6 ms·

Why no angry nerds? Because nerds are still using their PCs to create mobile and web-based software. The PC may (just may) be dead for the hordes of average c

Why no angry nerds? Because nerds are still using their PCs to create mobile and web-based software. The PC may (just may) be dead for the hordes of average consumers out there, but it'll never be dead for those people creating things -- that is, until you can adequately create a mobile or web application on an iPad/iPhone. Does anyone truly believe that scores of software developers writing financial software for banks are going to trade in their PC to type on an iOS device? Don't bet money on that (at least for the short-term).

kevinherron 15y ago
This is exactly what I came here to say. I think there will be a continuous widening of the gap between devices meant for producing and devices meant for consuming. The two can't exist without each other, however, so there's no reason to worry.
- swah 15y ago
  But devices for producing only became affordable because they were also for consuming.
  - recoiledsnake 15y ago
    Not just that but also the fact that the devices used for producing are much less likely to be bought in homes if they already have a consumption device. In the post-PC world, a home(especially in low income homes and the developing world) having iPads are much less likely to have Windows or Mac machines (on which an enterprising kid might install and play with Eclipse, Visual Studio Express or XCode, or even Linux). This effect will be further amplified when the PC prices rise to lower demand.
  - LarryMade 15y ago
    which several decades previous that was the case for microcomputers... While now it is a given concept that there will be a consumer level device, but sooner or later a new generation of home-based hackers will work up some new ways to be productive within these walled gardens, those will be exploited into apps and companies will be doing business on them - and then it will have started all over again. I wouldn't consider it an end but part of a progression.
interknot 15y ago
I mostly agree with you, though I'm concerned that the economies of scale that make PC-style computing affordable will become unsustainable.
astine 15y ago
The complaint that the author makes isn't about consumption vs production devices, it's about curated experiences. Apple can veto your income on the insistence of popular opinion or on a whim, or with no stated reason at all. The author extrapolates that this can lead to an effective restriction of freedom of the press by Apple and other gatekeepers. This is a real problem and is not alleviated just because you still use a PC to write software.
- onemoreact 15y ago
  Your forgetting about the web. Apple does not veto websites just things in their little walled garden.
  - yannickt 15y ago
    True, but if people spend more time in apps than browsing the web, then web apps might be harder to monetize than native apps on mobile devices.
    - dextorious 15y ago
      And god forbid if we let users spend more time to the kind of apps they love, instead of forcing them to use the web so we can monetize it better...
  - bad_user 15y ago
    Considering how Apple controls the operating system, the app store, the browser and the whole device in general, it wouldn't be technically hard for Apple to censor websites either. Plus, Apple is restricting the browser on purpose, to make it less useful. Tell me, how can you create an online image editing software, if Apple doesn't allow you to upload files from iPhone's browser? And what Apple is doing today would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago. Censoring the web is perfectly within their grasp and you should see that, otherwise you're not seeing the forest from the trees.
    - onemoreact 15y ago
timwiseman 15y ago
Well said. Now admittedly the people I know tend to be on the "computer oriented" side, so there is a sampling bias, but I have yet to meet anyone that chose to have a tablet instead of a PC. I know a lot of people that have a tablet in addition to their PC, but that hardly makes the PC dead for them. When tablets become much more powerful and able to integrate seemlessly with things like additional large monitors, keyboards, and mouses (or whatever eventually really replaces keyboards and mouses) then the PC will likely become a niche product, but then tablets will also have become hard to distinguish from a PC with an added ability to undock one monitor to take it with you.
- bad_user 15y ago
  My wife is not technically inclined. She uses a netbook instead with Windows on it. I just don't get all this tablet love - I can make my laptop sit on my lap without stressing my hands. The display is big enough that I can do whatever I want on it, like when watching movies, the bigger, the better. I can type ~ 100 WPM on it. I can save a file on my desktop from one app and then open it from another (basic functionality that's just fucked up on the iPad). The iPhone or the competing Android phones ARE GAME CHANGERS. But the big difference between an iPhone and a tablet is that an iPhone sits in your pocket and goes with you everywhere, even when you're at your local grocery store, buying some milk, even when you're inside a public toilet. A phone is always with you. That's progress. But a Tablet? It's just a cool-looking but dumb device. It has potential, true. But not until it can do all of the things a laptop can.
  - orev 15y ago
    I am an extremely technical user (15 yrs Linux admin) and I have both a netbook and an iPad. As soon as I got the iPad I stopped using the netbook. The experience on the iPad is far FAR superior as a consumption device than a netbook. If you are trying to use the tablet for the same things as your laptop, you're using it wrong. It sounds like you don't have a tablet, so you really don't have the credibility to weigh in on it. Also, I would suspect that your wife would highly prefer a tablet if given the chance to try it out. The netbook experience is truly horrible -- she just might not know that something better is out there.
pvarangot 15y ago
> Does anyone truly believe that scores of software > developers writing financial software for banks are > going to trade in their PC to type on an iOS device? > Don't bet money on that (at least for the short-term). Not to mention most professional cases of photo/video/sound editing, and graphic design for magazines or billboards. Sometimes a laptop screen size is truly an impediment. Fast hard disks also help in this tasks.
jseliger 15y ago
In addition, I suspect most of the people buying mobile devices still have a PC and will for the foreseeable future—because their PCs and laptops are cheap, as I discuss in detail here: http://jseliger.com/2011/10/09/desktop-pcs-arent-going-anywhere-despite-the-growth-of-phones-and-tablets%E2%80%94because-theyre-cheap/ http://jseliger.com/2011/10/09/desktop-pcs-arent-going-anywh... . It's not going to be "or"; it's going to be "and."
BrainInAJar 15y ago
" Does anyone truly believe that scores of software developers writing financial software for banks are going to trade in their PC to type on an iOS device? Don't bet money on that (at least for the short-term). " iPad, wireless keyboard & SSH and I can do all my work more or less the same way I do now
- freehunter 15y ago
  I actually do this right now, but without SSH. I recently started writing my code on an HP Touchpad with a bluetooth keyboard. It started to get difficult to sync my work across multiple computers, especially when there was no network present at a place I wish I could work from. I got a Touchpad, installed Ubuntu on it, and now I can have my entire development studio and all my code wherever I go without needing to worry about getting to my Git repository. There are times when I cannot test my code on the tablet, but at the very least I can write it wherever then push it back to Git and pull it to my test machine when I get back.
neutronicus 15y ago
You also can't really get through college with just an iPad. Apparently students are trying, and grousing when they realize that the kinds of software your classes demand that you run doesn't run on the iPad. I'm guessing that the world of academic software will blink second.

kevinherron 15y ago

This is exactly what I came here to say. I think there will be a continuous widening of the gap between devices meant for producing and devices meant for consuming. The two can't exist without each other, however, so there's no reason to worry.

swah 15y ago
But devices for producing only became affordable because they were also for consuming.
- recoiledsnake 15y ago
  Not just that but also the fact that the devices used for producing are much less likely to be bought in homes if they already have a consumption device. In the post-PC world, a home(especially in low income homes and the developing world) having iPads are much less likely to have Windows or Mac machines (on which an enterprising kid might install and play with Eclipse, Visual Studio Express or XCode, or even Linux). This effect will be further amplified when the PC prices rise to lower demand.
- LarryMade 15y ago
  which several decades previous that was the case for microcomputers... While now it is a given concept that there will be a consumer level device, but sooner or later a new generation of home-based hackers will work up some new ways to be productive within these walled gardens, those will be exploited into apps and companies will be doing business on them - and then it will have started all over again. I wouldn't consider it an end but part of a progression.

interknot 15y ago

I mostly agree with you, though I'm concerned that the economies of scale that make PC-style computing affordable will become unsustainable.

astine 15y ago

The complaint that the author makes isn't about consumption vs production devices, it's about curated experiences. Apple can veto your income on the insistence of popular opinion or on a whim, or with no stated reason at all. The author extrapolates that this can lead to an effective restriction of freedom of the press by Apple and other gatekeepers. This is a real problem and is not alleviated just because you still use a PC to write software.

onemoreact 15y ago
Your forgetting about the web. Apple does not veto websites just things in their little walled garden.
- yannickt 15y ago
  True, but if people spend more time in apps than browsing the web, then web apps might be harder to monetize than native apps on mobile devices.
  - dextorious 15y ago
    And god forbid if we let users spend more time to the kind of apps they love, instead of forcing them to use the web so we can monetize it better...
- bad_user 15y ago
  Considering how Apple controls the operating system, the app store, the browser and the whole device in general, it wouldn't be technically hard for Apple to censor websites either. Plus, Apple is restricting the browser on purpose, to make it less useful. Tell me, how can you create an online image editing software, if Apple doesn't allow you to upload files from iPhone's browser? And what Apple is doing today would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago. Censoring the web is perfectly within their grasp and you should see that, otherwise you're not seeing the forest from the trees.
  - onemoreact 15y ago

timwiseman 15y ago

Well said. Now admittedly the people I know tend to be on the "computer oriented" side, so there is a sampling bias, but I have yet to meet anyone that chose to have a tablet instead of a PC. I know a lot of people that have a tablet in addition to their PC, but that hardly makes the PC dead for them. When tablets become much more powerful and able to integrate seemlessly with things like additional large monitors, keyboards, and mouses (or whatever eventually really replaces keyboards and mouses) then the PC will likely become a niche product, but then tablets will also have become hard to distinguish from a PC with an added ability to undock one monitor to take it with you.

bad_user 15y ago
My wife is not technically inclined. She uses a netbook instead with Windows on it. I just don't get all this tablet love - I can make my laptop sit on my lap without stressing my hands. The display is big enough that I can do whatever I want on it, like when watching movies, the bigger, the better. I can type ~ 100 WPM on it. I can save a file on my desktop from one app and then open it from another (basic functionality that's just fucked up on the iPad). The iPhone or the competing Android phones ARE GAME CHANGERS. But the big difference between an iPhone and a tablet is that an iPhone sits in your pocket and goes with you everywhere, even when you're at your local grocery store, buying some milk, even when you're inside a public toilet. A phone is always with you. That's progress. But a Tablet? It's just a cool-looking but dumb device. It has potential, true. But not until it can do all of the things a laptop can.
- orev 15y ago
  I am an extremely technical user (15 yrs Linux admin) and I have both a netbook and an iPad. As soon as I got the iPad I stopped using the netbook. The experience on the iPad is far FAR superior as a consumption device than a netbook. If you are trying to use the tablet for the same things as your laptop, you're using it wrong. It sounds like you don't have a tablet, so you really don't have the credibility to weigh in on it. Also, I would suspect that your wife would highly prefer a tablet if given the chance to try it out. The netbook experience is truly horrible -- she just might not know that something better is out there.

pvarangot 15y ago

> Does anyone truly believe that scores of software > developers writing financial software for banks are > going to trade in their PC to type on an iOS device? > Don't bet money on that (at least for the short-term). Not to mention most professional cases of photo/video/sound editing, and graphic design for magazines or billboards. Sometimes a laptop screen size is truly an impediment. Fast hard disks also help in this tasks.

jseliger 15y ago

In addition, I suspect most of the people buying mobile devices still have a PC and will for the foreseeable future—because their PCs and laptops are cheap, as I discuss in detail here: http://jseliger.com/2011/10/09/desktop-pcs-arent-going-anywhere-despite-the-growth-of-phones-and-tablets%E2%80%94because-theyre-cheap/ http://jseliger.com/2011/10/09/desktop-pcs-arent-going-anywh... . It's not going to be "or"; it's going to be "and."

BrainInAJar 15y ago

" Does anyone truly believe that scores of software developers writing financial software for banks are going to trade in their PC to type on an iOS device? Don't bet money on that (at least for the short-term). " iPad, wireless keyboard & SSH and I can do all my work more or less the same way I do now

freehunter 15y ago
I actually do this right now, but without SSH. I recently started writing my code on an HP Touchpad with a bluetooth keyboard. It started to get difficult to sync my work across multiple computers, especially when there was no network present at a place I wish I could work from. I got a Touchpad, installed Ubuntu on it, and now I can have my entire development studio and all my code wherever I go without needing to worry about getting to my Git repository. There are times when I cannot test my code on the tablet, but at the very least I can write it wherever then push it back to Git and pull it to my test machine when I get back.

neutronicus 15y ago

You also can't really get through college with just an iPad. Apparently students are trying, and grousing when they realize that the kinds of software your classes demand that you run doesn't run on the iPad. I'm guessing that the world of academic software will blink second.