Is the PC "Dying"?

Desktops are as dead as jacob Marley (or Bob). Lappies are not as enticing as before, but still hangin in there. Netbooks/chromebooks/touchpads COULD be the all-in-one device of choice with a 9" screen. Watching movies/TV on a smartphone isn't.

Quote: Nareed

Does this chromebook do anything?

It works as a mobile browser, with keyboard. It runs local apps, but most of your data will be in 'the cloud', as will some of the hard core processing power.

It is possible to develop on a chromebook, as there are some cloud-based IDE's it would work on. I know people using Chrome OS based word processors to write dissertations on (even if the final format and print work is down on their home/work machines).

So yeah, it does plenty, and again, it all depends on your needs. I think it will have a good niche for people who want a proper keyboard/mouse for their normal tasks, but don't need that much power locally and have good access to the internet. Students, writers, researchers spring to mind, as these are the people I know who've been talking about it.

Quote: Nareed

That doesn't explain Windows 8.

Ah right, that is needless dick-swinging from the dudes up in Redmond. I know a bunch of them, so I'm allowed to say that :)

Quote: TheCesspit

I can't develop code on a ipad, tablet or chromebook. The PC/desktop Mac won't die.

I'm right there with you.

Quote: TheCesspit

It works as a mobile browser, with keyboard. It runs local apps, but most of your data will be in 'the cloud', as will some of the hard core processing power.

I still don't like the idea of being dependent on an internet connection in order to be able to work.

Oh, I am dependent on one in order to do some of my work. And, let's face it, a lot of other work relies on being able to access data and reference amterials online. Sure. But I can write fiction without a connection. I'd hate it for the word processing program to go on the fritz because for some reason the web link got severed somewhere along the line.

Quote: AcesAndEights

Ah right, that is needless dick-swinging from the dudes up in Redmond. I know a bunch of them, so I'm allowed to say that :)

Windows Me, strike one
Windows Vista, strike two.
Windows 8, strikes three through 111,116.

I think that gives us all the right to say that, and worse.

My point here is that if Win8 mkaes the desktop harder to use, and it limits the functioning of a PC to that of a tablet, and since the desktop is "legacy" and will be done away with in the next version, meaning that your expensive high-end PC witht he BIG monitor and half a dozen USB ports will do, in practice, no more work than a $200 tablet, well, if that doesn't kill the PC nothing will.

On a completely unrelated note, in my considered opinion Windows 8 must be destroyed.

More seriously, I have been thinking of getting (not of buying) a Win8 PC and experimenting with it. Not with the desktop part of the interface (that is to say, the useful part of the OS), but with the namless Metro/Modern abortion of an interface. The idea would be to try to do serious work: spreadsheets, documents, research, etc. Then to blog on it while campaigning against the massive idiocy emanating from Microsoft and others.

But who has the time for that?

It becomes increasingly clear I'll eventually have no choice and be forced to partake of the unfriendly world that is Linux. But this also points to an opportunity for an enterprising, young(ish) Linux enthusiast: develop a Linux-based interface to replace Windows on hundreds of millions of PCs. You, too, could be the next big billionaire.

Huh? There are plenty of graphical Linux interfaces already. Linux is open source. You can not sell the software. No one will get rich doing a GUI for a linux flavour. Ubuntu Unity and GNOME spring to mind, but there are several out there.

I have exclusively used the metro interface for a few hours. It worked. I did not love it, but it is unfamiliar rather than terrible.

Zoho docs has an offline mode. I don't know if Chromebook supports it. I would expect some local storage, and the ability to work offline and deal with a wifi outage. A quick scan of the specs suggests that to be true.

Quote: TheCesspit

Huh? There are plenty of graphical Linux interfaces already. Linux is open source. You can not sell the software. No one will get rich doing a GUI for a linux flavour. Ubuntu Unity and GNOME spring to mind, but there are several out there.

I thought you could sell an interface, programs and, in particualr, the Windows emmualtor that really, really works this time, really. And we really mean it this time ;)

Really.

Quote: Nareed

I thought you could sell an interface, programs and, in particualr, the Windows emmualtor that really, really works this time, really. And we really mean it this time ;)

Really.

Still don't understand your point. Graphical based Linux interfaces exists. Graphical Linux with online apps exist. Graphical Linux with Office compatible software exists. There wouldn't be a 'windows emulator'. You could build a dual boot machine, or use a Virtual machine for your must have windows software (this happens here). Asking for such a thing is like asking for a car that also is a motorbike.

Quote: TheCesspit

Still don't understand your point.

The point is a lot of people don't like Windows 8, even in desktop mode. The rest of the point is that Linux versions, varieties, flavors, whatever are not what you'd call friendly to the common user who is at home with Windows. One solution would be to develop, if there it hasn't been done already, a version of Linux that looks, feels and acts like Windows 7, or close to it.

Quote:

You could build a dual boot machine, or use a Virtual machine for your must have windows software (this happens here). Asking for such a thing is like asking for a car that also is a motorbike.

The idea is to get away from Windows 8. If you're going to have a Linux completely different from Win7 in one aprtition and Win8 in the other, you may as well end it all now and save yourself the trouble.

So, you get the interface to look and act in a familiar way, and to run familiar software. Since it's a Linux OS, it needs an emualtor for Windows software.

Maybe it's a bad idea. But it's completely rational.

On an unrelated topic, Windows 8 must be destroyed.

Which flavours of Linux GUI's have you tried?