Pat, Did you know that PC's are here to stay? I think they are politically correct too! :) Leigh
zdnet.com
PC death greatly exaggerated
By John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine
January 17, 2000 9:00 PM PT
Editor in Chief Paul Somerson, in the November issue of PC/Computing, is the one who made the blanket statement that computer magazines are dead. This was a marketing ploy to explain that his magazine was changing its focus away from computers towards business, presumably to take advantage of higher ad rates. Perhaps he actually believes that computer magazines are dead.
Whatever the case, this essay didn't go over too well with anyone at PC Magazine. Worse, it reflected a widely held attitude among those susceptible to anticomputer propaganda, much of which was started by Scott McNealy and his stooges at Sun Microsystems. It's rubbish.
This all began with the concept of the so-called "post-PC era," which was an invention either of McNealy or some speaker at one of those groupthink social events, such as demo, Agenda or PC Forum. This was a jazzy catch phrase that could be incorporated into the business plan du jour, and before you knew it the dopey pundits were all over the term as if the existence of such a term made the concept true.
And then the counter-term "PC-plus era" emerged, but it was too late, and PC-plus just sounded like old thinking. Surprise: PC-plus is the era we are entering. New peripherals will make the PC even more the center of attention. You need a PC to edit those digital photos and to sync that Palm Pilot. Above all, you need it to develop that personal Web page you and everyone else will eventually have. I'm convinced that the PC will also become a personal server on the desktop, serving Web pages for individuals on that 24/7 connection coming soon. The "post-PC era" concept doesn't address any of these trends.
Historically, when a unique device enters society and quickly becomes popular, people take decades to admit that it's here to stay. The car was a hot item in its early days, but there was always a contention that public transportation would be the true future of personal travel or that the car itself would give way to little airplanes we'd all be flying.
So too do we see this kind of wishful thinking amongst that segment of the community that just can't accept computers as everyday devices. These people argue that eventually there will be no PC. Instead, there will be little computers distributed everywhere, which will be transparent. We will not need to suffer with crashes?oh, horror of horrors. These people see PCs not as a convenience but as a nuisance that will go away.
But the car never went away, and people got used to certain problems cars had. They crash too?big-time. Tires go flat. Cars are hard to operate, and you need a license. They have to be washed, and they have to be tuned up all the time. How can we put up with this? Perhaps we can have a post-automobile era. Yeah, right.
The PC has become as important as a car. If you don't have a PC, you're perceived as an idiot or a Luddite. If you can't use one, people wonder what rock you've been under. There are bragging rights involved. You are a classier person if you have a 21-inch monitor or large flat-panel. People feel sorry for you if you use a 14-inch monitor. "Poor thing, can't afford anything better." Megahertz count too. Certain pundits try to deny this to no avail. "I get along just fine with my 90-MHz Pentium," said one pundit on a TV show. He seemed pathetic, broke.
To really understand the nature of computers, observe the Mac users out there who drool over ownership of the fabulous-looking G3 and G4 machines. Mac users love having a hot-looking machine to show off.
And have any of the post-PC people paid any attention to the sociology of the physical machine itself? It's a big box that people want. Not too big, but big enough to see. Since the invention of the Altair in 1975, the relative size of the machine has stayed within a certain range.
I do not see this ever changing. Again, take the car: There have been various three-wheel and other offbeat designs, but the basic car with front and back seats, four wheels, and a trunk seems to be the most desirable. Things get into society and stick there for a reason: practicality. The PC, as it now exists, is incredibly practical. It's repairable in this form. It's upgradable. You can program it to do anything. It's here to stay. Get over it!
As for computer magazines, they represent the best in push technology. Here to stay, too. Perhaps the golden age of computer magazines has not yet begun. Look how long it took car magazines to reach their zenith. |
