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Calling BS on… “the PC is dead”
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 by Neil Ward-Dutton
I’m not sure whether it’s just that I’m getting more cranky as I get older and hang around in the IT industry for longer, or whether industry commentary is becoming more hyperbolic, partial and simplistic. Perhaps it’s the impact of consumer-style IT product promotion initiatives; perhaps it’s the race for online eyeballs and the lure of churnalism.
Whatever the reason is, I’m finding myself wanting to “call BS” on things I see discussed more and more often. Rather than just restricting these outbursts to occasional office rants I’ve decided to channel my frustration into a set of blog posts, each one focused on a position that’s aroused my ire.
I might be controversial at times: please weigh in with your comments! It would be great to start some debate here.
Without further ado, herewith find: Calling BS on… “The PC is dead”.
With the 30th anniversary of the IBM Personal Computer upon us, a rash of articles has appeared over the past couple of weeks using phrases like “the post-PC era” and “the PC is dead”. Smartphones are everywhere! Tablets are the answer! Who wants to use a PC anymore?
My take? The PC is dead in the same way as the mainframe is dead. (Hint).
Yes, the PC form factor as first popularised by IBM 30 years ago is unlikely to remain the de facto form factor for personal computing in the home that it has been for the past two decades. With smarter TVs, tablets, smartphones and Internet-connected gaming consoles becoming very common, we’re experiencing a Cambrian explosion of consumer computing and communications devices.
But it’s that “consumer” idea that’s the key here, I think. These things are principally media and entertainment *consumption* devices. Are software programmers going to create iPad games on the iPad, or code CRM systems or build interactive websites on Samsung Galaxy Tabs? Not any time soon. Are investment banking quants going to be inventing financial instruments on their smartphones? Nuh-uh.
The PC isn’t going anywhere. It will become less ubiquitous, particularly in home environments. But I think it will settle in its rightful place: as a serious information and technology production tool.
As some people are probably sick of me saying by now: nothing ever really dies in the IT industry.
Have a different point of view? Let me know! Comments are very welcome indeed.
Posted in General
I wholeheartedly agree. Many have said that the Wii moved gaming from the basement and into the livingroom. In the same way, tablets and smart TVs are perhaps moving the PC out of the living room and into the basement where it becomes an entertainment hub, a home management system and the occasional programming device (even though the cloud is making it easier and easier to program and deploy apps via dumb terminals).
So while the PC might not be 6 feet under it is going underground :)
Thanks for the comment Mihnea! Personally I’m holding out on the Wii, as our living room is enough of a warzone as it is…
The PC has just moved into my pocket, it’s still a personal computer it has a phone on it and it fits… in my pocket.
The use of the phrase “the PC is dead” is like so many other similar phrases, it’s used to describe how the World is changing. It’s not literal, the problem is more to do with the people that misuse it in this way. People will get tired of using it soon enough and move on to the next. I really wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, I certainly wouldn’t let it drive me to writing a blog about it unless I was contributing to the debate. But then I did comment on this! :)
Thanks very much for your reply Craig! I think we’re in agreement… I do like to let off steam occasionally though…
I was at Oracle when Larry Ellison announced the NC and at Sun in the hay days of the JavaStation when similar rhetoric aka BS peppered sales and marketing collateral.
The challenge was that they were consumption devices, for a subset of the content – applications – that were used in enterprises. Where equivalent applications were available, there was then the challenge of inertia and risk of migration. The failure was no small part to the absence of applications that enterprises relied on – and the ecosystem of developers building those applications.
The PC as a form factor for personal computing may diminish but as a form factor for employee computing and consumer content creation … to paraphrase Mark Twain … “the reports of its death are greatly exaggerated”.
Ah, the Network Computer… happy days…