The PC is a dead parrot

JMH · Jul 12, 2012

Second-quarter PC shipments are grim. They're flat globally, but down 5.7 percent or 10.6 percent in the United States, depending on whether Gartner or IDC counts the numbers. IDC puts Mac shipments down for the first time in years (Gartner disagrees). When the malaise hits Macs, Cupertino, we have a problem.

Is it the calm before the big sales storm or the new normal, as consumers and businesses snap up smartphones and tablets? There's no easy answer until Apple and Microsoft ship new operating systems. Likely, it's combination of both, as manufacturers buttress against the slowest sales quarter of the year by cutting back channel inventory and preparing for dramatic changes in computing purchase priorities. The one certainly: The quarter sucked spoiled eggs cooked over-easy.

http://betanews.com/2012/07/12/the-...n=Feed+-+bn+-+Betanews+Full+Content+Feed+-+BN

usasma · Jul 13, 2012

I've been predicting this ever since I got my iPhone!
My daughter doesn't even use a PC, preferring to do her internet stuff on her cell phone
My son is the same, but he does school work on a PC
My wife's kids are the same also - but they use PC's for gaming (having abandoned the XBox/PS3/etc)
Her younger boy is a Computer Science major, so he get's a bit of work done on PC's at school.

AceInfinity · Jul 13, 2012

I can tell you it will piss me off if i'm forced to do programing on a damn tablet or iPhone or any other "i"device. I want to stay with a PC thankyou. This future looks nice, but I can honestly scratch my head at the logistics behind the trend we're headed sail for. Adaptation for me to start programming on touch based devices and all this stuff which is really based on just being "cool" than anything else, is going to be miserable... But that's what makes it popular, a cool portable touchscreen device makes us look like we're finally an 'advanced' civilization. (? Yet ironically we can't even solve basic environmental and financial issues here and there.)

EDIT: The more I think about the future I think we're headed to the more it just infuriates me, I won't deny it :mad7: I'm just absolutely bent. As soon as Windows 8 came out, I started thinking "but what about us desktop users?", seems like they've forgotten and abandoned us?

GZ · Jul 15, 2012

The problem with this is lack of demand in the PC market. We power users and people who will continue to use PCs will likely see a rise in price and slowing of progress due to the lack of mainstream demand. I see the PC reverting to business/corporate use until portable devices have a suitable software base to start replacing Laptops. Offices and productivity centers will likely stay with PCs for years to come.

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The PC is a dead parrot

JMH

Emeritus, Contributor

usasma

Retired Admin

AceInfinity

Emeritus, Contributor

GZ

Visiting Expert