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The Desktop Is Dead, Long Live the Desktop!

theodp writes "'The desktop or laptop is now in decline,' writes John Sall, 'squeezed from one side by mobile platforms and from the other side by the cloud. As a developer of desktop software [by choice not necessity], I believe it is time to address the challenges to our viability. Is software for the desktop PC now the living dead, or zombieware.' While conceding there's some truth to truisms about the death of the desktop, Sall believes there's still life in the old desktop dog, 'We live in a world of computing where dreams come true,' Sall concludes. 'The mainframe bows to the minicomputer. The minicomputer bows to the personal computer. The personal computer bows to the tablet and smart phone. It seems as if these will soon bow to the smart watch or smart glasses. But at each step along the way, some applications find their best home – and other applications as well as new applications find the more convenient and smaller home better...So let's keep our desktops and laptops, our PCs and Macs. They are amazingly good at what they do.'"

7 of 453 comments (clear)

  1. but but.... by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Desktop Is Dead

    Isn't 2014 going to be the year of the Linux desktop?

    1. Re:but but.... by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Funny

      Turns out that Tux is a zombie process

  2. Re:make my day... by BreakBad · · Score: 4, Funny

    Desktop is dead (except for India) because all your SolidWorks and AutoCAD work has been outsourced. Enjoy angry birds on your smart glasses. Remember, buy Chinese!

  3. Re:Every year by oodaloop · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reading the entire summary before posting is generally not needed and considered bad form.

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  4. Re:make my day... by jbeaupre · · Score: 3, Funny

    You'll laugh, but I'm doing CAD work in the US ... outsourced from China.

    --
    The world is made by those who show up for the job.
  5. Re:make my day... by jafac · · Score: 3, Funny

    The only people who can migrate are the people who only do Facebook/Youtube

    . . . right, and most of the ppl on Youtube are suffering issues with buffering and stuttering (DASH) because Google has changed the player, and with Facebook - well - it's getting it's own issues - (privacy, and etc).

    I really believe that; aside from the utility of using services like google drive and drop box, that this whole tablet/cloud thing has been just a fad.

    --

    These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
  6. Re:make my day... by tmlrv · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yup, gamers. My son was all about the portability of a laptop, but he finally gave up and went back to big iron because the desktop box was easier to upgrade and repair, had more RAM and HD capacity, and (most important to him) far better framerates on his FPS games.

    Man, I am getting old. I am thoroughly perplexed when someone refers to a desktop PC as "big iron".