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> The desktop is quickly becoming irrelevant. The future platform is going to be mobile and is going to be dealing with the reality of running untrusted applica

> The desktop is quickly becoming irrelevant. The future platform is going to be mobile and is going to be dealing with the reality of running untrusted applications This is off topic (tho from the article :p), but, is it really becoming irrelevant? What will replace such things as: typing lots of text, photoshopping/gimping, programming IDE, browsing with multiple browser windows with dozens of tabs each, etc...? Would Linux users abandon the desktop, if so, for what? P.S. unless I can plugin my phone into something with a keyboard, mouse and big monitors (or more productive equivalent), it is as fast as my current desktop, and has desktop oriented software in that mode, I don't see myself abandoning the desktop

perlgeek 13y ago
The desktop isn't hip, and it's not a source of growing amount of sells; but most people I know still spend at least 6 hours a day in front of a desktop computer, with no indication that it'll change. So my own answer is a firm "no".
tinco 13y ago
Desktops are not really going away, they're just taking a roundabout. Instead of desktops people are now buying laptops, and attaching external monitors, keyboards, mice. The next step could be people buying tablets, and attaching the external devices for power use. The difference is subtle, as it seems to be nothing is materially changing, but the current tablet/mobile ecosystem is dominated by application container operating systems like Android and iOS, and it seems unlikely that that is going to change. This is the movement that is obsoleting traditional Linux and Windows, at least on consumer hardware. So to answer your question: "typing lots of text, photoshopping/gimping, programming IDE, browsing with multiple browser windows" will be replaced by functionality in containerized applications or 'apps'. The apps are bought/downloaded from app repositories that are loosely maintained by commercial entities, and they could very well be untrustworthy. As to your P.S.: yes, exactly, so you already know you are going to abandoning the desktop.
- Aardwolf 13y ago
  > As to your P.S.: yes, exactly, so you already know you are going to abandoning the desktop. Oh, hmm, would I guess also really depend on what OS and software is available for it and how open the whole ecosystem is, I mean, something unix-like that you can modify, not something single-closed-source-app-at-a-time-like :) And if a desktop machine will allow you to stuff many more powerful CPUs and GPUs in it I may keep using one anyway :D
- pekk 13y ago
  because I really don't need actual Photoshop or development tools that have been refined for many decades, I just need shitty little Android apps written in the last few years. No, that is wrong.
  - tinco 13y ago
    What makes you think that Photoshop or development tools can't be either apps or web applications?

perlgeek 13y ago

The desktop isn't hip, and it's not a source of growing amount of sells; but most people I know still spend at least 6 hours a day in front of a desktop computer, with no indication that it'll change. So my own answer is a firm "no".

tinco 13y ago

Desktops are not really going away, they're just taking a roundabout. Instead of desktops people are now buying laptops, and attaching external monitors, keyboards, mice. The next step could be people buying tablets, and attaching the external devices for power use. The difference is subtle, as it seems to be nothing is materially changing, but the current tablet/mobile ecosystem is dominated by application container operating systems like Android and iOS, and it seems unlikely that that is going to change. This is the movement that is obsoleting traditional Linux and Windows, at least on consumer hardware. So to answer your question: "typing lots of text, photoshopping/gimping, programming IDE, browsing with multiple browser windows" will be replaced by functionality in containerized applications or 'apps'. The apps are bought/downloaded from app repositories that are loosely maintained by commercial entities, and they could very well be untrustworthy. As to your P.S.: yes, exactly, so you already know you are going to abandoning the desktop.

Aardwolf 13y ago
> As to your P.S.: yes, exactly, so you already know you are going to abandoning the desktop. Oh, hmm, would I guess also really depend on what OS and software is available for it and how open the whole ecosystem is, I mean, something unix-like that you can modify, not something single-closed-source-app-at-a-time-like :) And if a desktop machine will allow you to stuff many more powerful CPUs and GPUs in it I may keep using one anyway :D
pekk 13y ago
because I really don't need actual Photoshop or development tools that have been refined for many decades, I just need shitty little Android apps written in the last few years. No, that is wrong.
- tinco 13y ago
  What makes you think that Photoshop or development tools can't be either apps or web applications?