4 ms·

This is true, but I think a "post-pc" device should be able to stand on it's own two legs. Thanks for pointing this out, I meant to include it in my article.

melling 16y ago
Yes, ideally they will stand on their own two legs. However, as with most things there is an imperfect transition. Hopefully, great Android tablets will soon arrive and we'll be off to the races. I want a tablet that I can slide next to a keyboard, mouse and monitor and that becomes my desktop, as needed.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  Had those in 2001. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Compaq_TC1100 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Compaq_TC1100
  - melling 16y ago
    And we had tablets in the year 2000 too. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2000/nov00/11-13tabletpc.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2000/nov00/11-13... I guess we don't really have it until it gains wide adoption.
    - stcredzero 16y ago
      No, in that case we have it, it just doesn't have wide adoption. All of the trappings of the typical office of 1995, (Ethernet LANS, WYSIWYG word processing, windowed OS) we had back in the 1970's at Xerox PARC.
recoiledsnake 16y ago
>This is true, but I think a "post-pc" device should be able to stand on it's own two leg The 'Post-PC' statement is just posturing and hype to be lapped up by the media, the general public and Apple friendly bloggers like Gruber. Not meant to be subject to interpretation by real geeks/hackers. How many people totally have just a tablet and no other 'PC' at home? Maybe a few grandmas but that's it. Have iPad owners sold off their PCs? Is that even desirable? Tablets are just another segment of computers that cover use cases like browsing on the bed, couch, plane seat, car seat, using touch apps, for kids etc. They're bad for other use cases that need screen estate, heavy typing, serious spreadsheet work, coding etc. etc. joke: Maybe it was just an attempt to use the RDF influence to counteract the furor over the 30% forced cut of revenue for online services. I wish Post-PC devices wouldn't come with a 30% consumption tax ;) /joke
mechanical_fish 16y ago
I think a "post-pc" device should be able to stand on it's own two legs. Why? I ask seriously. Your interpretation of the phrase post-PC as "you don't need to see a PC ever again" is just one interpretation, and perhaps not the one that Steve Jobs meant. [1] It's a deliberately ambiguous term, like most statements about trends and fashion. He's talking about the PC era. Just because an era ends doesn't mean that all its legacy goes away. Indeed, it can mean quite the opposite. The mainframe era is over, and yet there may be more mainframes in existence now than ever. The era of recorded music sales is, arguably, in decline, yet that doesn't mean that we don't have recorded music anymore. In that particular case, it means that recorded music has become so cheap and ubiquitous that it's like air, so it's devalued and its profit margins have dwindled. Kind of like PCs. I've always felt that the iOS ecosystem was post-PC not because it is trying to replace the PC, but because its design is predicated on the assumption that everyone who actually wants a PC has one by now. So of course iOS doesn't have to support, say, emacs: If you want to run emacs you do so on your PC. If by some miracle you want a PC but don't have one already, there's probably a disused one sitting at a nearby garage sale marked "$25" that would do in a pinch. And, more controversially, of course iOS has a closed and curated ecosystem: If you want an open ecosystem, pick up a PC for a few bucks. They're all over the place. I had to throw away two of them last year. --- [1] I mean, not this year. Apple still makes PCs. Surely they won't declare the PC dead until they stop making them.
- brisance 16y ago
  I have no idea why you were down-voted. Your explanation is cogent and similar to what art historians mean by "postmodern art".

melling 16y ago

Yes, ideally they will stand on their own two legs. However, as with most things there is an imperfect transition. Hopefully, great Android tablets will soon arrive and we'll be off to the races. I want a tablet that I can slide next to a keyboard, mouse and monitor and that becomes my desktop, as needed.

stcredzero 16y ago
Had those in 2001. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Compaq_TC1100 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Compaq_TC1100
- melling 16y ago
  And we had tablets in the year 2000 too. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2000/nov00/11-13tabletpc.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2000/nov00/11-13... I guess we don't really have it until it gains wide adoption.
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    No, in that case we have it, it just doesn't have wide adoption. All of the trappings of the typical office of 1995, (Ethernet LANS, WYSIWYG word processing, windowed OS) we had back in the 1970's at Xerox PARC.

recoiledsnake 16y ago

>This is true, but I think a "post-pc" device should be able to stand on it's own two leg The 'Post-PC' statement is just posturing and hype to be lapped up by the media, the general public and Apple friendly bloggers like Gruber. Not meant to be subject to interpretation by real geeks/hackers. How many people totally have just a tablet and no other 'PC' at home? Maybe a few grandmas but that's it. Have iPad owners sold off their PCs? Is that even desirable? Tablets are just another segment of computers that cover use cases like browsing on the bed, couch, plane seat, car seat, using touch apps, for kids etc. They're bad for other use cases that need screen estate, heavy typing, serious spreadsheet work, coding etc. etc. joke: Maybe it was just an attempt to use the RDF influence to counteract the furor over the 30% forced cut of revenue for online services. I wish Post-PC devices wouldn't come with a 30% consumption tax ;) /joke

mechanical_fish 16y ago

I think a "post-pc" device should be able to stand on it's own two legs. Why? I ask seriously. Your interpretation of the phrase post-PC as "you don't need to see a PC ever again" is just one interpretation, and perhaps not the one that Steve Jobs meant. [1] It's a deliberately ambiguous term, like most statements about trends and fashion. He's talking about the PC era. Just because an era ends doesn't mean that all its legacy goes away. Indeed, it can mean quite the opposite. The mainframe era is over, and yet there may be more mainframes in existence now than ever. The era of recorded music sales is, arguably, in decline, yet that doesn't mean that we don't have recorded music anymore. In that particular case, it means that recorded music has become so cheap and ubiquitous that it's like air, so it's devalued and its profit margins have dwindled. Kind of like PCs. I've always felt that the iOS ecosystem was post-PC not because it is trying to replace the PC, but because its design is predicated on the assumption that everyone who actually wants a PC has one by now. So of course iOS doesn't have to support, say, emacs: If you want to run emacs you do so on your PC. If by some miracle you want a PC but don't have one already, there's probably a disused one sitting at a nearby garage sale marked "$25" that would do in a pinch. And, more controversially, of course iOS has a closed and curated ecosystem: If you want an open ecosystem, pick up a PC for a few bucks. They're all over the place. I had to throw away two of them last year. --- [1] I mean, not this year. Apple still makes PCs. Surely they won't declare the PC dead until they stop making them.

brisance 16y ago
I have no idea why you were down-voted. Your explanation is cogent and similar to what art historians mean by "postmodern art".