Are We Losing Interest in Computers?

[Guest]

Google usually does not reveal too much detail of its search traffic, but when it does, there may be some interesting implications of user behavior.

Are We Losing Interest in Computers? : Read more

 

[camel82]

Maybe there are more non-technical related sources of information on the web now than 10 years ago?
Blogs, social networks, newspapers, kittens, memes, 9gag jokes...

 

[rantoc]

All this could be due to any number of things.

Some examples.
People have learned to search more efficient resulting in fewer queries.
People have more pref sites they visit and rarely search for new as long as their favourites are adequate.
ect ect ect.

 

[greghome]

or....instead of not having anything to do, most people on the internet these days just stay on Facebook and/or tweeter

 

[Zingam]

computers ↓
porn ↑

 

[TheBigTroll]

if computers are powerful enough for most peoples usage, they probably dont need to research about computer parts since they dont need to upgrade. could be wrong

 

[Guest]

Or more simply, if you don't have the money to spend on computer/technology etc etc you are less likely to look at something you can't afford at this very moment.

 

[idroid]

[citation][nom]rantoc[/nom]People have learned to search more efficient resulting in fewer queries.[/citation]

people don't learn.

 

[egilbe]

More people were n00bs back in 2004 and now more people are growing up with computers in their daily lives. People learn and they don't need to keep going back to research the same topics.

 

[saturnus]

It a quite natural development that as the internet matures the focus is shifted from being focused technological aspects to social aspects.

Computers have also shifted from being something people built to something people buy. 10 years ago the Apple slogan "It just works" made perfect sense that for most people PCs just didn't work. They needed help putting a decent system together, install the needed drivers and so forth. Most of the shelf solutions back then were underpowered and/or half finished products. Today, practically any off the shelf computer system will do exactly what the constumer wants and hence our specialist section that follows the tech news to get the best of the newest for our system is a dying breed.

Now I can't really see if the graph shows percentages or total amount of searches but percentages should naturally be down as the user mass increases because of the above reason. If it's total number of searches that are down, that's worrying news for sites like this that depend on traffic on which the commercials revenue is based upon.

 

[Guest]

not me!

 

[DSpider]

A lack of interest in computers probably has to do with more quality components used today than 8 years ago. For example, most motherboards (if not all of them) sold today come with solid capacitors. This means that it lasts longer and the user doesn't have to worry about new parts. Another thing I noticed is that I don't use Google to search for computer parts or electronics when there are specialized websites (like Tom's Hardware, for example).

 

[freggo]

With computing power and reliability going up there is less need to search as you do not upgrade as often.
Also, for your typical hardware/software needs (Vendors, Online Help) users will have
accumulated a set of bookmarks/favorites.

Like THG, Newegg, Amazon etc.
So there is less need to search for these things over and over.
I'd imagine searches are now for more unusual topic; topic of the day, celeb of the day etc.

 

[Guest]

I use Startpage to do my searches, so count me out in google's stats.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

I knew it's a Gruener article before I even opened it. Wolfgang, how come they allow you to write BS about PCs without the "Opinion" prefix again?

 

[zodiacfml]

He's on the same page as mine. Windows XP, though a good OS compared to previous ones, don't compare to Vista and Win7 reliability. This computer I'm using came from a Release Candidate of Win7. Internet explorer also has been replaced by alternatives.
Additionally, many users don't have to deal with computers once they had their tablets and smartphones.

[citation][nom]DSpider[/nom]A lack of interest in computers probably has to do with more quality components used today than 8 years ago. For example, most motherboards (if not all of them) sold today come with solid capacitors. This means that it lasts longer and the user doesn't have to worry about new parts. Another thing I noticed is that I don't use Google to search for computer parts or electronics when there are specialized websites (like Tom's Hardware, for example).[/citation]

 

[manicmike]

A lack of interest in computers probably has to do with more quality components used today than 8 years ago. For example, most motherboards (if not all of them) sold today come with solid capacitors. This means that it lasts longer and the user doesn't have to worry about new parts. Another thing I noticed is that I don't use Google to search for computer parts or electronics when there are specialized websites (like Tom's Hardware, for example).

^ I agree

Also, becuase I can feel someone later down the road with "Oh people just use smartphones now! lolololol", consider this:

As with all consumer gadgets, you buy it to feel like part of the crowd. It's hip and cool and you're not cool unless you have one. Time to renew your contract, or you dropped it in the toilet, or walked into the corner of a table and broke the screen, or left it on the train... Here, buy the LATEST smartphone, only $150!!!! (with 2 year contract extension).

My desktop computer lasted me 6 years before it became 100% obsolete (it started to suck after 4 years, top of the line when built). Then I built a new one that'll probably last another 4-5 years (I hope) You don't need a new computer every year or so, EVEN LESS if you don't game.

EDIT: lol I took too long to post, there already is one

 

[hokkdawg]

Second DSpider - nowadays, the user experience is so automated that software tends to work right out of the box. There is also a larger base of people who are capable of fixing problems for others. Overall, it probably just means people are having fewer problems that they have to try to solve on their own.

 

[spentshells]

People know google is collecting is collecting data so they as mentioned go directly to websites instead of using google

 

[Bloob]

There are more non-techy people on the web nowadays + techies have sites to frequently visit instead of googling everything.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

If you ask me it is probably due to the success of high quality mass content sites such as wikipedia and other more specialised sites which house most of what people need in one place. Which is great if you ask me. And yes... Also computers have become much more reliable.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

Also.. Smartphones are probably dumbing everybody down. I mean there is a difference between pixel addicts whom can get their fix anywhere and people with real interest in computers.

 

[deksman]

What do people expect when we live in a world that does everything possible to encourage people to waste time of idiotic things in the first place which only serve as a diversion to keep people from asking too many questions and educating themselves?

Along with that... capitalism and money are heading for yet another crash, and due to high automation, people lack the purchasing power to get anything new.
Money is a nuisance that belongs in the past (its a century overdue as is).

We have the ability to automate over 75% of the global workforce - of course, in Capitalism, that's undesirable because it would ruin the economy, and people wouldn't be able to get basic necessities of life, let alone do anything else.
All the more reason 'money' and the concepts pertaining to it has to be abolished completely so we can FINALLY move on and advance at an exponentially higher rate (which would occur when you remove notions of 'cost' and 'value' from the equation).
We've been producing abundance for a century and live in a state of technological obscurity, planned obsolescence and artificially induced scarcity.

 

[Guest]

If google would just research its own data, I am sure that this is the end result of all the false links that a user must mine through to get to the real data. If I google a search tearm on a computer subject, most of the websites that are returned are mostly empty of the information that I am actually looking for. I get plenty of false leads to the requested information, mostly sales adds thinly disguised "information". If I google a headline, in the google main search page, many times I am lead to an empty page with that headline only, the remainder of the page will be full of ads, mostly related to products that have nuthing
to do with the orginal query! Subject searches are so full of this kind of trickery, that I have just stopped
using Google for any serous research! Google needs to police these false content violators better, before
google data mining becomes data gridlock for the user!

 

[Caffeinecarl]

[citation][nom]DSpider[/nom]A lack of interest in computers probably has to do with more quality components used today than 8 years ago. For example, most motherboards (if not all of them) sold today come with solid capacitors. This means that it lasts longer and the user doesn't have to worry about new parts. Another thing I noticed is that I don't use Google to search for computer parts or electronics when there are specialized websites (like Tom's Hardware, for example).[/citation]
[citation][nom]manicmike[/nom]^ I agree Also, becuase I can feel someone later down the road with "Oh people just use smartphones now! lolololol", consider this: As with all consumer gadgets, you buy it to feel like part of the crowd. It's hip and cool and you're not cool unless you have one. Time to renew your contract, or you dropped it in the toilet, or walked into the corner of a table and broke the screen, or left it on the train... Here, buy the LATEST smartphone, only $150!!!! (with 2 year contract extension).My desktop computer lasted me 6 years before it became 100% obsolete (it started to suck after 4 years, top of the line when built). Then I built a new one that'll probably last another 4-5 years (I hope) You don't need a new computer every year or so, EVEN LESS if you don't game.EDIT: lol I took too long to post, there already is one[/citation]

Same with me. I bought the "everything but the kitchen sink" machine I'm using now back in 2005 originally, did MAJOR upgrade work back in 2008 (and reused ALL the old parts to create a new computer for my father, which also still works great) and basically ever since then, I haven't had to replace anything except a CRT monitor that simply kicked the bucket. I play modern games and it still works great. This isn't to say that there is no use for new machines. There is always somebody with a badly aging PC that is simply due for a replacement, or somebody who wants to buy an additional system and there's good reason to go for a latest and greatest PC at that point. For that, the R&D teams can still keep their work. For the rest of the machines that have been in service far longer nowadays than before, hats off to them for finally creating a reliable product!