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As a consumer, I hope he is wrong. As a producer, I believe he is wrong. As a consumer with a high-spec PC with multiple large monitors, a good phone, and two
by bhauer 13y ago
As a consumer, I hope he is wrong. As a producer, I believe he is wrong.
As a consumer with a high-spec PC with multiple large monitors, a good phone, and two tablets, I strongly prefer consuming all content on my PC. It's faster—by a massive margin, easier to navigate, easier to read, easier to simultaneously consume two or more content items (video + text content, for example), easier to pair consumption with production. It's better in every single content consumption metric that matters to me. It has a lot of room for improvement (see my previous rants about monitors), and I feel the lack of innovation in desktop computing is precisely why it's flagging. But that has more to deal with lack of innovation in desktop computing and less to do with mobile versus desktop.
As a producer, there is no comparison. In a pinch, I can produce work product on my Surface Pro or, in an even tighter pinch, on my Venue 8 Pro. But every moment I do so, I will be longing to be back home in front of my desktop computer. Unless of course I am on vacation in some beautiful environment.
Speaking of, I often feel there is a myopic view of computing that says mobile is workable for work production because the people making the decisions are those who can be mobile—they travel extensively and don't produce a whole lot. They may be creative, but they are not the creators. For the rest of us, we spend a lot of time at home or at an office, two locations where we easily can install high-performance desktop computing in one form or another.
Like others here, I don't care a whole lot precisely what is behind the screens, keyboard, mouse; behind the projectors, hand gesture inputs, and so on. I don't care if it's a PC in a big ATX case, a NUC or Brix, or a mobile device that I dock on a charging plate with wireless HDMI. What matters is that I can break free of its mobileness, making it a device with a large screen, a full-size keyboard, and a high-precision pointing device such as a mouse. That is desktop computing, and it will evolve.
Yeah, for me, I hope he is wrong because his model of computing is one that doesn't align with my preferences. Furthermore, in the computing model I long for, all my mobile devices become subservient to a singular "computer" that runs my applications. One of those applications will be a web browser.
- coldtea 13y ago>Speaking of, I often feel there is a myopic view of computing that says mobile is workable for work production because the people making the decisions are those who can be mobile—they travel extensively and don't produce a whole lot. They may be creative, but they are not the creators. For the rest of us, we spend a lot of time at home or at an office, two locations where we easily can install high-performance desktop computing in one form or another. What kind of "work" are you reffering to? I know top programmers, photographers, musicians, video editors that work from their laptops, either at home but also on the road. Work as in, deliver final results to customers. If they, with their increased demands, can do that, who wouldn't, and what exactly do you do?
- Swizec 13y agoA laptop is a mightily different beast than a tablet or a phone. Laptops are PC's. There's a full-sized keyboard, high precision pointing device, and even a very decent screen. None of that exists on things people think when they say "mobile". I'm trying to say that a laptop fits every single specification parent poster gave for a useful device that can break free of its mobileness. It's even got magnificent practical support for multi-tasking. Yeah sure we can "multitask" on tablets and phones these days, but the UX is a joke. Just trying to cross-reference two different websites, or a skype conversation and a website, is downright painful on a true mobile device.
- coldtea 13y agoOh, I'm sorry, thought the comment was also meant against laptops (them being mobile too and with the ending talking about having "high-performance desktop computing" at home).
- contextfree 13y agoSplit screen works pretty well on win8.1 tablet :)
- w1ntermute 13y agoMeh, I've seen a lot of people who are very skilled in their respective fields, but are extremely slow in doing anything with a computer. This is especially true when someone is using a trackpad.
- walshemj 13y agoI think you find that these "top" creatives might well have a laptop or two for on site work but will have big traditional PC back at base. For example in music a proper studio will use a desktop pc (or multipel PC's) as the heart of its DAW - with the laptop used for performance/playback rather than creation. I bet Air Studios or Abbey Road will be using MAC pros's and not Laptops
- jotm 13y agoPC's won't go away, but they will become a specialty item (mostly for producers, scientists and probably gamers). That's because the average user (http://i.imgur.com/UVMV7ZB.gif http://i.imgur.com/UVMV7ZB.gif) doesn't care about all of its capabilities - they just want a Web browser and maybe a document editor. They don't see the point of multiple monitors, SSDs, separate storage servers and other accessories. A tablet that can connect to their TV is more than enough, and that's what the future of PC for the average user is going to be IMO.
- pjbrunet 13y ago"producers, scientists and gamers" You're really over-simplifying here. Just go to McDonalds and count all the screens. Order tracking terminals, animated menus, registers, back office--must be 12 screens in there just to sell burgers.
- contextfree 13y agoI always thought "behind the bar" had an amazing interface, with virtuosic operators!
- pjbrunet 13y agoExactly. If your job is reply "Yes" or "No" or "OK" that's great for mobile but not realistic for most of us in the trenches.