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1 Billion PCs by End of 2008
javipas writes "Acording to a study published by Forrester Research, 2008 will be the year in wich a psychological barrier will be surpassed. By the end of next year there will be 1.000.000.000 computers all around the world, a number that will double itself in just five more years. The reason: the emerging markets of countries such as Brazil, China, India or Russia, which will be responsible for 775 million new PCs and laptop computers. Part of them, of course, coming from projects like the OLPC's one."
By the end of next year there will be 900.000.000 infected computers.
Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
Good thing IPv6 is just around the corner, what with two billion PCs in 5 years.
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Do we go with "billions and billions of" or the pinky held up to the mouth? Sagan or Evil? Maybe Evil Sagan? Yeah, Evil Sagan. I'm imagining passages from Demon-Haunted World read with a Dr. Evil accent. That's the ticket.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Also, referring to 1,000,000,000 as a "psychological barrier" is kind of a strange term. It doesn't block our thought processes. Calling it a "symbolic mile-stone" might be more appropriate.
-dave
http://millionnumbers.com/ - own the number of your dreams
Perhaps we should start making environmentally friendly computers? I certainly don't want any of those toxins in my ground water.
"...2008 will be the year in which a psychological barrier will be surpassed."
If Bill Cosby ever decides to do a "Nerds say the dumbest things" show, it won't be hard to find good material here.
"What kind of music do pirates listen to?" -Paul Maud'dib
"Yeeeaaarrrrr n' Bee!!" -Stilgar, Leader of Sietch Tabr
And almost all of those billion PCs will eventually find their way into tips and landfils, or crude pollutive 'recycling' pots in third world countries.
The turnover of computers is so fast not because of natural outdating and failure of hardware but because of the bloating of operating systems and applications software. Windows 95 only needed 4mb of RAM. The increase of RAM and CPU requirements vastly outstrips increases of functionality and mostly resembles Moore's Law.
People keep on buying expensive new computers to do the same things at the same speed. How many gigabytes of RAM will you need to check your email in 2020?
Imagine a botnet of these!
I think billionth should get a prize. A share in M$... a chair from chairman Ballmer... a big Mac... The mind boggles.
A man spends the first half of his life accumulating stuff, the second trying to get rid of it all.
Better get some hand-cranks on those suckers because in 5 years times electricity (along with gas) will no longer be the take for granted utility that it is now.
I'll go for more /. insightful..
But, will those 775 run Linux?
:-P
home
Hopefully they'll ship with a spelling and grammar checker:
Acording [spelling] to a study published by Forrester Research, 2008 will be the year in wich [spelling] a psychological barrier will be surpassed. By the end of next year there will be 1.000.000.000 computers all [no computer is big enough to be "all around the world"] around the world [CC], a number that will double itself [superfluous "itself"] in just five more years. The reason: the [punctuation - first word after a full colon should be capitalized] emerging markets of countries such as Brazil, China, India or [should be "and"] Russia, which will be responsible of [should be "for"] 775 [missing a few zeroes] new PCs and laptop computers. Part of them, of course, coming from projects like the OLPC's one. [awkward sentence construct, wrong use of "them", superfluous "one"]"
It reads like spam ... did anyone actually edit this?
Kevin Smith on Prince
There are already over 2B active cellphones in the world, and there will be more by the end of 2008... an interesting comparison of market penetration.
circa75.com
Nor in American English. Take my comment with a grain of salt, as I always got higher marks in Maths than English. Of course, being on Slashdot, that should be assumed.
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In still other news, both Lunix and OSX will still capture the hearts and minds of an insignificant number of PC users.
"there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home"
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
A lot is about the price
......
My first PC was over $1,500 with no hard drive and 256K of ram
My second was a loaded 486-33 with a 212 Meg HD and 8 megs of ram at just under $4,000
Last year I bought a 2.4 Ghz P4 desktop system (no monitor) from Dell Outlet for under $200 with shipping
Last month I bought a sub 5 pound used (like new) P3 Compaq Aramada for $130.
Talk on slashdot keeps revolving around a $99 laptop coming soon.
Combine the ever dropping price, with 20+ years of production (i386 and newer) of all the hand me down systems out there, and the 1,000,000,000 is inevitable.
Ike