Opinion: Can Windows 8 Save the PC?

[1foxracing]

I think Wolfgang is just "slumming" at Tom's until he gets his dream gig at apple.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]amigafan[/nom]The question in the article is: Is it innovative enough to save the PC?The PC doesn't need any "innovations" of THAT kind otherwise it won't be a PC anymore but merely appliance for the casual consumers (who don't really need a PC, just give them the tablet for Facebook, multimedia and shopping online). PC itself needs to be continuously enhanced (more speed, less noise, less heat, and lower power consumption all at the same time, and of course it will always need a no-nonsense operating system without user "friendly" bloat which can't be disabled - imagine giant toolbars on the browsers are mandatory that would suck).Morphing the PC into a locked-down appliance is not equal to "saving" it. On the contrary, it's turning it into something that is not a PC anymore.You know "Post PC" or "PC Plus" era smells like stupidification and system access restriction. At least from the today's standpoint (I'm not saying this is definitely going to happen it just looks like it's heading that way).[/citation]


i agree 100% i don't think companies should look at chaning the desk top , but just focus on it's strong points and try to implement features that sell those strong points instead of burying them in layers of simplified bull crap for the masses.

i'm ahuge PC gamer/user , i play games on it as often if not more than i do consoles , I go to school online for games and use it Soley for every thing drom drawing comcept sketches to rendering out finished models in 3ds max and maya. none of the things i use my pc for can truely ever be done well on any device BUT a desk top PC. sure some lap toops come close toa desk top in performance but only the top end uber priced lap tops and even then those only aproach high end mid level PC's ( $1,300 -$1,600 desk tops) , key word being aproach they never exceed. and if you build your own or buy botique brands like ballistic or falcon north west , there is no lap top that can come near the capabilities of a $2000+ desk top (including lap tops form those brands).

but geting long winded there , main point is you wont see 3ds max or auto cad running on a ipad or even a net book so why the hell try to water down a desktop with an OS designed more for those applications?

as for main stream consumers , no these guys don't need that that $2000 + ldesk top or even a 1000 dollar one. A Tablet or net book shoudl suit thier needs fine.

i don't see the PC industry dieing out , i do accept that maybe it will slip back inot the "office" or work force equipment it originally was back in teh 70's and 80's , but die no it won't do that.

Then again the increasing cost of consoles and teh decreasing ability to fit hot components (that keep getting hotter every generation) into tight spaces. may well become a boon for teh PC industry the price gap on consoles in teh enxt ten years may very well narrow much closer to what a gaming pc cost eliminating the whole point of a console. if this happens you could see PC repalce consoles systems perhaps , and i could see the need for a watered down OS then to bring games ot the masses via PC instead of companies bashing thier brains otu trying to increase power on smaller paltforms with out increasing the heat exponetially.

then again this may well be the number 1 reason why companies are pushing for cloud gaming in the future , teh cost of producing consoles are getting extreme , and the fight against piracy on PC is over before it starts.

Sorry to go rant about console versus Pc , i personally think that these things are not likely to happen at least not in my life tim. jsut possibilities. in all likely hood there will be home consioles and PC both for many eyars to come.

The point i'm harping at is that main stream consummers have very little use for Desk top PC's now , so why MS is wasting millions trying to water windows down further for the "mainstream" is beyound comphrension. In short they shoudl trim the fat where it need's triming , instead of cutting off the muscle as well.

Make the PC and your OS the place to be if you want to game on PC or run complex softwares (like adobe premiere or 3ds max), don't try to turn into intoa media center dock for iphones and ipads because there are less costly ways to go about doing that that doesn't require a a computer. and when i say costly i mean costly for the company , in all likely hood windows 8 will be met with more derision than applauding (at least where desk tops are concerned) the win xp to win vista issue only highlights the possible error MS is making with windows 8. Except, with win 8 the issue might be magnified because of how close win 8 is coming after win 7 , what is now arguably the best version of windows ever released. and windows 8 seems to be looking to change too much.

 

[NightLight]

pc is far from dead. imho there are jut not enough warez to make it worth upgrading. once you've got anything beyond a dual core processor and 4 gigs of ram you can play / run pretty much anything (from an average to enthousiast point of view). I believe this is the reason why people don't upgrade so often anymore, and it is perceived as a "crash". Systems configs just last longer these days.

 

[mortsmi7]

I can see a use for win8, though I think we're still a ways away from it.

Maybe if they extended the home PC functionality by combining a bunch of current separate technologies into one.

You'll have to bare with me...

Tablet- Make it act as a wireless monitor while at home, working off main pc with auto sync's on lite programs for when away from the home network.
Make it a seamless transition from normal monitor to wireless, currently open programs (open browser pages?) are there when you turn on the tablet.
Heck you could have multiple logins happening at once (decent use of a multi-core even for light pc users)

Laptop- same thing, if you want to sit in the kitchen and game with highest res settings, you can, the main pc is doing all the work
away from the house its self contained

Win8 could be useful for this.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]amk-aka-phantom[/nom]I knew it's Gruener once I saw the title. I don't know what the hell is wrong with him, but I'm sick of his brainwashing about how PC is gonna die, "can this save the PC?", "can that save the PC?"... It's just freakin' stupid.[/citation]

NO shit LOL i think this guy is freaking retarded or something, yeah sure like tomorrow they are gonna magically squeeze a 2000 dollar + desktop into a freaking ipad and every one will just grab it up at a cheap affordable price. hoenstly i swear i'm starting to think this guy want's desktops to die. even if they did pull off the above tomorrow , the next day they just fit even more into said desktop

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

NO *** LOL i think this guy is freaking retarded or something, yeah sure like tomorrow they are gonna magically squeeze a 2000 dollar + desktop into a freaking ipad and every one will just grab it up at a cheap affordable price. hoenstly i swear i'm starting to think this guy want's desktops to die. even if they did pull off the above tomorrow , the next day they just fit even more into said desktop

My point exactly. I'm sick of all the tablet fanboys talking about how every component will get smaller and more energy efficient and then tablets will become more powerful... well, guess what, so will desktops!

 

[drwho1]

My PC's don't need any saving, they are in good health at the moment.
Let me rephrase that... they have ALWAYS been on good health, the ONLY reason why I let them "go" is because I upgrade them every few years. NOT because they are in any kind of "trouble" and "need to be saved."

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

here is a great idea. why re invent the wheel? its round, and we all know how it works, that was every wheel up to xp was like. they started out wooden, than went to steel, added rubber, and than finally made the modern tire. now from xp - vista it was like adding led to the wheels so if anything punctures them, its not realy a flat tire, but its not preforming at 100% either. and with windows 7, they took the lead out, but just put in a different material but are doing the same crap.

im all for changes, but not for a complete user interface overhaul and change just for change sake.

i use windows xp, but i have 2 computers that are win 7, and every time i use them im reminded that they changed everything for no real reason, and on a lucky day i find something new to hate.

and you cant tell me all the changes they made couldnt be optional, or had to be made at all.

give overhaul all the car components, but let use keep the shell we are use to because we want to.

Here's the trick: I have 2 WinXP laptops and 1 Win7 desktop. Differences in speed aside, 95% of the time I don't realize what OS I'm using. You're just hating on the interface changes which you stop noticing after a week. The only thing I don't like is the new Control Panel interface... it's much harder to find things now. Libraries? Rock. New Start Menu? Rocks. Aero? Give us moar.

However, I respect you always defending your POV with fire. I do the same.

 

[kelfox]

Maybe I missed the bus, but since when did the PC need saving? The biggest reason I can think of for a decline in new PC sales is the performance leveling off. Most computers built with a dual core processor, even ones from as far back as 2006 (Intel Core Duo "Yonah" ) with 1-2gb of ram can run Windows 7 and plenty of basic applications/programs without breaking a sweat. Most consumers don't feel the need or the pressure to upgrade because everything works just fine as it is. Until basic functions and activities begin to push the hardware capabilities of those older 1st gen dual core PC's, then there is no real need to go out and buy a new computer system, barring catastrophic failures.

Of course, there is always the niche enthusiast market who has to have the latest and greatest of everything, who will be upgrading at each new hardware generation, but those users comprise only a very small percentage of people who use "PCs".

 

[bv90andy]

I personally don't find win8 that innovative. Yes, they've pasted a tablet OS to it but by doing that they've made the PC experience half-broken. I hope there will be a way to completely disable Metro UI with the log on and offer the original start menu. Then we'll be left with windows seven with a Windows Commander style Explorer. I guess there's not much one can improve anyway but Win 8 is certanly not "revolutionary" and, if they don't do it right, I might just skip it entirely.

Maybe I missed the bus, but since when did the PC need saving? The biggest reason I can think of for a decline in new PC sales is the performance leveling off. Most computers built with a dual core processor, even ones from as far back as 2006 (Intel Core Duo "Yonah" ) with 1-2gb of ram can run Windows 7 and plenty of basic applications/programs without breaking a sweat. Most consumers don't feel the need or the pressure to upgrade because everything works just fine as it is. Until basic functions and activities begin to push the hardware capabilities of those older 1st gen dual core PC's, then there is no real need to go out and buy a new computer system, barring catastrophic failures.

Of course, there is always the niche enthusiast market who has to have the latest and greatest of everything, who will be upgrading at each new hardware generation, but those users comprise only a very small percentage of people who use "PCs".

I just upgraded my mothers 2003 2.4Gh celeron with a double threaded pentium 4 3.2Gh (5$ on ebay) and from 512Mb to 1 gb ddr1 (10$) and it runs perfectly well (winXP) didn't even feel the need to reinstall the OS. Brand new PC right there. It even plays 720p on youtube (integrated graphics, hardware accel. disabled) and for reading documents, PDFs and email, she wouldn't need a better PC, it would be just a waste.

And this is what the majority of people need.

 

[damianrobertjones]

"Opinion: Can Windows 8 Save the PC?"

With that title alone I decided to skip this article.

 

[ProDigit10]

pc is just about as good as it'll get!
If they want any better, they will have to deviate from the standard pc, and create more or less like a larabee system, where the computer consists out of a component chip and a multi-cell CPU that can act as cpu and gpu.

Think about a 160 core pc without graphics card, consuming a mere 160W outperforming current hardware?

Windows 8 better be more efficient,
Otherwise no one would buy it!
Vista and Windows 7 got ridiculously heavy; wasting 2GB of RAM that basically does nothing more than Windows 3.1 (namely having a GUI boot your programs).

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

I just upgraded my mothers 2003 2.4Gh celeron with a double threaded pentium 4 3.2Gh (5$ on ebay) and from 512Mb to 1 gb ddr1 (10$) and it runs perfectly well (winXP) didn't even feel the need to reinstall the OS. Brand new PC right there. It even plays 720p on youtube (integrated graphics, hardware accel. disabled) and for reading documents, PDFs and email, she wouldn't need a better PC, it would be just a waste.

And this is what the majority of people need.

The funny thing is that a LOT of people own consoles. If MS would get their (MS's) heads out of their a$$es, they could easily convince those people to shift to PC gaming - all it takes is some good marketing. But MS doesn't realize that no one but enthusiasts will get the new OS. Less enthusiasts, less profit...

 

[jallard]

There two technologies that I despise the first one is the so-called tablet and the second one are consoles. How can you play a video game like Dragon Age Origin or Skyrim on a tablet? As a gamer I am convinced that the PC graphics are preferable over a consoles graphics. And, I prefer the keyboard and the mouse over the joystick. Therefore, I doubt that Windows 8 could be beneficial in that regard. Incidentally, I go to NewEgg.Com and buy everything I need to build my own system, to my own specifications. And, I can do it cheaper than buying a prebuilt PC. So, why would I purchase a DELL or an HP or any of the others for that matter?

 

[christop]

The pc is not dead. Win 8 might be good for touch screens and tablets. I don't care for it on my desktop. I think it will be hard to sell win8 as an upgrade from win7. Why people are saying PC is dead is beyond me. I just don't see a tablet or a laptop replacing my desktop cause I like power and you can't get that in a laptop or tablet without it killing the battery in 20 minutes.

 

[jimsocks]

pc sales is slowing because people don't need to upgrade. 5 year old hardware can run most anything. games have driven PC upgrades, but last few years, all the good PC game makers are making console games and doing crappy ports to PC.
plus blizzard games don't need fancy hardware, diable 3 won't make me upgrade.

 

[house70]

Oh, well, it's Gruener... what else did you expect? I'm so used to him being wrong, that I'm banking lately on the opposite of anything he's saying.
The guy is pathetic... I believe the only reason they let him write is because they need someone to stir the $h1t once in a while to keep it "interesting". I for one refuse to believe that there is ONE editor at Tom's that actually buys what this guy is selling.

 

[Guest]

You know whats awesome every single time I eat it?

"same old" bread and butter.

 

[house70]

And, of course, his "personal opinion" (see the end of the article) is not quite his. He's blowing smoke again, but in reality he believes the opposite. It's like saying "with all due respect" when actually no respect is due.
Hey, Gruener, with all due respect, you're wasting your time here. This site was founded with and for PC enthusiasts, probably since before you even knew what a PC was, and your blabbering will definitely gain more traction on websites that Apple-philiacs enjoy.

 

[cTs Corvette]

The whole problem with this article, and his last, is that it comes from the mindset of someone who thinks they need a new iPhone and iPad every year, because Apple said so. "If you're not buying a new PC every year, the PC industry must be doing something wrong."

It's a good thing for this guy that Apple doesn't make cars and houses.

 

[DEVILVSANGEL00]

Whoever thinks the pc is going to die needs a MENTAL HEALTH CHECK, the truth is the pc is used in everything now days, just because smaller devices that are like pc's are coming out every year dont mean the pc will die, the pc is here to stay for many decades and no amount of crazy ass specualtion or unrealistic thoughts is going to change that, get with reality and not the mental problems in your head, the pc is here to stay so stop being paronoid and shut up about the pc dieing

 

[amdfangirl]

^ That doesn't mean PCs are dying, though, does it?

EDIT: Using Linux for casual users IS a dumb idea. Most of them are used to installing programs from EXE installers and act VERY surprised when you tell them you can't do that in Linux, and I understand them. Linux is a FAIL as a home OS, and I guarantee that - I work with Linux all the time as part of my job. Too much hardware still unsupported (for example, NONE of the 3G USB modems I've seen have drivers for Linux), and for the most things to work correctly, you have to spend hours in front of the terminal. I don't mind. Common user does.

3G is utter crap in Australia. We run wired networks here.

My users don't have a choice, which is nice, because I make decisions for them.

My point is that Windows 8 changes nothing.

 

[ironmb]

Somebody smack this author.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

3G is utter crap in Australia. We run wired networks here.

My users don't have a choice, which is nice, because I make decisions for them.

My point is that Windows 8 changes nothing.

3G modems are just one example of non-supported hardware.

Windows 8 might change nothing (from what I've seen), but 7 is still the best OS ever made.

I feel sorry for your users 😀 Not because someone else makes decisions for them (that's ALWAYS the case for the illiterate users) but because they're forced to work with Linux.

 

[amdfangirl]

My point exactly. I'm sick of all the tablet fanboys talking about how every component will get smaller and more energy efficient and then tablets will become more powerful... well, guess what, so will desktops!

Desktops and Windows will always have their place because of power users like us.

Guess it's like the 20-80 rule you have for MS Office. The 80% who use it only use 20% of the features and can be served quite well with LibreOffice.

It's just power users that are really going to feel the pain if they ever switched to the tablet entirely.