

The PC is dying, but very, very slowly - inshane
http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/19/technology/intel_pc_sales/

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bookwormAT
I find it strange that people don't count devices with touch screens as
personal computers, even if they are personal. I always understood the
'personal' so that I'm in control of that device. So any general purpose
computer where developers can distribute directly to consumers is a PC.

If a device allows accessible app sideloading, you can install software on it
at will and use your device in any way you want. And that's my definition of a
personal computer.

Devices running desktop windows or OS X are PCs to me. As are most Android
based tablets and smartphones.

Am I right that most of you define the term differently? Because by my
definition, the PC is doing very well. It's certainly under attack (windows
phone 7, metro, iOS etc). But it's doing very well.

~~~
wladimir
+1

The truth of the statement in the OP depends on the vague definition of a
'personal computer' used. There is only an artificial difference: what kind of
input/output is used. But what if you connect a monitor and a bluetooth
keyboard to your (rooted?) Android phone? Instant Linux box.

There is a very large grey area in between which is generally left out. What
about laptops? netbooks? laptops with touch screens? Pads with detachable
keyboards? Are those "personal computers"?

"General purpose personal computation devices" will live.

~~~
5hoom
The definition of a personal computer is probably a topic that could be
endlessly debated. I would personally classify it as a general purpose
computer that the _user_ can program, so why not a phone running (non
crippled) Linux?

Once you can run your own native code on the thing the differences are down to
factors like software ecosystem, hardware performance and input mechanism, but
the potential is there.

~~~
bergie
I actually did some on-device hacking on the Nokia N900. Terminal, Git, Python
and a reasonably nice code editor:
<http://maemo.org/downloads/product/Maemo5/pygtkeditor/>

Python was especially well suited for on-device development as you're not so
dependent on special characters not available on typical phone QWERTYs.

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jseliger
I think the bigger issue, which I don't see raised in the article (apologies
if I missed it) is that PCs are _cheap_. That's a lot of what I wrote about in
[http://jseliger.com/2011/10/09/desktop-pcs-arent-going-
anywh...](http://jseliger.com/2011/10/09/desktop-pcs-arent-going-anywhere-
despite-the-growth-of-phones-and-tablets%e2%80%94because-theyre-cheap/) . In
addition, if you're someone who mostly uses a computer for reading e-mail,
looking at FB, and watching YouTube videos, practically any computer made in
the last five to maybe ten years will be _just fine_ for what you're doing. So
why would you buy a new one?

~~~
bergie
Besides, tablets which are pretty much in the same range as Netbooks are nicer
for all of these activities, and with better battery life. Though writing
emails isn't as comfortable.

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Zarathust
My 4 years old computer still runs very well. I can also run newest pc games
without problems. My video card relative power with the newest generation of
console hasn't changed. I don't see why I would buy a new PC.

While PC sales might trend downward, I'm pretty sure that pc use is not.

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matan_a
How is this news? Most technology is dying slowly to be replaced by the latest
and greatest.

Tablets and smartphones will be dying slowly too in a few years to be replaced
by some other idea.

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r0s
Any day now right? Like every year?

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themgt
Intel is still going to be selling semiconductors whether people buy PCs or
smartphones, but the reality is the price of the average processor someone is
buying for use in their primary "computer" has been declining fast - Intel and
anyone else in the game is going to need to make up the money in volume
instead

~~~
glhaynes
But Intel's having trouble selling into the smartphone market, too, it's not
just a decrease in ASP that should be worrying them...

~~~
Andys
Intel's having trouble _because_ of the ASP.

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holri
Smartphones and Tablets are not a replacment for a PC but a complement. I do
not see why it should die.

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BigDogg
Hours a day I use a tablet computer 0, hours a day I use a desktop PC 8+. New
Heading: dumb writer writes stupid article.

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Axsuul
The PC is not dying, just look at the PC enthusiast community.

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wavephorm
This article focused on hardware. The more interesting trend is in desktop
software -- nobody is making it anymore.

Microsoft has so succesfully strangled the life out of the software industry
that it is now a wasteland. Today, all games are for consoles, all mini-games
are iphone games, all enterprise software is moving to the cloud, all
productivity software is written as web services....

This is why the PC is dead meat.

~~~
Troll_Whisperer
> _Today, all games are for consoles, all mini-games are iphone games_

Then I guess I've been living in some fantasy world with Starcraft II, Diablo
3 beta and new games every week at Kongregate. I like it though, so please
don't wake me up. I can barely even imagine an RTS on a console and I don't
think it would be worthy of even playing let alone watching e-sports casts of
others play!

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suivix
I wonder what will die first, desktops or physical media?

~~~
jayfuerstenberg
My Mac mini doesn't have an optical media drive and I bought a super drive to
go with it but I admit, I hardly use it (just for ripping my audio CDs into
iTunes and some photo backups).

When the internet speeds are fast downloading becomes the easiest option.

