The PC is NEVER "Going Away" regardless of Windows 10 performance

I was just looking into the topic of Windows 10 which is being pre-released into the techno-geek culture for testing, tasting, and torturing. And in so investigating the opinions of the pre-release mass of the quasi intelligent Geek-tocracy. I stumbled over an opinion that appeared to be rather blindly - short-sighted rather than actually perceptive of reality. One Geek-no-crat, actually has put it out into cyber-space that PC's are over and "done" with.

We may as well hold a mass burial I think, as per the article I read. In fact I will quote the writer who is of the belief. "Windows 10 is great - but it won't stop the PC from dying and taking Microsoft with it." Wow. I mean. Holy cow, has anybody told Bill Gates yet? How about Intel and AMD? Wow.

I think the writer needs to check with Bill Gates and company on THAT one...

At one point in the myopic article, the author uses the line, "If you're old enough, cast your mind back to 1995 and the imminent release of Windows 95. The excitement that surrounded Windows 95... blah blah blah..."

Yes, I DO remember, very well. I remember in the warm months of 1996, still awaiting Win-95, (I was sitting in the hot waiting-room of a Pep-Boys garage, in Long Island, I was directly in the sun... sweating ... waiting for some work to be finished on my favorite truck... and I was reading about that 'NewFangled' PnP OS (with 32-bit architecture) that everyone was raving about...

And back then? I had a PC that was an AMD-40MHz 386DX with 16 Megs of RAM! It would out perform your average Intel 486 motherboard ... EASILY... I used to walk into an Electronics Boutique - store, and when I told them what hardware I had, they'd be in Awe...BUT... that machine was actually getting a little old by 1995... I had my eye on the (then) AMD 486DX 120MHz motherboards (still easily outperforming the NEWEST Intel-Pentiums...). And that particular machine? (My 386DX?) Came with a 40-Megabyte hard drive (yes, you heard me). I performed my very first hard drive upgrade on a PC (and subsequent OS install) by purchasing a new hard drive (at 1 dollar per megabyte) and that "New" hard drive was 350 Megabytes. And was considered gargantuan back then. Ahh, the "bad-old-days"...

But then, I also, AM a person with PERSPECTIVE... but, that don't matter none I guess ... I think sensationalism (and even Fox News) are "where it's at" ... NOT! And I do "judge", that the writer of this particular article is accustomed to individuals who have none of that. ... I refer to LACK of perspective. And a good sense of time, and human tendencies or trends. A ... "trend" is indeed a trend. But it is only a portion of the overall reality we are embedded in.

Here, allow me to attempt to make a few "astute" observations despite my spectacles obviously being dirtier than some other peoples lenses... And I am here considering the technical climate we live in... in combination with the current economic trends, (or even the last decades trends). According to -Extreme Tech-, PC's are simply a dying species. And that... simply said... is "that".

Well...

That ain't happenin'... I feel somewhat (vaguely) sure of this. I've my suspicions.

The MASSIVE explosion of devices that now exist in cyberspace, is why iPv6 MUST be instituted. We are not slowing down in the creation and placement of devices. And, while the overall number of UUID's will just continue to explode. And, yes, probably the relative number of PC's will drop... as that "space" is filled with every machine that has a chip, and is now ON the 'net...

Still doesn't mean PC's are less important. In fact, the Geek-toc-racy will probably demand and or custom build ever-more CAPABLE PC's... Simply because they are tools which are needed, yea... DEMANDED, by such an environment.

Which means YOU MUST buy one for your boy... (because you do NOT want him using YOURS!). There, that's at least two PC's... see how that works?

There are ALL kinds of CPU's. When I went to JEEP, during the consideration of a purchase... I was shocked to see that the entire car is actually networked. There are literally microprocessors built into the wheels of new auto's that help with tire / braking control and feedback.

There are many major companies producing the electronics now, which are required for our existence and modern functioning. And that article on the "death of the PC" was merely focusing on the fact that, recently, mobile-device sales have risen tremendously...

So what?

Mobile devices are merely a new marketing niche, affected by and also influencing and reinforcing certain human behaviors and certain social changes. So what if mobile sales are "up" significantly in the last 10 years?

Same thing happened when cars came out.

Everyone WANTED one of those "newfangled" devices. That's normal behavior. Now, in the case of the automobile YES, the "device" did usurp another technology. And that was the animal-powered conveyances prior to that.

Mobile devices do not "replace" PC's. And by their very nature cannot. I HATE working with a small interface tho it is necessary sometimes. But, still ... we NEED PC's and we LIKE those big clunky boxes filled with "gee whiz" gadgetry. In fact, there IS a whole industry based upon it... a couple of whole industries... possibly more.

Your "average gamer" will spend around $1500 to $3000 dollars on his or her high-end gaming PC...

But I SUPPOSE a hand held device may replace a nice large and flexible platform like the PC. Right? And when a new graphics card comes out to support the futures latest "reality-rendering" virtual space, I suppose your phone can do the job...

Right?

I did not think so.

You see, I myself am NOT a high-powered gamer, but I DO belong to another sector of society that is interested in higher powered computing. And I would even say that not all HOMES are the same. And not all Home-Lives are the same.

In fact I am positive that there will be (for the foreseeable future) specialized technologists who do wish to come home. Continue to do their work. (But do that work on their own machinery) And I do have the sneaking suspicion that a mobile device will never... EVER replace a PC.

No. Nor will just "Big specialized boxes"... because? We already have those "big boxes" and they are CALLED.... PC's... I did find myself smiling as I read through the article. Tho the author did seem to like Windows 10 overall. The predominating opinion within it was that since "PC sales had flattened a bit" over the last 10 years... that meant the species were dying.

Here...

Allow me to show you something... Take a Look at this PC... it's a pretty good example of the kind of "flexibility" within the (dying) species... Titanus Computers ...

And... granted, THIS particular PC is actually an "OLD" one... but still... I think both it's computational capability and inherent flexibility FAR outweigh any "functionality" of a meager cell phone. I mean... we ARE talking apples and oranges here.

You see, within a datacenter we tend to have rack upon rack upon rack of these devices called... Servers. Most of the form-factors involved are less than aesthetic because they are essentially a "Functionally-purposed" machine.

i.e. ... they are NOT "pretty".

In fact, as I type these very words I have one right next to me. I call it "My Beast"... it is my "super-PC". And why would I have a "Super-PC" next to me? It's so I can do my work... which simply can NOT be done on a mobile device. And those of us who do ACTUAL- networked-virtual-machine-fabric-and-computationally intensive work, (...like artists or videographers) they ALSO may need a "Beast" of a machine (in their homes no less!) in order to simply do their work. A Cell-Phone, high-powered-thin-flat-thingy, or even "Huge" Laptop...

... will just NEVER fill-the-bill.

PC's are NOT "Going the way of the Dodo..." they are -too useful-.

By the time all is said and done... that goes for a fair portion of society in reality. And that's not even considering the individuals who just "want one"... just because this is America and they CAN "have one". Just like some of us would rather hold an actual BOOK. Instead of a KINDLE.

Or,Rather than live their lives around a mobile device... walking and texting...

Whilst "oblivious" to the world around them...

Likewise, I do not think so.

That is a rather bold statement I think. That Despite ..."Windows 10 being pretty good. It will not stop the PC from dying and also taking Micro-Soft with it". Wow, I guess people will SAY Anything to get clicks nowadays...

Hey. HEY!!! You ever heard of a product called... "Hyper-V"? Well, for the LOVE of all that is holy. Open thine eyes. I happen to think MicroSoft has an Enterprise-based software product that is in fact a FLAGSHIP Enterprise-product. I say again. "Holy Cow", ... I hope Bill Gates is aware of the imminent demise of MicroSoft. His wife is expecting to take yet another trip to Africa, to simply rebuild it's infrastructure in it's entirety... AND educate the entire darn continent. (But MicroSoft is going to die soon... unfortunately.) Too bad- that.

There was a graph affiliated with the article that did show PC sales had stopped charging heavenward. And that there was a slow and steady climb for hand-held devices. Neither of those graphs do indicate the imminent "death" of the PC-market. Not hardly. Not ever.

It cannot be. And it will not be. Why?

The world does NOT run on cell phones. And while it may be that nearly everyone will HAVE a cell-phone in their possession within a few years. Again, this does not mean that young pre-pubescent teens will not beg, plead and demand their own "gaming system" any more.

It DOES imply however that the state of the art of virtual reality rendering WILL demand and require ever bigger and more energy sucking boxes... (called PC's) than ever before.

Just... my "opinion"... from an Engineering perspective... and not an (groundless) "opinionated-opinion-perspective" (to get clicks with a sensational heading.)

Yes, I do like my "Beast" PC. Because it is a rack mount form. And has larger fans (for continual and superior cooling). The motherboard? IS actually of a type that could be found in a custom home PC, if one so desired to have it thus.

This is the BEAUTY of a PC and the platform the original PC's were built upon.

Not even APPLE can match this type of flexibility.

Don't get me wrong. Apple makes EXCELLENT hardware. It is engineered fantastically.

But it's not a PC.

And I think I need to write for these guys... instead...

And the FACT of the matter is this... NONE Of your Cell Phones would work AT ALL, if it were not for the existence of many many of the big ugly "boxes" called PC's and servers. Because the absolute TRUTH of the matter is this... Global communications NEEDS PC's... And your little tiny pocket devices? They run UPON those bigger machines.

The author of that article completely overlooked these "tiny" facts.

The PC is going to be around a LONG while yet... the "dip" in recent sales is NOT indicative of imminent demise of the entire industry. It merely means that mobile devices are taking their percentage from what used to be an EXCLUSIVELY PC-digital landscape.

Clean your lenses. And SEE clearly.