Is it time to log off from the PC? (1 Viewer)

scotjimland

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Pusser

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I think the "PC" will evolve into something that now would not look like a PC. It will be modular along the lines of a console and programs will be used as needed using cloud computing and you get a bill at the end of the month.

This then has the advantages that a programer is writing for one type of computer i.e. xbox / wii etc and not having to take into account a myriad of graphics cards, processors, memory etc.

I have seen such a machine which is going in that direction from Sony. Where incorporated into a huge TV, it is a PC, a media player and a few other things I have forgotton.

Upgrades will not be available and repairs a send away to do only option and the local pc man will be no more. I think the MAC is almost like this already and DIY is probably not as likely as with the present PC.

Of course this is assuming we are not all back to farming and hunting in this future. :ROFLMAO:
 

GJH

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£600...£800 for an I-phone (off contract)

£350 for a laptop

i know which will win out in the end by price alone :thumb:

We happened to be in Comet yesterday and looked at netbooks/laptops as we passed them. There is a wide range of prices, as there is with phones so it appears that the market still supports that. Personally I reckon that Apple products are overpriced and restrictive but I recognise that many take the opposite view.

I think the "PC" will evolve into something that now would not look like a PC. It will be modular along the lines of a console and programs will be used as needed using cloud computing and you get a bill at the end of the month.
(snip for brevity)

Thin client/cloud has been touted for what, 10/15/20 years now? It suits some but not others. I have too little trust in the security measures and financial standing of companies offering remote data storage.

I shall stick to my cheaper options, where I look after my data and hope we will all be happy :Smile:
 

artona

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Personally I reckon that Apple products are overpriced and restrictive but I recognise that many take the opposite view.

I read this opposite view on one of the blogs I follow

"Apple MacBook Pro
You may recall my purchase of an Apple MacBook Pro last December. Since that time I've been using the MacBook to publish the blog and web pages. However, I also have an HP notebook bought from Fry's Electronics last June. I've been using the HP mostly to watch movies.

There is no clear reason in my mind for using these two computers this way. Both computers have the same programs installed. I am using the Apple MacBook Pro as my main computer simply because it just works better!

I did not have any bias toward either of these computers when I began using them. However, it soon became abundantly clear to me that the Apple product worked much better than the HP. This may be like comparing an orange with an apple [pun intended]. Because the Apple cost about three times the HP.

Even the Apple operating system works MUCH better than the Microsoft operating system! The controls for copying, pasting, etc, on the Mac are much more logical and easier to use. The trackpad on the Mac works far better than the trackpad on the HP. I've even stopped using a mouse with the Mac because it is easier for me to just use the trackpad. This one thing blows me away!

I used to buy my computers mostly based on price alone. Not anymore."


Things will change. The power in my Iphone4 is immense. 3G internet connection is now getting very good. What would be ideal for me would be to have all my computing in the Iphone. When I get to a base (desk) I would like a docking station so that I can then view on a large screen and have a keyboard bigger than the palm of my hand.

Then I really would have a personal computer, one that goes around with me and not be tethered to a desk.

Most of us are too old for us to be the developers main concern. I think they know that younger people will be more receptive to "the cloud" style of software/data holding and things will eventually go that way.
 

GJH

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(snip)
Most of us are too old for us to be the developers main concern. I think they know that younger people will be more receptive to "the cloud" style of software/data holding and things will eventually go that way.

You could well be right about age :Smile: Receptive or drawn in though? The web is, naturally, a "pull" medium but almost since its inception publishing organisations have been trying to tie people into the traditional "push" model (you get what we want to give you). The ease of use of social networking sites is attractive to many but a vast number of users have no conception of the ways in which their data are captured and used in ways which are primarily in the interest of the data users rather than the data subjects.

Interesting that the guy writing about the Apple MacBook Pro says it works better. Like any tool it can only work better is it has the capability. In my family tree printing field it is impossible for Macs to work better than PCs because the software to print the charts simply does not exist to the same extent for the Mac.

I was just saying the other day that a toy I would like is some sort of roll-up/fold up screen which I could put in a pocket and use with my phone via bluetooth - as that would make the phone much more usable away from my desk for Internet access. Other than that, though, I'm happy to use different devices in different places - bluetooth provides all docking station type functions I require.

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artona

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You could well be right about age :Smile: Receptive or drawn in though? The web is, naturally, a "pull" medium but almost since its inception publishing organisations have been trying to tie people into the traditional "push" model (you get what we want to give you). The ease of use of social networking sites is attractive to many but a vast number of users have no conception of the ways in which their data are captured and used in ways which are primarily in the interest of the data users rather than the data subjects.

Interesting that the guy writing about the Apple MacBook Pro says it works better. Like any tool it can only work better is it has the capability. In my family tree printing field it is impossible for Macs to work better than PCs because the software to print the charts simply does not exist to the same extent for the Mac.

I was just saying the other day that a toy I would like is some sort of roll-up/fold up screen which I could put in a pocket and use with my phone via bluetooth - as that would make the phone much more usable away from my desk for Internet access. Other than that, though, I'm happy to use different devices in different places - bluetooth provides all docking station type functions I require.

You are totally right Graham, the equipment is as good as the application you put it to. Being a pro photographer the mac wins hands down, outright, in every essence ::bigsmile:::bigsmile: but as far as developers go some do cater for just the mass markets. I switched to digitally imaging very early on and back in those days I relied on a printing program that re-read the data and ensured you were printing at the maximum dpi of your printer. They never wrote the program for mac and never intended to.
 

GJH

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You are totally right Graham, the equipment is as good as the application you put it to. Being a pro photographer the mac wins hands down, outright, in every essence ::bigsmile:::bigsmile: [HI]but as far as developers go some do cater for just the mass markets[/HI]. I switched to digitally imaging very early on and back in those days I relied on a printing program that re-read the data and ensured you were printing at the maximum dpi of your printer. They never wrote the program for mac and never intended to.

Which is why so many government systems and call centre systems are such cr*p ::bigsmile:::bigsmile:
 
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scotjimland

scotjimland

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Personally I reckon that Apple products are overpriced and restrictive but I recognise that many take the opposite view.

Cue Mac man :roflmto:

Overpriced.. well yes they are expensive if you simply look at the off the self price.. but over the life time it could be argued they work out cheaper .. for example..

I'm using an iBook G4 .. purchased in 2004 IIRC was around £600 , so to date it has cost about £85 per year.. OK, it is almost at the end of it's useful life due mainly to not being supported by third party software vendors.. but I will keep using it as it does all I need ..

On the downside, my 17" Powerbook bought in 2005 costing £2k requires a new screen and the touch pad is playing up.. replacing both myself would cost about £400 .. it's just not worth it as it also has the old Motorola processor .. so that cost me about £333 per year..! :Angry:

Will I buy another.. almost certainly, I would rather have a second hand Mac as a brand new shiny Windoze PC..

The Mac versus PC argument has raged for years .. and no sign of it ending .. :roflmto:

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Pusser

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My first computer was second hand and was given to me in lieu of an unpaid debt. It was top of the range and had one colour on the screen (orange) and two floppy disk drives. (Told you it was a top model) :Sad:

Having got nerdy over dos and ascii and batch files I bought another second hand pc. This time it had colour, plua one floppy and a small hard drive from Amstrad and it cost me £1500. Plus extra for a the printer which I cannot remember but it was dot matrix.

From there I have always built my own computers so they do what I want them to do but no more. Very often shop computers were out of balance due to marketing one excessive feature plonked in with rubbish features.

I have always felt that pound for pound, PC's were always better value than Apples but concede that those that like them never seem to change back to PC's. Always big in Ad and design companies where Apple excelled but you need a decent PC for work such as Doom and other necessary games to one's life. If you want an early coronary, go to an Apple Mac centre and ask them to upgrade your memory. The labour and parts costs are truly unbelievable.
 

Douzeper

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I remember my first computer - ZX81, I even remember getting a 16k RAM PACK for it!

Still have it sitting in the garden shed in a bag, with the manuals etc, wonder is it worth anything.:Smile: Used to use an old portable tape player to load the games, had to have the volume just right or it didn't work. Everything I done on it had to be programmed, I wrote a program to work out every uneven number starting from 1, left it running overnight and when I got up in the morning all excited it had made it to around 133.:roflmto:

It broke after a few months of using it, no one seemed able to fix it, always wondered if it hadn't of broke it might of been me who designed windows :)

PC's/Macs are here to stay, phones/tablets all have their place but are so restrictive, I was of the opinion years ago that PC's needed to integrate more with other items in the household. One big entertainment centre connected to everything else, all very easily used with nothing to learn, basically like switching on a TV, touchscreen and idiot proof.

But now I am glad they don't, they would just be a huge smartphone, would become restrictive and we would have lost so much control.

Iphones/Tablets/Android devices etc all go hand in hand with a pc/mac.

I just wish I could ditch windows completely and use Android as an operating system, not be long I'm sure.

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GJH

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I just wish I could ditch windows completely and use Android as an operating system, not be long I'm sure.

I was wasting time the other day looking at the current crop of netbooks on the market and noticed that there are now several models which offer dual boot into either Windows 7 or Android.

The main criticism seems to be that Android is not yet well enough developed to support a machine with a keyboard interface. That development will come but whether that means that companies will develop versions of their Windows software to run on Android is another question.

The reason why Macs are so popular in the advertising and publishing worlds is that the first real desktop publishing package, QuarkXpress, was initially developed for Macs. Had it been developed for PC then it would have been a different story.
 

Douzeper

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The main criticism seems to be that Android is not yet well enough developed to support a machine with a keyboard interface. That development will come but whether that means that companies will develop versions of their Windows software to run on Android is another question.

Isn't android just linux with a nice front end? seems weird that it wouldn't be well enough developed for a keyboard interface. I've used a few distributions of Linux over the years and they were good but always end up back at windows for the reasons you say, not enough supported software.
 

GJH

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Isn't android just linux with a nice front end? seems weird that it wouldn't be well enough developed for a keyboard interface. I've used a few distributions of Linux over the years and they were good but always end up back at windows for the reasons you say, not enough supported software.

It's based on Linux but, as I understand it, developed/optimised for phones and then touch screens rather than devices with conventional keyboards.

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