I just finished reading an article by Jason Brooks in this week's E-Week Magazine, “The PC Lives”. In the article Jason discusses the present state of the PC, both desktop and laptop. Jason has been on a quest to look at and evaluate Windows alternatives for a desktop operating system. So far he has not found a good alternative; however he has some observations regarding the PC and its future.
Over the past 16 months there has been a big push toward the cloud. Applications for the end user and consumer on the Web are popping up left and right. Google has it’s set of apps that have in many cases replaced the office suites that required you to take out that second mortgage to purchase. We thought it was predatory lending that put the economic situation in this shape, I have a theory, Mr Gates!.
Many people have purchased systems over the last few years to just have access to the web and email. So naturally hardware manufacturers have jumped on the band wagon to respond to this expanding market segment. Components on the systems have optimized to make the laptops and more appealing to travelers who are only using web applications.
But what is really going on here? Hard core business applications are not needed on personal systems anymore. Many people initially went out and purchased their first machine with the idea that they could now take work home. They wanted to have the same applications on those systems to make editing and format compatible. Now that many business applications are hosted, there is not a need for the high power machines as in the past. Unless you are a gamer, or doing a specific high power consuming process you don’t need the juice that was required of the past.
Web applications do not require you to have the horsepower. If you have a lot of bandwidth and RAM, and of course a mal-ware clean machine, chances are your are working just fine.
Does the PC live? Of course! But not in the same form it was 12 months ago and certainly not the way it was 36 months ago. Evolution is happening. Ten years ago while I was with Gateway Computer, we could see the future, a PC in every home. Now they are shooting for one in every pocket.
The natural evolution (can you say that about computers?) of computers is taking place. There might be a few applications out there that require high end specifications, and there could always be a new one to show up, but for the rest of the world,what’s happening is working quite well thank you!!
Happy Trails!
Jack
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