The Personal Computer is Dead, long live the portable digital device
Spot the odd one out. Personal Computer, mobile phone, GPS, plasma screen or LCD, remote, palm, electric shaver (men and women), blender, coffee percolator,
playstation/xbox/nintendowii/psp. OK, the LAN-gaming community uses a PC, but don’t think of it as a PC, think of the device as a huge room full of salivating 20-something’s in a single digital Cell.
Its the Personal Computer of course. And the Palm with Zyon, Palm with VIII, Palm with Excite. All somewhat irrelevant today as the dynamic screen failed to make up for NOT FUNKY to use, clunky to manage, and hell to upload new programs to.
By PC I mean the Windows-based clunky junk sold in the modern day equivalent of a Witches Coven, the computer store. ” Yes sir, it works with everything sir” says the spotty-faced salesperson who knows less than most Labradors and has lied through his/her teeth so often that it puts us on edge as we stare as buyers at this capitalist apparition, drunk on ignorance.
Ye Olde PC for folks with colostomy bags
And tomorrow ? Which of the devices above will be defunct in 5 years’ time? I guess its going to be one of the playstation/xbox/nintendowii/psp platforms. And probably the PSP will be first against the irrelevancy wall. Games cost R4/500 for the PSP. For the experience of a small screen thats a bit too expensive and ultimately this digital town is too small for too many of these tiny purse killers so PSP is probably going to die.
And then, there’s the PC.
Its already up against the personal wall of death. Its not a completely crazy possibility. Everything is computerized, so we’re into the next phase of computer history. And that comes without the acceptance of “erratic and unexplained issues” such as fighting with the new hard ware drivers in the new version of Windows. Users are not millenarians, they’re tired of this conspiracy of bad operating system combined with heavily attackable browser that leaves users exposed to major viruses, and the possibility of hair-tear-out when you’ve upgraded and NOTHING works that used to.
Users are becoming used to multiple devices, and for the first time, Generation Two is no longer willing to put up with being told that Internet Explorer is the fault. Or your piece of legacy hardware that used to work with everything … like a printer .. is suddenly unidentifiable by the PC. Many are now shagged out and have developed a healthy hatred of this American conspiracy against productivity.
The PC is the the poor man and woman’s preferred device, something like putting up with being flagellated. Constantly.
Small Vanguard computer with Yellow mini-skirt
We’re 20 years into computer use and you still have to download patches for everything. Switch on the microwave. Switch it off, switch it on. It talks to its own hardware using (more than likely) a handful of Java commands built into the motherboard. Pretty simple. No downloadable patches for it to work. The PC’s achilles heel is going to become its death knell as the years’ unfold. Microsoft can’t fix its underlying mish-mash or machine-linked code that continues to blow up in users’ faces when the new version of Windows is uploaded. Suddenly – NOTHING.
The PC defunct? No way. Impossible, its used in 90% of situations now. Like ordering a coke, or buying a ticket to Brazzaville, or accessing your bank account.
But that’s the point. Where there are IT specialists hired to figure out the PC’s vaguaries, fine. Where you’re at home – not fine. So in a sense the Personal Computer (PC) is now the Business Computer, and the Mac has become the Personal Computer of choice.
And thus, into this patchwork downloading driver wilderness amble the newest devices. They’re Mac-based, and therefore, run Java as well. Like the iPad. or the iPhone. Or Blackberry. Like the Mars Rover which uses JAva. That should indicate the degree of stability combined with ubiquitousness and ultimately, relevance. And Java is free. Don’t listen to those sell-out IT heavies who drone on about Java not really being free. Its a FREE operating system. And its on Mars now.
Java inspired alien xenophobia
Not a PC.
That stays right where it belongs. On the ancient earth where religious fanatics still believe in blowing up virgins to go to hell. Or something like that.
Free operating system software was preferred by NASA because its been tested openly and properly. And thus, it tends to chat to hardware and therefore, you send billions of dollars of hardware into space with JAVA. Not Windows.
Like the electric shaver. No download required. iPad, Lan computers, Internet-ready devices of all types are suddenly just a reboot away. And that means specifics. You want a computer to help you drive your SUV to Thuli Bloc? Take a GPS. Not a PC. Want to take a picture? Use your mobile phone. Not a PC. Want to do your banking? Use the new mobile phone-based system, not your PC. In fact, don’t use your PC for mobile banking because its software is porous and every hacker on earth wants to read your pin number while you use INTERNET EXPLORER. Its like being happy to walk naked past a sex maniac you can’t see while bending over.
So the personal computer is ultimately dead.
Dead PC Society resting place
Its real use now is no longer personal, really. Its either a connected to ethernet device for commerce (eg at work, at the pharmacy, at the airline), or its been relegated to juniors’ bedroom where he/she watches moves or goes online to find geography answers, or watches YouTube and dreams of an iPhone and a MAC when they grow up.
For those who’ve developed a taste for devices that work, the PC has been left behind, like the Palm, or the wind-up shaver. Everyone is just so tired of being ordered by the Seattle Empire to “download a patch to connect to your 10 year-old printer”that they’re now looking at their friends’ Mac thinking
“What a doos I’ve been, why didn’t I buy a piece of hardware that actually talks to its software and vice versa”.
Yes, old MAc software doesn’t talk to new mac software. But that is forgivable. Because the machine works better over the medium term.
If quality is the aim and we’re all driving towards improved lives, then ulltimately that machine which is devoid of quality will most likely become defunct for the purpose it was designed as it’s faulty and needs crowds of engineers to hover around it.
Sayo nara Windows at home. Businesses love you, but the people don’t. The legacy PC is dead. Long live the new specifically designed device.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:48
I’ve been part of the PC club since the good ol’ days of the Comodore 64 in the 80s & Atari (more like the birth of the console) and don’t know if it’s because of this background, but I believe that the PC still has a few more years of life left in it.
I also believe in digital evolution, where next years product builds on the success of last years’.
The future I hope for is modular – You have a core device (like the iPhone or some mobile device) that has all the basics – storage, screen, CPU, wireless internet, etc. This device will have a host of equally portable supplemental peripherals – A paper thin screen that rolls up, http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-05/sony-unveils-paper-thin-oled-screen-can-be-rolled-while-playing-video, a keyboard projector http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/demo.asp, and any extra devices you may want, like a mouse, external SSD (or maybe just extra SD cards to extend internal memory?). You now basically have an ultra-portable PC (or laptop, if you prefer) in your pocket.
If you like, you can remove the core device & take it with you. This device is capable of Augmented Reality http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6523761027552517909# and will give you all the real-time contextual information on real-world objects. You can even interact with this information via Sixth Sense technology http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html.
What I’m getting to is this:
All this technology already exists, but it might take some time & a few more evolutionary cycles for these techs to ‘seamlessly’ converge, which is also the issue with the PC – You have so may different technologies that already converge in the (not so beige anymore) box, that there is no real way around all the patches, upgrades & quirks without sacrificing functionality. You will need mediating software (ie. drivers) as long as you want a device that generalizes to the extent of the PC (and the scenario above).
As long as you have healthy competition, there will be technological progress which by nature defies standardization.
This will inevitably lead to devices and software becoming obsolete, and subsequently leads to upgrades, patches, etc. Any device that does not follow this trend will arguably stagnate. There are devices that specialize to the point where it lasts for several years without requiring any further post-sales intervention(like your microwave), but that is my point – If you want a device that does everything, you must be prepared for (and happily resign yourself to) the inevitable incompatibilities, upgrades & patches. Maybe one day we’ll reach technological perfection and standardization (in the year 2525, if man is still alive…)?
Until then – all hail the mighty PC – The giant that holds the future on its shoulders! You host my games, keep my photos safe, keep me entertained with TV and music & automate my home!
btw, I think you might have confused Java with Linux. A PC can also be loaded with Linux & is not defined by its OS which ‘by any other name would smell as sweet’ (The PC, I mean)
June 8th, 2010 at 12:09
Dear Heavens ! A PC lover! Quick, ECG devices to the fore. Thanks Leslie, the Java/Linux matter, well, strange. My MIDP unit (JAVA SPEAK) is carefully imbued with AT & T commands which causes it to function as a stand-alone without any operating system. So on PC’s and MACs, Java works with the bundled existing operating system, but on its own, Java has numerous versions designed for use with various hardware. Eg, Microwave.
But point taken on mighty PC. I’m not one of those Apple vs PC dyslexics, just pointing out that ergonomics weren’t high on Bill Gates’ list of priorities. The screen for one is a major differentiator, along with how both talk to hardware. Thanks for the thoughts, very interesting.
July 13th, 2010 at 19:51
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