Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
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?
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
I agree.
To me, the original statement seems backwards. Users have always wanted mobility, but it's only lately that PDA's and laptops, etc. have finally delivered the capability to do want you want with them, and yet have them be mobile. So it's not humbled by mobility so much as the maturation of mobile technologies.
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.
"There are some things that never change:Broadband over powerlines is just around the corner The desktop PC is dying"
Don't forget about these either:
*Linux is almost ready for the consumer desktop.
*Apple/BSD/Sun/Palm/PalmOS/TiVo is dying.
*Windows ___ is the best version of Windows ever!
* ____ is the Microsoft killer!
and
*Duke Nukem Forever - coming soon!
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
If I am expected to be working, then I am not 'sick', I am working from home, and expect to be paid as such. That is called telecommuting.
I don't want to plug into "any available computer".
Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. I personally have always envisioned each employee having his "own" thin client, and only replacing it as necessary. (I used to support a Citrix Winframe installation, so the concept is quite familiar to me.) What I loved about the Sun concept though, was that I wouldn't have to drag my boss or cow-orker into my office to show them the "Cool work-related thing of the week." Instead, I can simply take the card with me to my boss's office. When I get there, I temporarily remove his card and plug mine in. That way we can discuss whatever the issue is, then I can put his card back in and he'll be exactly where he was before I left.
I imagine this would work particularly well in (non-software) engineering diciplines, where the ability to quickly move the model on your screen around the work area is worth its weight in gold.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
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
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)!