Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the insert-beowulf-cluster-joke-here dept.
ringbarer writes "BBC News are reporting a recent Gartner Dataquest statement that over one billion PCs have been sold worldwide. What's even more impressive is that this figure is set to double by as early as 2008."
One billion computer..
by
damu
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
And how many Windows copies with those billion? Being at the top sure is nice, it is going to be years (passed 2008) when another OS will be able to make a significat gap to the MS stronghold.
dam(U)
--
Useless sig.
Re:One billion computer..
by
Nooface
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
According to this interview with Gates last year, roughly 300 million users were running on some version of Window 9X as of March 2001.
What about Macs, not just PCs?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3, Interesting
If the total is just PCs, what about Macintoshes and other non-PC computers?
Old Computers / Disposal
by
mlknowle
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· Score: 3, Interesting
The article touches on this briefly, but this raises the pressing question of what to do with computers once their usable life has expired... I think that the average user of home computer tends to dismiss this because he or she would only dispose of a single computer every several years, at most. In aggregate, however, the effect of lead, mercury, and other computer components could be devastating.
Add to this that almost all of the computer disposal services I have seen to date are pay-based services; asking people to chip in $40-$50 to dispose of an old computer will provide too great an incentive to simply trash the thing, methinks...
I hate it when people throw their computer into the landfill.
Most of the parts in a typical computer make great tools. All those electronic parts have great uses. Capacitors, transistors, PCI bridges, memory chips, level translaters, connectors, simple logic chips, stepper motors, etc...
When I was young, my best friend and I always dreamed of taking parts other people threw away and build a robot. Used computers are a goldmine for these parts. I once took a stack of old floppy drives, cut the stepper motor/slide assembly from the case and had great axis drives for a remote control webcam driven from the parallel port. Total time to build it was the spare time at work one night.
You can't go wrong with saving old parts. When the pile gets high, you know its time to build something, not throw something out!
I'm surprised
by
pympdaddyc
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
When I first read this I thought "big deal". But when I thought about it, I realized that I had always assumed the number was much bigger than that.
I wouldn't have been too surprised if the story was "1 billion people have PC's in their homes", but I thought with corporations and schools that number would double.
Oh well, that's one less delusion for me I guess.
Re:That can't be!
by
woodja
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Re:Irrelevant numbers
by
Hard-Format
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Forget canibalization, how do they define a computer in the first place? do they define it as a Dell, an HP, or a Compaq? or do they define it as a motherboard or processor? I have 6 computers and I made all of them from parts I bought at my local computer store. Do my 6 computers count in that 1 billion?
The last Billion computers...
by
MsGeek
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Enjoy the PC reaching 1 billion sold, folks, because if Palladium is instituted this billion will be the last.
What will be sold in the PC's place will be a neutered ueber X-Box, which can do just enough to let you play Microsoft-approved games, let you surf to Microsoft-approved sites, spend money at Microsoft-approved shops, and run Microsoft applications and Microsoft-approved applications. You will not buy these games and apps...they will be rented to you.
You will be bombarded by ads, ads, ads...pop ups, pop unders, full-screen interstitials, etc. etc. And no way will you be able to block them. Use the ueber X-Box for a TiVo type device? You won't be able to fast-forward through commercials, because THAT WOULD BE STEALING.
Does this picture of the future disturb you? We need to get loud and vocal about this because this is the fondest wet dream of the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft, and they will have scores of lobbyists and lawyers and will 0wn the vast majority of the Senate and House. (Except Rep. Boucher)
We killed Hollings 2002, we forced Intel to put an "off" switch on its PIII unique identifiers, but we mustn't be complacent.
Microsoft getting its way with Palladium will be the final nail in the coffin of geek culture. We need to get angry, get mad, and then DO SOMETHING.
-- Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
A Billion more?
by
Kevin+Stevens
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Considering the trouble PC makers are in right now, and that analysts now consider the PC market to be "saturated," I really can not see how they can predict a billion more machines to be sold in as little as 6 years. Also, consider that microprocessor technology has now leapfrogged ahead of software developers, and we no longer need the latest multighz processors to do what we do on a normal basis. Back when I purchased my first 100mhz pentium system, right out of the box I wished I had the smoking 166, because almost EVERY application would be more responsive run on it. Now, I have a 2 year old 700 mhz athlon, which I am every bit as happy with now as I was when I first put the system together. I forsee this system lasting much longer than my first system, since my first system at two years old was almost unbearably sluggish. I really doubt that the current "saturation point" we are at can sustain the required 166 MILLION PCS SOLD PER YEAR required to meet the next billion mark. And if this is sustainable, let me go invest in some DELL stock. -k
Slashdot Mirror
How many of those billion are sitting in land fills?
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
And how many Windows copies with those billion? Being at the top sure is nice, it is going to be years (passed 2008) when another OS will be able to make a significat gap to the MS stronghold.
dam(U)
Useless sig.
If the total is just PCs, what about Macintoshes and other non-PC computers?
The article touches on this briefly, but this raises the pressing question of what to do with computers once their usable life has expired... I think that the average user of home computer tends to dismiss this because he or she would only dispose of a single computer every several years, at most. In aggregate, however, the effect of lead, mercury, and other computer components could be devastating.
Add to this that almost all of the computer disposal services I have seen to date are pay-based services; asking people to chip in $40-$50 to dispose of an old computer will provide too great an incentive to simply trash the thing, methinks...
When I first read this I thought "big deal". But when I thought about it, I realized that I had always assumed the number was much bigger than that.
I wouldn't have been too surprised if the story was "1 billion people have PC's in their homes", but I thought with corporations and schools that number would double.
Oh well, that's one less delusion for me I guess.
IBM Chairman Thomas Watson, 1993
PCs sold with DRM: Zero
I'm just saying.
sulli
RTFJ.
Forget canibalization, how do they define a computer in the first place? do they define it as a Dell, an HP, or a Compaq? or do they define it as a motherboard or processor? I have 6 computers and I made all of them from parts I bought at my local computer store. Do my 6 computers count in that 1 billion?
Enjoy the PC reaching 1 billion sold, folks, because if Palladium is instituted this billion will be the last.
What will be sold in the PC's place will be a neutered ueber X-Box, which can do just enough to let you play Microsoft-approved games, let you surf to Microsoft-approved sites, spend money at Microsoft-approved shops, and run Microsoft applications and Microsoft-approved applications. You will not buy these games and apps...they will be rented to you.
You will be bombarded by ads, ads, ads...pop ups, pop unders, full-screen interstitials, etc. etc. And no way will you be able to block them. Use the ueber X-Box for a TiVo type device? You won't be able to fast-forward through commercials, because THAT WOULD BE STEALING.
Does this picture of the future disturb you? We need to get loud and vocal about this because this is the fondest wet dream of the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft, and they will have scores of lobbyists and lawyers and will 0wn the vast majority of the Senate and House. (Except Rep. Boucher)
We killed Hollings 2002, we forced Intel to put an "off" switch on its PIII unique identifiers, but we mustn't be complacent.
Microsoft getting its way with Palladium will be the final nail in the coffin of geek culture. We need to get angry, get mad, and then DO SOMETHING.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Considering the trouble PC makers are in right now, and that analysts now consider the PC market to be "saturated," I really can not see how they can predict a billion more machines to be sold in as little as 6 years. Also, consider that microprocessor technology has now leapfrogged ahead of software developers, and we no longer need the latest multighz processors to do what we do on a normal basis. Back when I purchased my first 100mhz pentium system, right out of the box I wished I had the smoking 166, because almost EVERY application would be more responsive run on it. Now, I have a 2 year old 700 mhz athlon, which I am every bit as happy with now as I was when I first put the system together. I forsee this system lasting much longer than my first system, since my first system at two years old was almost unbearably sluggish. I really doubt that the current "saturation point" we are at can sustain the required 166 MILLION PCS SOLD PER YEAR required to meet the next billion mark. And if this is sustainable, let me go invest in some DELL stock.
-k