 7/8/12, 6:26 PM
Anonymous said...: No way I'm giving up my 24" monitor so whatever they sell better hook up to it and not have less capacity than my desktop.; 7/8/12, 7:11 PM
Anthony Neville said...: Anonymous,

Creating emails and surfing the net would be much nicer on a smartphone with those peripherals, and email and internet are what most people do anyway. It's when you get to the CPU/GPU intensive tasks that handheld devices will always lag, and the demands of software on the CPU and GPU are not going to stop for handheld devices to catch up. For instance, in ten years time I might even be able run Battlefield 3, capture the output in HD and compress it to an H.264 format all on a smartphone. However, I can do that already on my PC. In ten years time I could be immersed in a photo realistic raytraced 3D surround world battling for my survival in the Democratic People's Republic of America, on a PC. There will always be some tasks that PCs will do better than handhelds simply due to their form factor. Put all that aside. Do you personally know of anyone who ditched their PC for a smartphone?; 7/9/12, 5:23 AM
Anonymous said...: Anthony Neville: In ten years time I could be immersed in a photo realistic raytraced 3D surround world battling for my survival in the Democratic People's Republic of America, on a PC.

Ant, wake up. That is not a simulation, that's the real world.
***
My eyes preclude a notebook, a 14" monitor on a laptop or desktop, so a smart phone of any kind is a waste of time for me. I can read paperbacks, so a handheld tablet like a Nook works. I refuse to buy something and then have to buy adapters to be able to use a real display, keyboard and mouse.
tomw; 7/9/12, 11:25 AM
Kristophr said...: Anonymous: You are still huffing glue.

I can also use my smartphone as a wifi hotspot, and run my laptop or iPad through it.

That way I get both connectivity, and a usable interface.

Using the web through a smartphone interface is miserable. People are not going to abandon large screens and easy to use keyboards.; 7/9/12, 1:47 PM
Helly said...: More irrelevant than dead. By 2014, iOS + OSX > Windows.

When people realize the fedgov backed MS monopoly is gone, there will be an industry shaking preference cascade. We may already be there. When's the last time you've seen anything appealing out of Redmond?; 7/9/12, 1:53 PM

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Life After The Computer

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