jueves, 17 de junio de 2010

Are the days of the Desktop PC counted?


Apple is well-known for the beauty of their products and its innovations. Their latest child, born in a climate of generalized expectation, is the ipad. Many waited for it impatiently while others kept mumbling and grumbling...asking for the anti-apple trolls to start their destruction of the new gadget.


It started already. They began scoffing at Steve Jobs because ipads were not flash-compatible. "How are people supposed to surf the web without flash when most of the websites simply use it? Jobs blew it!", they said with a fiendish grin.

Then, the second blow came: ipads block Google ads. "Apple is cornering itself more and more. Apple users will be more isolated than they are now...like the bunch of aristocratic idiots they are!" said the trolls showing their filed teeth that resembled stalagmites and stalactites in front of a foul-smelling cave.

However, the launching of the ipad and tablet computers has posed a new concern: what will happen to the good ol' desktop PC? Are we seeing the extinction of the desktop?

Some people say it is inevitable. The big PC will fall prey of the smaller, velociraptor-like devices.

Others disagree. For one part, ipads are too expensive and tablet computers do not welcome Windows as laptops and desktops do (netbooks are not included here because they run a crippled version of windows 7, not the actual system.) According to them, until tablet computers accept Redmond children and their prices go down, the Desktop Rex will keep its reign.

There's another consideration, though. Tablet computers can run Linux with (almost) no problem. If Linux enters the tablet computer scene, things may get complicated to the Desktop PC. The biggest issue Linux would have to solve is compatibility with touch screen technologies. As far as I understand, Ubuntu is taking the lead in this path.

OLPC (One Laptop per Child) announced that their latest product, the XO-3, will run Linux. So, we may actually have to say farewell to our longtime friend and our grandchildren might not get to know it.

2 comentarios:

  1. Actually, the extinction threat is also affecting small netbooks (8-10 inch). Users like mobility, but typing comfort, too.

    IPad did not cause the intended effect because of the Flash and USB port lack. Jobs said that Flash is the number one reason why macs crash... And now experts are predicting the death of Flash technologies...talk about winds of change!

    Interestingly, computer prices are going down everywhere except in Costa Rica, where they sell the machines at the same high prices all the time.

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  2. And they said that CAFTA would bring free computers! Only here people let others rip them off so easily!

    Personally, I'd feel uncomfortable typing on a virtual keyboard. I understand iPads have some problems with that input technology, too.

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