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I visited a place with a "desktop is dead" / "mobile is the next everything" message a while back. Couldn't help but notice all the desktops. Nobody was doing t

by api 12y ago

I visited a place with a "desktop is dead" / "mobile is the next everything" message a while back. Couldn't help but notice all the desktops. Nobody was doing their work on a mobile device. The boat people are totally missing is this: sure, mobile is growing like crazy, but what we're seeing isn't the death of PC. What we're seeing is the filling out and explosive diversification of the computing ecosystem. The future isn't a "next platform," it's a whole ecosystem of devices serving specialized functions or function domains. For PC that's "personal computing" -- doing "big" stuff and "real work." For mobile that's mostly communications along with navigation, etc., the sort of thing you want an ultraportable micro-communicator for. I own a tablet, a smart phone, and a laptop, and of the three the tablet is probably the one I could do without. The smart phone and the laptop are used constantly. But the tablet is nice for reading and note taking.

Joeri 12y ago
Web browsing outside of tech circles us predominately a phone-based activity or on the verge of becoming one (it depends on whether you consider app interaction like facebook to be a web browsing style activity or not). The point of the article is that you have to build for your market, and for most web designers that means not just mobile, but phone.
jonathanstark 12y ago
Yes, there are certain work products (code, for example) that still can only reasonably be done on desktop/laptop computers. But the list of work products that require a desktop/laptop are dwindling, not growing. Printers are a good analogy. Look around most any office and note that the number of printers has drastically decreased. This is a sign of work products changing - i.e., people don't need to print out as much stuff on paper to get our jobs done. The same is happening with desktop/laptops now. It's industry specific currently but the trend is clear.
gphil 12y ago
This is exactly my feeling as well. I would take a huge productivity hit without a phone, or without a laptop. I would mostly miss my tablet on plane rides. I would love to see more data on this though, because I wonder if most non-HNers feel the same way.
- api 12y ago
  I'd say of the three losing the laptop would be the worst. I would be unable to do any of my work at all, and the comm functions of the phone could technically be made up by the laptop and a dumb phone. Laptop: essential like indoor plumbing Phone: very useful, major time-saver, but could live without Tablet: nice for reading but dispensable Tablets are the only endangered class that I see. They occupy an uncanny valley: too small and restrictive for what you do on laptops, too big to be as portable as a smart phone.

by api 12y ago

Joeri 12y ago

Web browsing outside of tech circles us predominately a phone-based activity or on the verge of becoming one (it depends on whether you consider app interaction like facebook to be a web browsing style activity or not). The point of the article is that you have to build for your market, and for most web designers that means not just mobile, but phone.

jonathanstark 12y ago

Yes, there are certain work products (code, for example) that still can only reasonably be done on desktop/laptop computers. But the list of work products that require a desktop/laptop are dwindling, not growing. Printers are a good analogy. Look around most any office and note that the number of printers has drastically decreased. This is a sign of work products changing - i.e., people don't need to print out as much stuff on paper to get our jobs done. The same is happening with desktop/laptops now. It's industry specific currently but the trend is clear.

gphil 12y ago

This is exactly my feeling as well. I would take a huge productivity hit without a phone, or without a laptop. I would mostly miss my tablet on plane rides. I would love to see more data on this though, because I wonder if most non-HNers feel the same way.

api 12y ago
I'd say of the three losing the laptop would be the worst. I would be unable to do any of my work at all, and the comm functions of the phone could technically be made up by the laptop and a dumb phone. Laptop: essential like indoor plumbing Phone: very useful, major time-saver, but could live without Tablet: nice for reading but dispensable Tablets are the only endangered class that I see. They occupy an uncanny valley: too small and restrictive for what you do on laptops, too big to be as portable as a smart phone.