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The Decline Of The Desktop
Lam1969 writes "Robert Mitchell of Computerworld has written an article about the decline of the desktop in the workplace. He also notes in his blog: 'This theme of 'squeezing' more hours out of workers came up a few times as this story came together. Using technology to increase productivity is a good thing, but in some cases productivity wasn't increasing -- employees were simply expected to work more hours.'" From the article: "After almost a quarter of a century as the personal computing device of choice for business, the desktop PC is sliding off its pedestal. It has withstood assaults by technologies such as the Windows terminal, the Web and the network PC, but the mighty desktop has been humbled by user demand for the one thing it can't deliver -- mobility."
But desktops can deliver a few things that mobiles can't....like not burning your laptop...and the best bang for the buck performance as well as upgradability...though mini-agp and soon to be mini-pcie (?) will help notebooks with some of that.
In these days, there are public computers just about everywhere you turn. Public libraries, schools, internet cafes, I've even seen some coffee shops which have a few usable desktops. Not to mention that almost all people have their own PC.
I don't think portability should be a huge concern. Personally, I wouldn't even consider buying a laptop until they are guaranteed a much longer battery life. 2 or 3 hours max while playing something like WoW? No thank you!
High Speed Wireless Networking becoming widely available. Why wouldn't a company want to give their users laptops, while there is an extra costs of the laptop and major IT Pain in the butts, with viruses, and creating proper security parameters. But besides that why not, if you can give your employee a laptop and have them work while they are sick at home, or allow them to telecommute, thus you can save on electricity and maintenance costs. Or just relocate without having to change your infrastructure.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The mighty desktop has been humbled by user demand for the one thing it can't deliver -- mobility.
Persoanlly I don't move around my 5 square foot cube enough to necessitate a laptop, maybe when I'm OUT of the workplace...
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people like smaller, lighter, most convenient forms of computing, and especially when the company pays for it? But it won't play duke nukem forever....
I try not to laugh in death's face. I tend to make belittling comments and snicker behind death's back.
People may like having cell phones/blackberries/access to terminals in libraries/etc... but at the end of the day they head back to their desktop.
Do you really want to lug a computer with you everywhere? Is it really that important to get your bosses email while you are at a party with 8 drinks in you? Or do you just not drink in case your boss sends you an email. Don't be a surf, throw all those shackles away and buy guns and booze instead.
This is my sig.
Try out fish, the friendly interactive shell.
As was mentioned in the article, laptops can be difficult to use for a full 8 hour day. The keyboard is all wrong, and the screen is always too low. Docking stations take care of that problem (expensive!), but that still doesn't solve a company-wide problem of laptop support. For example, laptops introduce a problem with keeping all files on a shared server (though folder caching can help somewhat), and laptops are prone to breakage which both increases costs and may result in lost data.
One of the more interesting ideas in recent years has been the Sun Ray Station. Tying into the previous article, the idea is that each employee is given a secure SmartCard that contains both his secret login key as well as information on how to make the Ray Station connect with the server. The advantage this has over traditional thin clients is that the user is allowed to roam to any available computer and simply "plug in". As soon as the card is inserted, your desktop is brought up EXACTLY where you left it!
This technology gets even more exciting when you realize that it can be used from remote locations. i.e. If I have a Ray Station at home (quite fesible given their cost), I can simply insert my card into my home station. The station looks at the info on the card, finds the remote server, and logs me in. Zero configuration, instant satisfaction.
Of course, the idea of Ray Stations doesn't help if you need to work from a coffee shop, hotel, or on the plane. (Many planes are adding wireless data points.) For those situations, Tadpole has developed a laptop-like product known as the Comet. It's a complete portable unit, with a large screen, wifi, and exceedingly long battery life. (Up to 8 hours!) Simply plug your card into the laptop when you're near a Wifi point, and BAM, you've got access to your desktop!
Sadly, the Sun Ray Station concept still leaves you high and dry in many different situations. (e.g. On the bus or train.) But the concept is there, and further research and development by Sun combined with more and more Wifi points popping up may very well lead to the perfect solution that both centralizes your data yet gives employees the mobility they need.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Computer's are indispensable, I think everyone can agree. Who cares what container it comes in? Space, heat, power are all things that will be a thing of the past soon enough.
Laptop, tablet, PDA, shoe phone, put a dress on a desktop and call it 'Daisy'. Whatever. The real point is that PCs are destined to be portable, because it's REALLY EASY to make a portable computer a desktop - just don't pick it up.
The desktop is dead...
You can have mine and my dual 20.1" LCDs when you pry them from my cold dead fingers. That and when I can mix and match parts (i.e. upgrade) a notebook to meet my needs.
What about all those hours playing solitaire and sharpening hand-eye coordination?
Laptop + Dock at work
Laptop + Dock at home
Laptop + Extra Battery and adapter brick when travelling.
Wireless... Seamless network usage through VPN... if I'm not mobile I must be dreaming then. The article is toast - did he have some usage scenario I'm not contemplating? My laptop works in the bathroom too!
Offices aren't just trying to get more people working more hours at the office. The push for the Centrino platform by Intel has probably started to convince employees and employers that the life of a worker exists solely to the company.
Give them a laptop and they shal work at home in the off hours, or even on vacation.
For certain applications ( which he alludes to in TFA ) - Graphics, visualization, scientific computing, etc. the desktop is still essential. But the reason isn't that it sits on a desk, or is tethered to the wall, its because you need faster processing power, faster hard drives and much, much bigger screen real estate. I would love to move to a laptop, but the small screen and slow hard drive make large scale image editing ( a small file is 120MB, a big file is 1.6GB) impossible. Plus heat. These things run hat for constant use. What's changed is that more users are able to find a better fit with the computing power that they actually need ( part time use, web surfing, email and word processing, and number crunching in the accountiing, not scientific data, sense.) This isn't so much the end of the desktop as the rise of something new. In a few years ( Google willing) we'll be reading stories of the demise of the laptop, as web based filesystems and ubiquitous broadband wireless allow cheap cell phone processing to.... Whatever. The fact is that computing is becoming available everywhere and all the time and that means it is becoming invisible. It will be built into the fabric of everything. It won't be separate anymore.
I have nothing to hide. So, why are you spying on me?
I kind of disagree with the mobility argument in the FA. Once you're done unplugging the power, mouse keyboard, speakers and any other peripherals, you may have just copied your work to a network directory so you can just access it somewhere else (you don't even have to lug the laptop with you). Also, I'd like to know how much 3d and autocad work was done on a laptop. What it comes down to, is that most of the downsides that were mentioned about pc's are not that hard to overcome and there are only a few situations where laptops are really that much of a necessity.
Mobility... lcd screen (better for the eyes), presence of a battery, higher resell value, less space use. I am guessing it's more then just mobility.
I've heard it all before. I'm sure I'll continue hearing it for quite some time.
:)
Do we really need to hear about it from every semi-random schmuck with a blog, though? Consoles are killing the gaming pc and laptops are killing the home pc. And we'll hear about it again next year. And the year after that. And the year after that.
I guess I just can't see a family giving up a non-mobile, non-delicate system the entire family can use (from 4 years old and onward) to something that will invariably find itself cartwheeling down a flight of steps because little susie and little billy weren't careful enough. Or letting their teenage son take the home laptop into his bedroom to "do homework" late at night *cough*.
I could see it being something the adults would be interested in - but as a replacement of the home PC? That's incredibly hard to believe - no matter how many times I hear it.
You are free, of course, to test the strength of that statement by duping this article tomorrow. I'm sure it'd give everyone something to bitch about
Really, though. Call me whenever there are more laptops in homes than PCs. Call me when owning a PC becomes a niche market. Then you can tell me all about it. Until then, let's simmer the conjecture down a bit, shall we? The first time, not so bad, the second time, meh, the third time...starting to get annoying, and now, the 82nd time... well... yeah.
Why? Because I leave the desktop at work at the end of the day. I have a personal laptop I can use if I absolutely need to check e-mail, but without a company laptop I don't have the software or VPN connection to do any sort of real work. It is one way to enforce a bit of life balance on myself--something that slips away easily if I know I can "just finish that up at home in front of the TV."
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
The mighty desktop has been humbled by user demand for the one thing it can't deliver -- mobility. Sun has been selling SunRay desktops for many years. It does exactly what this writer wants, and is a proven technology. The fact that M$ has nothing like this is obvious. For those who are uniformed: http://www.sun.com/desktop/index.jsp?tab=1
This reminds me of the time some years ago when "the death of the PC" was imminent. Well, there was a lot of hand-wringing over it, but it doesn't look like that came true.
On what grounds to they predict this one besides the mantra that the network is the computer and you will be doing all of your surfing through a tiny phone, when a lot of people tell me they just want a phone to be a phone, not a magic wand with worse sound quality than a turn of the previous-century aliminum drum?
My wife uses a small 12" powerbook attached to a large 22" cinema display for a good combo of mobile usability and desktop usability. The DVI port on that laptop means she's not cramped by the 12" screen most of the time. And the 12" size/ 4.5 lb weight makes for better portability.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
This topic has been coming up since the advent of the mobile computer. There are definitive reasons, both business and technological, for using either a desktop or a laptop.
Things to consider:
Is the user mobile often enough to warrant the cost and risks?
Is the user likely to damage, lose, or steal it?
Is the user likely to lose, damage, or sell company information?
People who work in call centers are not likely to warrant the cost and risk of a laptop. At least not yet. 'Green' PCs and monitors mean that laptops don't save that much energy, and risk of theft or damage is higher when using laptops for non-mobile users. Additionally, upgrades and change out programs are much more expensive.
Using laptops and mobile devices increases the risks: financial, corporate IP theft or sale, information loss, productivity loss, risk of loss of functionality when the IT department isn't there to support it, and many other things.
What I basically feel is that this article, while posing some good points, is just a troll dressed in sheep's clothing. Hardware choices make sense in view of, and in combination with the domain of their use. If that domain is airplanes and hotel rooms, definitely a laptop. If that domain is strictly a cubicle - no laptop. If the domain is mixed, business reasoning comes into play. For personal use, style has its say in that choice too.
A poor analogy is that a 4wheel drive is good to have when you are fjording rivers. But if you are just commuting to work then a Hummer is a bad idea... no matter what size bear you are.
Wow, so the article points out that now computers can be mobile... not a lot to see here, move along.
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I have heard it proposed several times that OS's & Programs should have all settings available for backup, and transfer via a simple file that could easily be transferred via usb key chains. I think the advent of these devices still make Desktops more viable because of their considerable price savings.
In my line of work, I'm sometimes more effective "after business hours." The brain starts working on a subject and I'm able to find stuff that just doesn't click during work hours. Do I count this against work time? Nah. I'm not allowed to "work from home." But you bet that it improves my "productivity" when I return to the office the next day.
Not really so for "desk monkeys" that have to sit there and listen to some poor (l)user's problems - they can't really "work from home." But it works for some of us PHBs...
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
And a laptop is...?
Not a desktop, you intellectually challenged individual.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
While the growth of wifi is an important factor, I think the original article missed another contributing factor: changes in peripherals. Once upon a time, apart from printers, most peripherals -- scanners, modems, etc -- required an expansion card of some sort, and the classic, bus mounted, cards for desktops were cheap and universal. Peripherals for laptops often had premium pricing, and in any case, laptops only offered a few card slots or serial/parallel ports. If you cared about expandability, or upgradability, desktops were the way to go.
Nowadays, between USB and Firewire, a laptop is on a level playing field as far as peripherals are concerned, especially because many devices double as hubs, reliving pressure on laptop real estate. Plus, expensive docking stations are less of an issue -- for example, I use a laptop as my primary machine, but that would a pain for writing things of any length on a routine basis, so at work I just plug a regular flatscreen and a USB keyboard and mouse (the mouse actually plugs into the keyboard) and go.
In any case the peripherals most people use most often -- wireless and wired network interfaces -- tend to be built right in these days. And as for upgradability: as the article points out most people have more than enough juice in their laptops to do what they need to do.
"Just once, I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets." -- The Brigadier, Dr. Who
The desktop is being supplanted in favor of mobility. Yea right! That's just what Intel wants you to think too so that they can sell you a bunch of Centrino crap. But, look out! Here comes the clue train!
The vast majority of corporate PC usage is by VERY non-mobile workers. Call centers will never be mobile. Accounting, HR and Marketing will never be mobile. Not only do these users not have all that much interest in mobility but, their managers will not allow them to be mobile even if they wanted to.
The mobile workforce is a very small segment of business users and that isn't going to change. Terminals will be widespread again before 80% or more of desktops are replaced by "mobile" systems.
This guy's blog entry is as insightful as all the other blog entries. File it under complete garbage or verbal diarrhea!
A laptop maxes out at 15 pounds for last generation's biggest and fattest. Ever been a parent with an infant over 2 months old? They're far heavier and they squirm. And they like to be held. A LOT. :D
That off-topic point aside, I would suggest you never be wired into your job when you're out with your laptop off hours. Also, I use my laptop to jot down ideas when I'm writing, and it also carries my music and quite a few anime movies. I could of course use a really expensive and high-end PDA to do this too, but I can more readily install RedHat on my laptop than my PDA. Being that my laptop is not a gaming machine it provides me with a fairly distraction-free environment to write my stories, do homework, etc.
That being said, I'd be mad pissed if desktops went away. I use a workstation styled desktop machine at home to play games, especially real time simulators (warcraft, starcraft, etc) that no console can possibly work well with (try moving a dozen individual units around different places with any level of agility with a PS2 / Xbox controller... please, do!). My desktop machine also serves as a highly agile archive system with 2 DVD burners and several terabytes of firewire HD space online. I can back up stuff off my laptop to my desktop machine and so on.
To me, the relationship between the laptop and the desktop is my laptop is my starship and my desktop is my starbase. I would not desire a computer market in which the former or the latter has been deprecated.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Took me about half an hour to drive to the store and back, and about five minutes to install the harddrive (of which I spent about three minutes with plugging and unplugging my world's favorite fire hazard, aka all the wires behind my desk).
That's it. Easy-peasy-Japanesy. Sure you can upgrade the your laptop's problem (usually without opening the case) and switch out your old harddrive but you can't just add a new one, and chances are you'll end up paying a pretty penny for your 2.5" laptop HDD.
My point? There's a place for laptops and there's a place for desktops. There is a growing number of people who can do without a desktop computer, yeah, but the vast majority have both, a laptop and a desktop machine.
A laptop is never going to replace my desktop computer.
And JUST when Linux was going to be ready for the desktop!
"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." - H.L. Mencken
In any case, minor insight, no better than some of the modded up comments I've read here. I don't see how that deserved a headline.
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You young 'uns and your fancy schmancy "mobile computers". In my day, we didn't have these flimsy little "laptops". No sirreee, none of these tiny little plastic computers for us.
We lugged them heavy duty 100% cast iron Sun workstations in to work every morning and carried them home on our backs when the day was done.
Yes sir. We built character lugging our Sun workstations about and balancing them on our laps. To say nothing of more resilient balls.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
According to my son, who is addicted to PuzzlePirates. He uses his laptop only for playing Full Tilt Poker.
For some bizare reason, everyone here has laptops. I sit in a cube and code all day and I have two laptops (one Mac and one PC). I'd much prefer a G5 tower to my PowerBook, but for whatever reason they don't buy desktops here unless you make a big fuss.
I do have one desktop computer, a Mac Mini, which I got for testing.
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I think he's responding more to two very recognizable trends and packaged it as "the death of the workstation":
h tml)
1. The growing laptop unit sales versus the average slow-growth workstation unit sales.
2. The decline in wealth and political influence of the American middle-class. (using mode not mean or median, see asia times for some IMF reporting http://atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/EH16Dj01.
3. There are more companies where it's perfectly okay to treat employees like the developers at EA widely reported on some months ago. So squeeze all potential productivity out of a worker, because the computers and applications and resources we have been so generous in providing are enough to do the job.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
It is changing in two related ways. The first is that the entire desktop is being shrunk and ways are being found to take that power on the road. Examples would be the OQO and the smaller notebooks on the market. The second is that some functionality is being parceled out to PDAs, Blackberries, iPods when those functions require portability, but they still 'dock' with the desktop at home. Lighter computer users will choose the first option to eliminate replicated features. Heavier users will stick with the second so that they have some heavy grunt power when they need it at home. There will always be heavier users (gamers, for example), so desktops will still continue to be sold, perhaps just in smaller numbers.
I'll tolerate anything except intolerance.
Laptops are killing desktops for knowledge workers for one reason; keeping your data with you wherever you are. Ten or more years ago you'd find people went to work, worked, then went home again. However, it's not the laptop per se that's killed off the desktop, it's peripheral advances like wireless technology, increased mobile bandwidth and minaturisation that have done this. Wireless is without a doubt the number one reason why laptops boomed massively in the last 3 or so years.
Mobile technology also means a mobile workforce. I currently deal with around 250+ users across three locations. A lot of the supplemental departments (finance, HR, operations) move between sites and visit clients, and it's easier for them to take their whole work environment with them than mess about with software licenses, having redundant desktops lying dormant for 50% of the time etc. etc.
Granted, it's great from their point of view, but laptops are a much bigger concern for IT departments like ours, especially when they get lugged home, used on broadband conections or used on a VPN connection. They're also a pain to keep updated as users tend to move around more - maybe even connect to client networks that don't have the same level of security. In the long run though, we'd rather supply them with a manageable device like a laptop rather than have them mess around with assorted PDAs and smartphones. laptops also have a more tangible value associated with them, so in 99% of cases you don't get silly accidents.
That said, the laptop may be killing off the humble desktop, but it will never kill off the workstation. For other departments - CGI, storyboard, development, edit etc. - a laptop simply would never cut it. Lots of nearline storage (TB+), colour-matched dual monitors, renderfarms and gigs of RAM are things I'd never want to lug around in a laptop. I know some people will say it can be done, but I would hate to ever consider cutting broadcast quality video and audio on a laptop. It's also important to note that these people don't need to take their data with them. They aren't 'knowledge workers' like the others, but employed to utilise their skills on the material in situ.
That said, laptops still have a long way to go before they approach the reliability of a desktop - I think we get a fourfold increase in failures on laptops generally.
IBM 370/168 and a bunch of CICS and TSO terminals. Windows Terminals indeed...
The display is still small, and the keyboard is teh suxor!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
1.) Leave work at work.
2.) The last thing you should do when you get home is hop onto your personal computer, but that's what many of us do. We want to do email/IM/blog but it's the last thing we should be doing.
3.) Find hobbies that have nothing to do with technology. Ride bikes, run, lift weights, camp, geocache, buy a gun, get a significant other if you don't have one, or if you do spend more time with them.
4.) Most of all just stay well-rounded. In all aspects of your life. Keep a balance (no I'm not religious but yes this is similar to some Ancient Eastern philosophies/religions).
If you "get" pointers add me as a friend (116)!
The desktop most certainly can deliver mobility, contrarty to the article's statements.
The trick is to use a portable hard drive to carry a user profile with you. Then, any capable desktop becomes your desktop.
Apple did this but for unknown reasons nixed the feature from iPods years ago, just days before it was launched. Perhaps it muddied the "music only" nature of the device.
Still, it is a great idea - one I welcome Apple to revisit.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
With the decline of the desktop, Apple has decided to release a new system called the iBook Nano. It has 8GB of flash memory 1 GB of SDRAM, wireless connectivity, and no hard-disk, CD or DVD drive at all. It runs a special version of Tiger that mounts iDrive storage over the web with it's included .mac account, where you can access Apple's software library for a small monthly fee. Also supported is the Mac mini as a wireless server for your software and music storage needs.
"Scientists don't change their minds, they just die." -- Max Planck
My office (well, cubicle) is set up the same way. The laptop goes onto a docking station attached to a couple largish LCD monitors. The laptop has a browser, Java, text editor and most importantly, an SSH client. In other words, the laptop is just a glorified terminal since the real work goes on in the servers and a fixed desktop machine. I access home email via a web page. Work email is either replicated or accessed via a webpage or local client.
At home I have multiple machines running different applications that are accessed either via X-over-SSH or VNC. At 100Mbit, remote applications appear to be running locally and are even accessed via the same desktop menu using VNC passwd files. Having the laptop is really convenient because I can roam the house and do anything I need, including watch video.
I work in IT of a company of about five hundred. I see that most of the issues with laptops have been addressed already, but I'm going to have to point out the obvious.
Cracked LCD's
We don't use laptops for several reasons, and the damageability of notebooks has a huge amount to do with it. Of the five "dead" laptops that we have here, three or four screens are cracked. Maybe a dozen employees or a very few more actually have them. Backlights also go out, and when they do, you're looking at a 30% to 200% cost of the notebook to replace. Ouch.
When a laptop will let me rip its graphics card out and drop the latest and greatest in then I'll consider buying one.
Until then I'll stick with my desktop, I can upgrade it when I want with stock parts.
I used to work for a consultancy which has offices around throughout Europe. The only people who had desktop machines were secretaries and admin staff who typically went to the same desk with the same phone every day.
The consultants needed to be flexible because we'd be assigned to different projects which could be in any of the company offices or on the customers site, so we all had laptops and "hot-desked". IIRC The laptops were leased from HP and were updated every three years.
I left before wireless comms became the norm, but before I left it was possible for me to sit almost anywhere in a company office be connected to the corporate LAN and do my work - so long as it was at a desk!
Local wired networks are the last mile in offices!
OK, I get the picture. Cell phones rule, PCs suck; social butterflys have the say, geeks can shut the hell up. Imminent death of computers predicted, film at eleven. Check, roger wilco, duly noted. And I'm not taking one of these stories seriously until the day I'm reading it on something besides a PC.
I run dual 20's as well.
The desktop has its place. The notebook has its place.
The people I work with all want the superchief notebooks with 17" screens. I want the lightest, smallest one I can get. If I have to use a notebook in a meeting, fine. But when I get back, I want usable desktop space. No missing emails because it was under the document I'm writing. Video conferencing on one screen while working on the other.
No other way.
My mom says I'm cool.
j\k
I have a laptop, a desktop, and my home-made server farm.
I only use my laptop for Electronic Music and Audio Engineering, and since it's a laptop, I can play live anywhere. It is the only machine I have left that runs windows, and the only reason I use windows for Audio/Music is because im too cheap/poor to buy a powerbook (and linux audio/midi is a joke!).
I have a mid-tower 'Desktop' system that runs Slackware, and a series of rackmount (FreeBSD/Debian) servers that I built to create my own staging/production, Firewall/NAT/Router, and Database Replication Environment.
Aside from Audio/Music Production, the only time I really use a 'desktop', is to browse web pages, read email, spit some code, and/or use IM, all of which I can 'technically' do using a desktop-process, on one of my servers.
However, since (imo) servers should not run desktop processes, I use the mid-tower 'desktop' for a Graphical Desktop Environment, and leave the servers running as terminals.
the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
My first hand experience...
my pc at work SUCKS, but my connection doesn't (dsl at work, comcast cable at home)
I use windows remote desktop, (mstc.exe) and pull up my desktop from home pc (and due to using the termserv.dll hack) while my wife uses the same pc at the same time for whatever. Including CPU sucking games... when I get home, I log in, and my desktop is '''' exactly the same as I left it at work ''''! cursor blinking in the same spot etc,. if I go out to my shed, I can pull it up on my old windows ME laptop and keep working there (and smoke!) over wifi.. except for video, I can do everything I can do without being there...
I don't have firsthand experience with, but thought 'roving desktops' for XP & with windows server was basically the same thing-- for multiple users....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
At the place where I work (insurance company), they just replaced my trusty workstation (1.6gHz P4 desktop) with a Toshiba M3 laptop. From time to time I have to head out on the road, so it's nice to have a laptop. Also, I occasionally give PowerPoint presentations, so I can just remove my laptop from the docking station and set it up in the conference room, rather than requisitioning equipment from IS for the meeting. At work I use Access, Excel, Word, Outlook, Visio, Business Objects, Oracle, and a few custom written applications, so I don't need a lot of horsepower in my computer (although the Toshiba is fairly decent). The VAST majority of people who use computers in their jobs do not need the latest and greatest hardware to accomplish their tasks. Most people could probably get by using Pentium IIs or IIIs. On the point of employers issuing laptops in an effort to squeeze out extra work hours from their employees, that is a valid concern. In my own situation, my manager is super cool and doesn't expect me to slave away on my own personal time. There are times when I'll put in overtime or do some work from home, but it's complete optional and well-rewarded. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't need to leave the apartment to do my job. A company issued laptop and a WiMax connection would be very cool. No dress code, no commute, no putting up with the co-workers that I despise.
I'm ready to lose the desktop. Basically, security patching is driving me nuts. Yes, even on my Linux systems! Backup sucks too. I'm ready to have a diskless thin client network connected into an efficient virtual blade world with big RAIDed SANs/NASes backed up on tape/DVD/etc with a UPS, one that SOMEONE ELSE RUNS. Why should I have to install blogging and other web content management software on my server? Seriously, root is just no fun any more.
By any chance does your wife type a lot?
I forgot to mention that part. She uses a Logitech MX510 (8-button, scroll-wheel) for desktop mousing and an old, much-loved beige Apple ADB keyboard (with USB adaptor). The laptop actually sits behind the Cinema display, resting on its open edges (bottom of keyboard & top of screen) like an A-frame house with the screen turned off.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
It is a shame that I laxk points to spend on your comment.
It's about standardizing a hardware package that users can't dink with as much. Plus the inventory is cheaper to carry than a big bulky desktop.
I am tired, so tired, of dealing with sub-par laptop hardware. I dished out over 4 grand Canadian for a high end laptop a couple of years ago and it has been nothing but a hassle. From random crashes, to overheating and video corruption, under both Linux and Windows.
I've had the motherboard, screen and keyboard all replaced (under warantee) and it has not helped the reliability at all. This particular model was an IBM Thinkpad, but I also had nothing but trouble from Tecra's and Powerbook's in the past as well. Cracking cases. Broken hinges. Loose/fraying power cords. I've seen it all. Plus they all suffer from the same limitations that don't seem so bad when they are shiny and new, but eventually drive me crazy: small screens and keyboards, dificult or non-existent upgradability (especially DISK), and batteries that just don't last.
As such, I just built myself a fully loaded dual core Athlon64 box and 19" screen for a grand and a half Canadian. I'm keeping my laptop for the odd time I need the portability, but I'm through buying expensive, underpowered, un-upgradeable laptops. I've had this box for weeks now and IT JUST WORKS and is faster in every way (disk, video, CPU, etc) than anything you can get in a laptop form factor. And, wow, if I need more disk space, I can just ADD ANOTHER DISK! Imagine that! No more screwing around with slow external drives or opening up the machine to pull out the 60GB drive for a slightly larger 80GB drive.
What a difference!
I went through the remote terminal phase twice now. Sort of 2.5. Once with TTYs, once with X terminals and sort of with the Citrix rage in the early 90s.
Now more than ever it makes no sense to have a thin client. The hardware required to do computing locally is so cheap now it makes no sense not to use it. To farm out all your work to the (remote PC|remote Unix X machine|Citrix box|mainframe) just doesn't work well for me.
Some day perhaps these systems will be brought to fruition with a system which does a lot of work locally and only makes sure everything is backed up remotely, instead of keeping all the data remotely and going through a narrow pipe to access it.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
...and step into a real corporation, instead of subjecting us to this bumbling techno-editorial.
:)
Honestly - For anyone who works in a position where the desktop currently reigns, the de-facto standard is, and will be, the desktop.
What corporation in their right mind would risk higher cost for a deliberately less mobile workforce? I say less mobile because more corporations are striving for an interchangable workforce as to not "put all their eggs in one basket", if you will. Think highly paid & specialized vs. decentralized, low paid and generic - One is cheaper, in their minds anyway
Isn't a laptop just a small desktop PC? Desktops aren't really going anywhere, they can just be carried around more easily.
The article is about the DECLINE of the desktop, not death. I'm currently working for a major e-tailer. Sitting in a room of 50 people, there are 3 desktops. 3! It's clear that businesses, especially those who operate 24/7, need to respond to problems quickly in order to stay competitive. With a laptop, I can get access to the tools I need in a moment's notice. Mobility allows me to carry my work anywhere... just the way the company likes it.
I've had quite a few computers over the years, Mac & PC, a few years ago I bought a TiBook because I was getting disgusted at my PC desktop and needed a Mac for my audio work. Within about 2 weeks I completely switched over and used my desktop for only one thing: as a glorified stereo system and music organizer. Not too long after, it died a horrible death, and I didn't care. Still, after about two and a half years, my TiBook feels brand new, and I can safely say, it is far and away the best computer (in comparison to other computers of it's generation) I've ever owned, and mobility being a large (though not the only) reason for this. Suddenly it's possible for me to do things I'd never before even considered, like taking my work to places that I actually feel are PRODUCTIVE work environments, being able to share files on the go, always having my work (and play) with me at all times. It's truly wonderful. I've never once thought of going back.
As for the keyboard, I got used to it within about the first week. I've worked on it for hours at a time, without the slightest bit of muscle strain (it feels better to me than most normal keyboards). The trackpad has proved to be a lot more reasonable input device than I first expected, but for those long, stationary sessions, I bought a $30 logitech dongle mouse, which has proven to be the only unergonimic device in my setup (fixed cheaply by buying a $10 mousepad with a wrist rest). Currently, after 2 years, I'll admit, my battery life is down to about 90 minutes, but I'm rarely away from a plugin long enough for that to be an issue, especially since I got a 110v adaptor for my car (which I almost never use), if it became a problem, I could always drop a bit of dough for an additional battery, but considering the maintenenced upgrades I've had to do with my previous computers, that is NOTHING. So, I've designed my entire work life around a mac laptop, and I have to say, I've never been happier with a setup than I am now, and have no intention on changing that anytime soon. My next computer will be a laptop when this one finally bites it (and by the way things are going, I think it'll be a while).
So yeah, to me it seems reasonable that desktops should fade away. I think there's always room for those who need them as workhorse mainframes, with a laptop as its front end (for me, for instance, I might set one up to do complex softsynth processing, but use DP4 and Pro Tools on my laptop, outputting midi via ethernet). Render boxes rule, but they're nothing I'd want to sit and work on. As for games, computer gaming is too expensive anyway, I use consoles instead, but that's another thread/debate/flamewar entirely.
—Eric
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
of course, nobody will BE CONCERNED with dropping the family's mobile computer down the stairs, when mobile laptops are as inexpensive and as durable as a cigar box, or a frozen pizza, or a regular paper notebook. (in other words, a PADD device from star trek TNG that bounces like a superball.)
and these devices are RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, folks. get in line!
you might be able to get a computer that allows you to shedule it's use around your life.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Go buy a Shuttle case. It's certainly better than trying to lug a huge Antec case from work to home, or from home to LAN party.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Looking at the website, it's apparent why they're not catching on more- it costs more than a full-fledged computer at $1,049.
Let's be realistic here.
Pros: Thin client doesn't need powerful processing or storage, eliminating the costly CPU, hard disk, and operating system. You only need to buy a keyboard and mouse.
Cons: Sold in small numbers compared to the PC. The economy of scale for tradional desktops is so great that system builders like Dell can sell a full-fledged desktop with 2.8 ghz CPU, 512 megs memory, 80 GB hard drive, 17" monitor, CD-RW drive, operating system, AND they'll throw in the keyboard and mouse, all for $300 less than you can get the minimalist "inexpensive" dumb terminal for.
Or, if you want it to be portable, you can get a laptop for around the same price.
ok, let me explain my point of view. In work none of them will replace any kind of computing device, there are needs for which one is best suited (mobility, graphics...bla bla bla). But for the family, laptops have a lot of success. There is no need to have a fixed place for a computer that is ugly and is huge ( unless they have a mac mini, |i couldnt avoid it, sorry| ), also you can take it anywhere a thing that most familys aprecciate. A lot of people dont have the need to huge memory, disk and graphic card in their pc so they buy a laptop. For the small percentage of geeks that exist, that probably have 3 computers and 1 laptop there will always be a space for desktops, but for the rest... mobility is the thing and laptops have it!!!
Desktops were useful when no one understood computers, and were familiar with info work only in forms like desks, file cabinets, folders, documents. Now everyone understands computers, and are held back by the ill-fitting desktop metaphor. What we need are dashboards, like the ones Americans invented for cars. Essential info for navigating infospace, available at a glance, supporting the main action of getting where we're going. Get the machine out of the way, except to cushion the road.
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make install -not war
I am running well over 200 laptops 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Turning off these machines for any worthwhile length of time is impossible for us. With every machine in our areas being mission essential, we cannot afford to have any machine down for more than a matter of minutes. In the past 3 years, we have found laptops to be the most ideal solution to our current structure. Should one laptop go down, we can quickly swap it for a spare, and continue on with minimal interruption. When we keep roaming profiles and restrict users from maintaining documents on their local drives, we are able to be sure that minimal data is lost when the laptop inevitably goes down. They are often moved from position to position during restructuring, and act as desktop replacements for the vast majority of our organization. With hot swappable optical drives, whenever one breaks we simply reack into our spares box, grab a new one, slap it in, and set the user back to work. It has been a blessing for the majority of our users. On the negative side, many users complain about 15" screens. When most of your workforce stares at their screens for a minimum of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, they tend to complain more about their viewing situation than your average cubicle dweller. In order to combat this, we purchased 19" LCD's, keyboards, and mice. For those users who work on multiple networks, we also purchased KVM's reduce the amount of desktop space required. We double and triple stack our laptops with inch high spacers between each, to aid in cooling. What has my organization done? Effectively turned laptops into desktops. We haven't saved much space, and we have decreased the lifespan of our already hard-pushed machines. In all actuality, we have seen most laptops drop in lifespan greatly. Even single laptop workstations are dying at a year to a year and a half of use. We do have a few desktops, where more raw video processing power is required, and we even use some of those nifty Sun Ray systems, albeit in an extremely limited capacity. We are preparing to move toward a small form factor computing mode, using some of those laptop like boxes with the screens mounted on the front of a stand, like the newer Dell small form factor boxes. Myself and a number of my coworkers stand against this concept, as this will require much more desk space than the laptops in double and triple stacking situations. They also do not support PS/2 nor upgrading, which has been a long time complaint of ours. We suggest a move toward a similar-sized small form factor machine such as Shuttle or something similar. That would enable us to customize each workstation to the needs of that mission at a generally cheaper cost, as most users will only require the basic network accessing box without all the bells and whistles (or hard drive space). We would maintain our beloved monitors, keyboards, and mice, AND have the upgradability that is required. I say for office situations, laptops are ok, but will never take the place of a desktop until they are truely upgradable, not just usb-able.
So where is the "death of the PC Game?" Where is the death of the "online Gaming Industry?" I keep hearing about the death of the PC but it just doesn't die. Notice that lately this has come up ALOT with the Microsoft vs. Google reports. The idea is with Google rising to power and not even offering an OS, the desktop must be dying. After all, look at all you can to with a cell phone, PDA, PDA-phone, Laptop, Laptop-phone-PDA-expresso machine now! I just don't see it. Home users just are not trading in their 2.5Ghz desktops for 300Mhz PDA's and probably won't until that PDA/Phone/Web-box can beat the PC's ass. We've almost been conditions to envy the next fast CPU and they expect to wean our addiction by showing us shiny candy-like handhelds and promises that the Web can one day power our Everquest!? Puhleez!
This isn't news to those who strongly believe the best personal computer is one that is conveniently with the user at all times. The concept of a pocket Cray seemed outlandish not many years ago, but it is slowly coming true. As users are increasingly able to access data anywhere, any time, the value of such devices increases exponentially. The laptop computer or terminal of the smallest practical size for user input is likely to become the norm as the cost comes down to the level of desktops.
Among people who looked into the crystal ball years ago, my friend Jeremy Smith did so and offered some interesting insights in his 1991 paper oriented somewhat toward HP handhelds, The Handy Dandy Pocket Dæmon, followed in 1995 with That Would Be Cool, which was more oriented toward HPs. Quite a few of his predictions came true.
It's true. They have 12V power outlets, but they use a rather strange connector called the "Empower" socket and plug.
I don't know why the airlines chose this as opposed to some more standard type of low-voltage connector (I have a sneaking suspicion the design is probably patented, and somebody is making money), but in order to use one you need to buy a power adaptor that has the plug and usually a DC-to-DC converter to produce whatever your laptop uses to run, in my case 16V.
Alternately if you already have an automotive adaptor for your device, you can get an Empower-to-cigar-lighter socket adaptor like this one for $10.
Or do what I do, and take the train whenever you can. I do a lot of traveling up and down the Northeast coast and I've found that when you include the time it takes to get from a city to the airport (which are invariably located somewhere inconvenient), get through security, check in, wait around, fly, and then get back to the city on the other end, I waste almost as much time as I would have just taking the train from one downtown to the other. I suppose it's not an option if you're going cross-country or internationally, but anytime I can work it I'm all for staying on the ground.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
He had a great idea - the developers were working late hours, so why not give them laptops so they can take them home and work more? Slow-assed laptops, considerably worse than the desktop machines we had, but portable. Yeah, the answer to programmer productivity is slower computers (these were to be our new main machines).
He got canned eventually.
Schnapple
I am writing this msg from my first laptop, a Gateway M675PRR.
:-)
I set it up dual boot, with SimplyMEPIS 3.3 and spend 98% of my time on MEPIS. I have a Targus USB mini-mouse plugged in and headphones for sound to avoid distubing my wife. When traveling I use Street Atlas 6.0 with EarthMate GPS. At home I set in the Lazy Boy with a thin, wide four-legged table over the LazyBoy, upon which my laptop rests, and my wife sets on the couch. We both watch TV and talk while I work on my laptop. Before, I was always in my office working on one of my two desktops because moving a desktop to the living room and back and each day wasn't practicaly. Now, she's happy and I am happy.
After six months my experience with this laptop is so favorable that I doubt I will ever again purchase another desktop, new or used.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
I mean, REALLY, I haven't seen a laptop with a decent keyboard yet.
Otherwise, laptops are nice, but doing anything serious (or using the keyboard) requires a desktop.
Consoles are killing the gaming pc
I'd hope not. If all electronic gaming shifts to consoles, all of which have a secret bootloader, then how will hobbyists continue to be able to learn how to make video games?
Instead of working on something completely unrelated to your life, why not work with what you love? In my case, I like computers, I enjoy spending time on computers, and thus I enjoy my job which involves computers.
If you love bicycles, work at a bike shop, if you love guns, join the army or be an arms dealer.
If you hate computers and don't want to ever deal with them at home, then find a different job.
When I was a kid the best thing to happen to me was a Desktop. I still sit back and think about the AOL usage, the Chatrooms and having to turn off the screen when my mom walked into the room. Now in the 21st century I am all for the expansion of laptops and wireless connection. On the go and working whereever you want is what computing have transformed into. If i had a laptop in the 90's I would've done most of my "work" in the bathroom.
While people whose work IS their life do exist, they're a lot fewer than you think. Or let me ammend that: even if you love computers and programming dearly, chances are pretty slim that you'll also love your day job at the office. In fact, chances are you'll hate it.
You may love programming, yes. But to start with the part that is own "fault", and not management fault, then chances are you'll want to do challenging and interesting things that interest _you_, not whatever yet-another-buzzword-collection that the marketting guys managed to secure a contract for. Just loving programming doesn't mean you love _any_ programming, just like loving music doesn't mean you indiscriminately love any music from N'Sync and Britney Spears to Bach to Slayer to whatever else. You'll also likely be interested, yes, in learning something _new_, maybe the next new language or maybe a new API, which again in most companies really means going home and learning that rather than sitting at the office doing the same old boring stuff all day long. (Chances are that if the boss demands that you're there 80 hours a week, it's to code for some unrealistic deadline, not to experiment with new languages and techniques just for learning sake.)
But then come the management faults, including lack of appreciation. (They can phrase it any way they will, but anyone who cuts your time estimates in half and demands 80 hour weeks instead is _not_ showing any kind of respect or appreciation.) Or being asked to actively lie to a customer. (I'll go on a limb and guess that if you thought ethics are for losers and a con job is ok if they can't sue you for it, you'd have majored in marketting instead of CS.) Or being actively lied _to_. Or being explicitly asked to do a bad engineering job, e.g., to include a bunch of unneeded buzzwords that aren't even needed, but that marketting wooed the clients with. It's like having to design a car and having some marketting guy tell you to use a steam engine and put a sail instead of a spoiler on the car, because they convinced someone that it'll be so cool and trendy. At any rate, it doesn't say "I trust your expertise", if a marketting guy with zero engineering knowledge or experience can just override that expertise without even asking first. Etc.
So except a lucky few cases who got to code exactly the program they always wanted to code, and got complete control over it, those people who love programming and would do it 16 hours a day... tend to turn into people who'd be a lot happier if 8 of those were at home coding the stuff that interests _them_ personally.
What you are really left with are a bunch of people who only do show business. There's a whole class of people who have exactly one skill: putting up an outstanding show for management. They tend to not be able to code worth crap. (One of them took _two_ _years_ to code a small module that eventually another co-worker re-implemented differently in 6 hours. Literally.) But they'll sit at a computer for 12 hours a day and look all involved, dedicated, and full of initiative... when the boss is around to see them.
Mind you, when I say "full of initiative", I don't mean the kind of initiative that means actually learning to do their job, much less "then learning the NEXT new language". I know people who after half a decade still don't even know the most elementary basics of the language they're paid to program in. Only the shallow show-business kind that makes them look good to the boss, but no more.
So, well, that's IMHO really the kind of people (and the kind of clueless PHB that appreciates that kind of show business) who got the 80 hour weeks going. Not the ones who actually are passionate about their work.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
seriously, why cant someone just put out a laptop with a keyboard that resembles the desktop one i'm used to instead of randomly rearranging the keys, i can live without the numpad but i really cant deal with spending ten minutes hunting around to find the delete key and having to hold down another function key while i'm at it.
add a widescreen lcd to complement the shape and suddenly it's good to watch dvds on too, yay!
seriously, though, there is no reason whatsoever for laptop keyboards to be so damn freaky, especially considering that they're all laid out differently. the only reason they do it like that is because they always have
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
At home I have 23.1" widescreen LCD
Laptops screens are way too small for today's apps.
We've lost our good dashboards, though.
Where there once were clean, informative analog gauges with coolant temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure, etc., we now have ....a yellow "Check Engine" light.
Marketeting and cost pressures have led us to automotive dashboards that are good enough for the average sheep buying a car, but frustratingly opaque to those of us that really want to know what's wrong with our car.
I'm so afraid that desktop computing diagnostics are moving in exactly the same direction.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
As a graphic artist, the laptop revolution is a double-edge sword. My PowerBook G4 allows me to work remotely and takes up less space than any desktop (good). Developing color art for the print medium, however, is a costly, time-draining and imprecise science at best (bad).
Choosing colors on a laptop LCDs involves a lot of guesswork. Images that look perfect on-screen become way too dark in print. I've wasted hours trying to nudge the monitor settings with no long-term success.
http://www.illdave.com/