I think Microsoft are scared about the 'Death of PC'

LordFish

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May 29, 2012
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It's no secret that the reason for forcing Metro on everyone was to acclimate us to the UI so that they should shift more phones. (Talk about abusing a monopoly in one area in an attempt to gain a dominant position in another!) I grok this. I can even respect it to a limited extent.
The above is from The Register, however it got me thinking, It's a massive dick move from Micro$oft, however I can't really blame them since... The PC may be dying.

From where I stand, 80% of PCs aren't power houses of gaming and terraflops, they are casual laptops used for Facebook and Skype... As the average user gets more adapt to more powerful tablets and other mobile devices, all that will be left is us 'power users' *sniff*

Captcha: Goody Dumdrop.
 

Nantucket_v1legacy

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Mar 6, 2012
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I disagree.

In our workplace and other places I have worked staff tend to use PCs rather than laptops. PCs are more secure and the IT guys have better access to what you're doing and in general they are safer in case you lose your laptop. Some directors have Ipads but on the whole you cannot write reports on an Ipad. They have desktop computers in their offices.

PCs will not die out anytime soon. Not only that, people would rather game on a PC than a Mac or a tablet. Tablets are not comfortable to play on and those little casual games are on the bus. I couldn't see dedicating hours of my life to Temple Run unless I was on a never ending bus journey. Macs are... well... I'm not sure how things are now but when I first started gaming most games were not available on the Macs.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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Nantucket said:
Some directors have Ipads but on the whole you cannot write reports on an Ipad.
This right here is why the laptop, at the very least, isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I can see the desktop dying out for all but a few specialized situations, mostly involving business, science, and high end gaming, but laptops are gonna last as long as you need a physical keyboard to type efficiently. I mean, yes, you can get a blue tooth keyboard and use it with a tablet right now if you want, but I can't imagine the software available is as effective as good old Microsoft Word. Even if it is, you're carrying around two relatively bulky items now, instead of one item that may be a bit thicker when folded down, but trades off for that in having all the peripherals you need built in.
 

SciMal

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Dec 10, 2011
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LordFish said:
It's no secret that the reason for forcing Metro on everyone was to acclimate us to the UI so that they should shift more phones. (Talk about abusing a monopoly in one area in an attempt to gain a dominant position in another!) I grok this. I can even respect it to a limited extent.
The above is from The Register, however it got me thinking, It's a massive dick move from Micro$oft...
Could have just stopped reading there. That "joke" is older than you are, and shows a complete lack of attempt to be fair.

Whatever, though. It's your thread.

...however I can't really blame them since... The PC may be dying.
*looks at Smartphone and Tablet* - Say wuhh? Ooh, no, what you meant was that the tower PC may be dying. See, Smartphones and Tablets are still personal computers (my phone is more powerful than my second computer, actually) - but you mean desktops.

Yes, I'd say desktops have hit the other side of the hump at this point. Because the components have kind of stagnated (I have a 5 or 6 year old computer and play current games, something I could not have done between 1995 and 200) there's little reason for people to upgrade.

From where I stand, 80% of PCs aren't power houses of gaming and terraflops, they are casual laptops used for Facebook and Skype... As the average user gets more adapt to more powerful tablets and other mobile devices, all that will be left is us 'power users' *sniff*

Captcha: Goody Dumdrop.
You missed where you explain why Microsoft (oops, sorry... "Micro$oft") is scared. You open with a criticism of Windows 8 and "Metro UI" - which is MS's first earnest foray into touch-based interfaces that Smartphones and Tablets are based on - and then say they're scared that desktops aren't selling well.

Well no fuck, that's why they made W8. Frankly, the initial criticism (omg I have to adapt to new UI! WTF!) is just born of laziness. Anyone who's used several versions of any program (Photoshop, Android, etc.) has had to deal with learning to adapt. Hell, for a while I didn't know how to Print in Office 2010 because before that I was using Office 2001 and they switched stuff around. Then I found out and remembered how to do it.

Frankly, it's about time. Windows' UI hasn't really changed since Windows 98 - that was fourteen years ago, and computers have become FAR more capable.

Call me disgruntled, but those who refuse to adapt have already sealed their fate.
 

Hero in a half shell

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Dec 30, 2009
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They are hoping to fade out all laptops and desktops at my work, because it's a lot harder to take information off the devices onto pen drives or CDs, so tablets are more secure. Considering the importance of security above all else in IT firms, and the handiness and usefulness of tablets only increasing I could see a lot of businesses switching to them, and if the tower PCs loose the business market... well, How many people actually have a tower PC anymore aside from gamers?

It's certainly going to be an interesting future for technology, a lot of winners and losers will be decided in the next few years.
 

Overusedname

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Jun 26, 2012
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Hero in a half shell said:
They are hoping to fade out all laptops and desktops at my work, because it's a lot harder to take information off the devices onto pen drives or CDs, so tablets are more secure. Considering the importance of security above all else in IT firms, and the handiness and usefulness of tablets only increasing I could see a lot of businesses switching to them, and if the tower PCs loose the business market... well, How many people actually have a tower PC anymore aside from gamers?

It's certainly going to be an interesting future for technology, a lot of winners and losers will be decided in the next few years.
Indeed.

Speaking as an avid PC gamer I'm content with steam on my laptop, Bioshock from the appstore and Minecraft. Really, not even every PC player needs top tier graphics. I'm satisfied with second tier, as are many others.

And as laptops slowly get more powerful, the advantage of a tower will always remain, but it will seem more and more redundant to more and more people. I don't think the desktop is going die soon, but it will eventually be very restricted to only very specific needs.
 

ohnoitsabear

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Are PCs (especially if you include laptops) going to die? Hell no. There are so many things that are just plain easier to do on a PC than a tablet or smartphone, like typing a document or spreadsheet. Plus, don't forget about PC gaming, which has only been growing. While it is a relatively small percentage of the people who use PCs, it is enough for it to be profitable to make components for desktop PCs.

And that's just for consumers, for many professional jobs, I cannot see them switching over to tablets. For example, try doing 3D modelling on a tablet. I didn't think so.

Here's what I think will happen. PCs will become less used by the people that would only use them for the internet, and they will use smartphones and tablets instead. However, for the people that use a computer for things beyond that, they will use a PC, whether that be a laptop or a desktop. Not only that, but I think the PCs that are out there won't be too different from the ones we have now, especially if Microsoft stops putting tablet features into a PC OS (I predict that by the first service pack of Windows 8, there will be an option to disable the Metro UI).

Now, we need to move on to the much more pressing issue of people saying something is "dying" when they really mean it's getting less popular. This has been an issue for far, far too long, and I think we need to make a stand against it now.
 

BiscuitTrouser

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Hero in a half shell said:
How many people actually have a tower PC anymore aside from gamers?
Anecdotal evidence is worthless but i dont know a single person who doesnt own at least 1 tower PC. I love the tower PC. Honestly that love is mostly irrational. My first and only laptop was terrible and ive basically pigeon holed laptops to be overpriced (apple did this to me), very slow and inferior in every way to the PC i built that runs almost everything on ultra high quality for about 900. Its glorious and beautiful and its mine. I know logically laptops physically can compete with the graphics cards and RAM options available for my tower but i hate the inability to customize and build laptops. Anyone who wants a custom built rig has to go tower as it stands now (as in THEY build it). And since im a fan of that im probably never going to be a laptop user. Unless laptops become as accessible and customizaable as tower PC's using only a screw driver and occasionally a soldering iron.
 

Dr Hammer

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Aug 26, 2011
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I think the Netbook will slowly disappear as tablets become more popular, but you simply cannot be as productive on a tablet as you could a laptop or tower pc. There will always be a place for these devices, what size and shape that place is remains to be seen.
 

ResonanceSD

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LordFish said:
It's no secret that the reason for forcing Metro on everyone was to acclimate us to the UI so that they should shift more phones. (Talk about abusing a monopoly in one area in an attempt to gain a dominant position in another!) I grok this. I can even respect it to a limited extent.
The above is from The Register, however it got me thinking, It's a massive dick move from Micro$oft, however I can't really blame them since... The PC may be dying.

From where I stand, 80% of PCs aren't power houses of gaming and terraflops, they are casual laptops used for Facebook and Skype... As the average user gets more adapt to more powerful tablets and other mobile devices, all that will be left is us 'power users' *sniff*


I'm fairly sure tablets will never fully replace laptops/ultrabooks, much the same way that laptops have STILL not replaced desktops.
 

mad825

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Mar 28, 2010
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The desktop will always remain as a cheap and viable option for companies to operate a computer. Laptops/netbooks/notebooks/tablets may be mobile however they have security issues bordering on the line that leaves it out of the IT department's control.
 

Occams_Razor

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Oct 20, 2012
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Personal computing is shifting for sure. Phones and Tablets are able to fill 95 percent(entirely made up statistic) of most peoples needs, when it comes to email, internet access and that type of thing. There is going to be less of a need to have a desktop, there's no way around that.

But I don't think desktops are going anywhere. Gaming, video and audio processing, business and a bunch of other applications will keep demand in play, and keep pushing for better technology. So I'm not too worried about it stagnating.

As far as Metro goes, I don't think its Microsoft predicting the 'end of the PC'. I see it is Microsoft embracing the fact that phones and tablets are becoming a bigger and bigger part of our lives, that much is obvious to anyone who looks. There is an enormous amount of potential in having a synchronizes OS between your home computer(desktop or laptop) and your mobile devile(tablet or phone). There could be lots of room for big productivity boosts if its used right, so I'm actually curious to see what they do with it.
 

Giftfromme

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Nov 3, 2011
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LordFish said:
It's no secret that the reason for forcing Metro on everyone was to acclimate us to the UI so that they should shift more phones. (Talk about abusing a monopoly in one area in an attempt to gain a dominant position in another!) I grok this. I can even respect it to a limited extent.
The above is from The Register, however it got me thinking, It's a massive dick move from Micro$oft, however I can't really blame them since... The PC may be dying.

From where I stand, 80% of PCs aren't power houses of gaming and terraflops, they are casual laptops used for Facebook and Skype... As the average user gets more adapt to more powerful tablets and other mobile devices, all that will be left is us 'power users' *sniff*

Captcha: Goody Dumdrop.
aahahahahhah he "groks" this. what the fuck does that mean? ive heard of people calling others a gronk as a derogatory term (because they're scrubs), but to grok something is just beyond strange. I immediately have to invalidate any argument he might have had
 

DoPo

"You're not cleared for that."
Jan 30, 2012
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Giftfromme said:
LordFish said:
It's no secret that the reason for forcing Metro on everyone was to acclimate us to the UI so that they should shift more phones. (Talk about abusing a monopoly in one area in an attempt to gain a dominant position in another!) I grok this. I can even respect it to a limited extent.
The above is from The Register, however it got me thinking, It's a massive dick move from Micro$oft, however I can't really blame them since... The PC may be dying.

From where I stand, 80% of PCs aren't power houses of gaming and terraflops, they are casual laptops used for Facebook and Skype... As the average user gets more adapt to more powerful tablets and other mobile devices, all that will be left is us 'power users' *sniff*

Captcha: Goody Dumdrop.
aahahahahhah he "groks" this. what the fuck does that mean? ive heard of people calling others a gronk as a derogatory term (because they're scrubs), but to grok something is just beyond strange. I immediately have to invalidate any argument he might have had
grok/gräk/
Verb:

1. Understand (something) intuitively or by empathy.
2. Empathize or communicate sympathetically; establish a rapport.
I get it that it's not a popular word (I myself know of it more or less by chance) but I don't think it, by itself, is a basis to discard something on.
 

LetalisK

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May 5, 2010
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Just like how laptops killed desktops. Or consoles killed PC gaming. Or how smartphones are going to kill tablets...

 

thesilentman

What this
Jun 14, 2012
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LordFish said:
Passable Snip
No, the desktop will not die soon. I'm surprised that no one mentioned that desktops beat other computers in terms of customization. You can have either a minimalist desktop for pure work (get an older computer and throw a Linux distro on it) or an uber-gaming machine that NASA uses to handle Mars missions.[footnote]Just two examples, think of the servers and other utilities the enterprise sector needs.[/footnote] Either way, desktops will not die soon. Far in the future perhaps, but not now.