Opinion: Can Windows 8 Save the PC?

[someoneelse]

its a sad day when you read an tech article and wonder if the writer is deliberatly trolling you

 

[lpedraja2002]

With each one of these "innovations" they're turning the OS's into a playground instead of something useful for work. The article does have some strong points, mainly about the aesthetics of an OS for the basic user but I feel like Windows 8 is an OS meant for a tablet and should not be used in a desktop, everything I have seen here indicates it. To me, Windows 8 is Windows 7 with just a couple of extra features that could have easily been made by a third party and a Tablet OS tacked on.

 

[hetneo]

Yet another "death or no death of PC" article which surprisingly praises Windows 8. For Christ sake first sort out terminology. What is PC? What is desktop? What is what? Please, stop mixing up things. Desktop is just one of form factors of PC.

Metro UI is absolutely irrelevant for desktops because it is not ergonomic. Yes some people will use it, people who don't know what to do with all that space you have on your desktop, people who don't know how to make full use of GUI or use PC just to play music, chat and hang on FB. Metro UI will not change anything about PC, it will just bring MS into tablet OS fight.

Desktop form factor cannot be revolutionized, or evolve. At the moment it is like a wheel, universal and multifaceted. Desktop can be what ever you want it to be, the only draw back is lack of mobility, but anyway for mobility you have other form factors. Desktops will never die as form factor. It is too versatile tool and it's upgradeability is driving force behind hardware industry. You really think that dumbing down Desktop to the level of all-in-one touchscreen PC will be possible with this high level of competition among hardware manufacturers?

Now after writing all this I'm wondering how much did MS payed for this article?

 

[hetneo]

[citation][nom]amk-aka-phantom[/nom]^ 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.[/citation]
Oh my how smart you are.... ummmmmmmm not. You fail to understand what "casual user" is.

 

[NightLight]

you know, i would love to see the metro ui running on the transparent touchscreen from intel now that i think about it.

 

[hetneo]

[citation][nom]jimslaid2[/nom]My kids already smear crap all over the 24" monitor I have. Windows 8 is the evolution of the PC. I am personally glad Microsoft is doing something about it before Apple steals more people away from what a computer should be. Trust me on this one: You will all love windows 8, albeit you will not be easy to win over and you'll be kicking and screaming all the way. And Win8 will ensure the PC's market share domination remains so we don't have to live in a world of iOS loving hipsters.[/citation]
And how is Metro different from iOS? Both are tablet/smartphone friendly GUIs? Try to imagine doing anything of things only Desktop is suitable for on touchscreen, start with DTP, graphical design, audio and video editing, PC gaming and so on and so on and so on.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

I'm sorry...but I will always play Crysis (and other FPS games) on my Desktop PC. Not a laptop, not a tablet and not a mobile phone. The experience just isn't the same and for that reason, I will not make the switch.

I'm getting tired of claims that the PC industry is dying. It's probably like when Coke was first introduced. Now you have Pepsi, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, 7up, etc. People still drink Coke, don't they? I'll always fancy the Desktop PC no matter who says which way the "trend" is going.

 

[kyraiki]

Sorry but I like the ability to be able to upgrade and custom build a desktop. You can't build a tablet from parts you pick out yourself and you can't upgrade it later on down the road. Need something a little more powerful? Sorry, buy a new tablet. On the other hand, I can see the appeal of a tablet if you use a PC for only browsing the internet or checking email. For anything demanding or work related Ill take a PC, thank you.

 

[cTs Corvette]

I will say that I agree the smartphones and tablets have taken some potential users from the PC market, for the simple fact that there are a lot of things that you can do online that you don't need a PC to do. And it's far more convenient to have the internet in your pocket than at home on your desk. For that reason alone, I can see a generation of people saying "You know, it makes more sense for me to pay $400 for a smartphone than it does for me to buy a PC, because it can do everything I need it to do." But that isn't a failing of the PC, it's always been the case that a PC wasn't portable. It's simply a fact that the miniaturization of technology has allowed other devices to catch up with PC's in terms of being incredibly powerful while still being very small and portable. Combine that with the market saturation and longevity of PC's and of course you're going to see a plateau in PC sales. That doesn't mean the PC is dead, though. All serious work is going to take place on a desktop computer of some sort, there's just no way to do it on a smartphone or tablet.

 

[Guest]

The PC isn't in any danger, can Windows 8 save Microsoft?

They have a long history of coming up with really bad innovation, then later copying Linux or Mac for things that actually work. Tablets are still toys,and will always be toys, iPad sales do not reflect an industry trend, they reflect an Apple trend.

If Windows 8 doesn't save MS, then Android could fill the void by getting sufficient mouse, keyboard and monitor support to be full fledged desktop OS. Of course, Ubuntu just keeps getting better and better with each release, it's a pity that MS bribed the OEMs out of selling Ubuntu netbooks.

 

[Guest]

absolutely no! win 8 save open source os

 

[aft_lizard01]

This is my opinion of course. But it seems to me that technology has plateaued for most users..ie: the average, face book,you tube surfing, inter-netting, occasional word document user. The majority growth for users will be the power users, new adopters, and corporations..so you will and should see slowed growth, especially in this economy. Something like Windows 8 which promises less resource usage, easier UI interface, etc wont necessarily be a boon for new PC's but rather a boon for those who want to hold on to older equipment. MS will also be expanding their footprint for their main OS to ARM which will obviously extend them. I personally think if this OS is a hit it will be huge for MS themselves but not so much for hardware unless its speed scales with the hardware(that is the more resources and better CPU, GPU the better the performance instead of plateauing at a certain level)

 

[TEAMSWITCHER]

The developer preview is stable, but their "Windows Re-imagined" slogan is not evident in the running software. The real slogan should be "Windows - with a second GUI for tablets that we beat with an ugly stick, and decided to force you to use it, because if you don't no one will write apps for the Windows 8 tablets that we aren't selling yet, and you probably won't buy anyways because the battery life sucks and there are no applications."

 

[livebriand]

It seems that Microsoft has changed some things behind the scenes - for instance, even in a VM that's on my older slower HDD (only 50MB/sec sequential), it starts in about 15 seconds and logs in with less than 5. Things are responsive there. Those are certainly welcome changes. Being able to change the wallpaper in the GUI is also nice - you can do it in w7 with a registry hack, but the average user won't do that.

However, the new metro UI confuses me. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but I can't always do that. The average consumer will be confused and hate it. Businesses will probably dismiss it. This is a good way for Microsoft to get people to change to mac or linux. And I'm a Windows fan. Seriously, I do not need a dumbed down UI with text so big that my grandmother could see it on an 11" 1366x768 screen without glasses. VERY stupid. Also, what's with the boxy aero style? It's quite ugly compared to Windows 7. And why should I have to pull up the wallpaper to see an ugly green screen where I login? It was fine in Windows 7. I will be sticking with Windows 7 for a LONG time if things turn out the way the Win8 beta is.

 

[d_kuhn]

The author must have trained with politicians, because only a politician would call a 3% increase a "crash". "Government Spending Crashes" means it's only up 3%. "Tax Rate Crashes" means it's only increasing 3%.

Marketing 101 will tell you that the PC market is "Mature"... days of huge sales increases are likely gone, competition is only going to get fiercer. PC's however... are far from dead, dying or even sick. No current alternative technology has any chance of replacing a multipurpose PC with a Keyboard, Mouse, decent sized monitor, and flexible/user configurable operating system.

 

[bystander]

Releax about Windows 8's Metro. This new Metro UI is optional. It's in there because Windows 8 designed to work on all platforms. The Metro UI is primarily there for phones and tablets.

That said, as people get used to those mobile devices, I am certain many people will use it on their PC's too, due to familiarity, just like I'll go without Metro, because I'm familiar with Windows 7.

 

[cobra5000]

My PC needs no saving! It kicks butt!
And as soon as it does'nt, I will build another.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I am not not excited about the small "pc's/appliances" because they do not meet my requirements for professional photography, web publishing, and creating code & scripts.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The issue is not whether your PC is in good health but whether the market is in good health. MS is trying to address that subject with it's new "build a PC store in your house" commercial where the woman subject believes a new PC won't do anything her 4 year old PC won't do. "Oooh, I was so wrong, now I can watch a movie" .... hey lady, still got a TV don't ya ?

Aside from getting 60 fps in the latest games, that old PC does just fine.....and this from a guy who started building PC's in order to increase productivity in his consulting engineering business. One of the side benefits of that was that hi-powered AutoCAD boxes made great gaming boxes .....now moderate gaming boxes make great AutoCAD boxes.

The market is NOT in good health because 95+% of the market has little reason to get something new. What's being said is the PC market as a "growth industry" is in trouble.

As for Windows 8, "Five Deal Breakers" article here:

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/96249-5-deal-breaking-flaws-in-windows-8

Windows 8 .... the new Vista !

 

[ken_23434]

I think the decline in the growth (is that really a measure people use?) is partly due to the economy and most due to the fact that most people do not need a new computer.

Lets face it, most people are merely emailing, surfing the internet, and using social media. All of those items are easily handled by any Pentium or Athlon CPU (talking late 90's versions).

Heck, one reason a lot of people "upgraded" was because they ran out of storage space. Now, you can just plug in a USB external hard-drive and the storage problem is solved.

 

[vvildcard]

Worthless article.

 

[megamanx00]

Meh, depends on the developers. I'm running it in a VM and I think it's pretty interesting. Even so I think it largely depends on programs developed exclusively for the metro UI so we'll see.

 

[CaedenV]

We are definitely in the PC+ era, where we have a main computer that does the work, and then an assortment of devices (smart phones, media players, GPS, tablets, netbooks, and laptops) which we use as extensions of our PC. I think what we will see is a continued emphasis on the personalization of the computer interface. Meaning less direct contact with a 'PC' and more contact with smaller devices which will call on an external source for it's computing. I think that the PC will soon become the home server which holds all of the bulk processing and file handling for a household, and then our devices will run off of this central device for their needs. Companies would love for this to be the Cloud instead of a home server, but practically speaking the internet is not ubiquitous enough to do this any time soon.
In my own house I find myself planning for this trend. Next year I plan on doing my last major computer upgrade for myself (just cant edit HD content on an old c2d), and as upgrades go for me, they tent to last about 5 years (unless something dies and I do an incremental upgrade). In fact my current system is about 4 years old now, and I bet if I had gone with a C2Q I probably could manage to do what I want to with it, and hold off upgrading for a few more years.
The point is: What will computing look like in the year 2017? Tablets will be able to run multi-monitor support, and have capable duel and quad core processors for everyday work and play. WiDi will be readily available. So what would be the point of a dedicated PC? Sure, to edit quadHD content you would need some horse power, but that could be done on the server, with the software running on a tablet, and the tablet running 2+ monitors for the editing interface. You can do this today with a cheap PC instead of a tablet. In the near distant future this would be entirely possible (if a little expensive) in a home setting.

 

[captaincharisma]

funny i did not know the PC needed saving

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

We are definitely in the PC+ era, where we have a main computer that does the work, and then an assortment of devices (smart phones, media players, GPS, tablets, netbooks, and laptops) which we use as extensions of our PC. I think what we will see is a continued emphasis on the personalization of the computer interface. Meaning less direct contact with a 'PC' and more contact with smaller devices which will call on an external source for it's computing. I think that the PC will soon become the home server which holds all of the bulk processing and file handling for a household, and then our devices will run off of this central device for their needs. Companies would love for this to be the Cloud instead of a home server, but practically speaking the internet is not ubiquitous enough to do this any time soon.
In my own house I find myself planning for this trend. Next year I plan on doing my last major computer upgrade for myself (just cant edit HD content on an old c2d), and as upgrades go for me, they tent to last about 5 years (unless something dies and I do an incremental upgrade). In fact my current system is about 4 years old now, and I bet if I had gone with a C2Q I probably could manage to do what I want to with it, and hold off upgrading for a few more years.
The point is: What will computing look like in the year 2017? Tablets will be able to run multi-monitor support, and have capable duel and quad core processors for everyday work and play. WiDi will be readily available. So what would be the point of a dedicated PC? Sure, to edit quadHD content you would need some horse power, but that could be done on the server, with the software running on a tablet, and the tablet running 2+ monitors for the editing interface. You can do this today with a cheap PC instead of a tablet. In the near distant future this would be entirely possible (if a little expensive) in a home setting.

Another fool who refuses to realise that once tablets get more capable, so will desktops. So, you wanna carry around a tablet... for what? So that it will be anyway connected to external screens and the server in order to do anything serious?

I'll NEVER switch to stupid "server" mode, thin clients or not... each and every PC in my household will run native setups, period. Doesn't have to be Windows, can be Linux if it's not a gaming machine. Native setups are safer, faster and don't depend on anything external. The only thing I can imagine myself doing is connecting a network storage to my home network so that I avoid copying stuff around the computers, but I already have that provided by my external HDD where I store all my data and I don't think there's even a need for network storage, but I'll do it anyway - sounds fun.

In 2017, tablets will be long gone and there'll be something new that will "threaten to kill the PC", as always. That's all that will happen. Meanwhile, we'll be playing overkill graphics games (provided that consoles will finally die or upgrade, lol, you never know... MS said they wanna keep the crapBox around till 2015), possibly with surround 3D or some other crazy stuff, and nothing will be able to do it except the PC.

Sure, average consumer doesn't need anything faster than an i3-2100 (which is a damn good chip for its price, I might say). That's because an average consumer is an idiot. Most of them don't even know how many cool things you can do on the PC. Many of them would upgrade to better hardware if there would be a need, and it's very easy to create a need. Stop advertising consoles, lure them to PC gaming instead and unlock the full potential of the hardware.

Sure, I've seen enough fools who think that a Pentium Dual-core is enough for them, but when I look at their PCs, all I can say is "You need an upgrade." They are blind; they think that their Windows Media library opens for 5 minutes because "it's big"... no, it's because their hardware is $h!t and their PCs are bloated. Seriously, I'll never cease to be amazed with the "average user"'s stupidity and stubbornness.