The end of the PC as we know it?

[TheAnimus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13679926

So some people might not be aware, but Apple recently invented the cloud. This is great because it turns out we can synchronize all our content!

Now those of us who are using dropbox, live mesh will be wondering what it gives us. Well ultimately it allows us to completely lock ourselves in to one closed propitiatory ecosystem.

But thats not all, according to some, so they must be right, it also means that we might see the end of the PC as we know it, that would help create a two tear system of content consumers and producers. This would help once and for all kill off the home brewers.

What do you guys think?

[kalniel]

Where does he say apple invented the cloud?

He does say we might be saying goodbye to the PC, which is probably a fair statement down the line.

[TheAnimus]

Because the only new feature they are offering is a limited music rental service.

But people are still prophesising the death of the PC, I can't quite see that been the result of this myself, and no one is really justifying why it would happen.

[MadduckUK]

Where does he say apple invented the cloud?

Right next to the bit where it says they invented the Smartphone

have they started talking about "thin devices" yet? *shudder*

next think you know, people will be saying Apple invented the thin client you can see it coming can't you?

[planet436]

PC's for casual use are almost certain to decline as tablets and smartphones become more ubiquitous, consoles are trying to be pushed as media centres as well which is an attack on all sides. Didn't the BBC write an article saying that virtually all phones will be smartphones in a few years time?

For people who don't have a desktop currently, it is less likely they are going to think they need one, especially if they can access the internet through multiple other means. The casual user doesn't know about overclocking, use office or need a discrete graphics card. In terms of apple pushing cloud, I'm assuming they want people to buy an iphone, ipad and imac because it's easy to automatically sync them.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Right next to the bit where it says they invented the Smartphone

have they started talking about "thin devices" yet? *shudder*

next think you know, people will be saying Apple invented the thin client you can see it coming can't you?

Most people will follow anything said by technology news writers as the truth. The viewpoint by a lot of people is that they obviously seem to know more about technology than they do so the technology writers must be right. Hence if the technology news sector said Apple invented the transistor most people would believe it.

About the Cloud - considering that most people have no clue about backing up any data, I can see big problems if any of the services are brought down by hackers or technical problems.

[merdat]

Once people start using 'cloud concepts' they will never want to go back. It will be interesting to see how good Apple's package turns out as they are certainly 'cornering the market' with their products a.t.m.

[Biscuit]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13679926

So some people might not be aware, but Apple recently invented the cloud. This is great because it turns out we can synchronize all our content!

Now those of us who are using dropbox, live mesh will be wondering what it gives us. Well ultimately it allows us to completely lock ourselves in to one closed propitiatory ecosystem.

But thats not all, according to some, so they must be right, it also means that we might see the end of the PC as we know it, that would help create a two tear system of content consumers and producers. This would help once and for all kill off the home brewers.

What do you guys think?

I was contemplating (and started writing) a thread pretty muych to these exact words but i started getting a bit carried away with my angry-at-apple's arrogance rant so i closed the tab

The PC will always have a place in my house no matter what they try and do, im not interested in any of this cloud nonsense.

[Unique]

i think for the forseeable next future the cloud will be more based around remote access of your own data stored on your pc/NAS at home, instead of the cloud being a central or number of central stores held by apple, google, MS, etc. i think there needs to be that step in between first. whilst many basic consumers will be satisfied with someone else holding their data and/or using a table or phone instead of stuck in front of a pc monitor and keyboard mouse setup, there is a growing number of people storing large amounts of data at home for music and movie based setups and with current and forseeable tech, there is nothing in place to realistically replace large local storage, the internet structure isn't fast enough, particularly uploads, and people aren't trusting of large corporations in another country holding their private data and not loosing it

[MadduckUK]

mm, the Jedi mind trick will be convincing people that data belongs on the cloud for "access anywhere", and backups belong at home.

[roachcoach]

The "end" of PC's has been predicted roughly once a year for every year I've been reading tech sites.

Far as I'm concerned, the PC has more life in it than Dorian Grey.

[MadduckUK]

they can rebrand hard drives as "cloud cache devices"!

[Phage]

I think that what we're seeing is a splintering of the PC.
I'm seeing a lot of laptops where there used to be desktops, and a lot of tablets/phones where there used to be laptops. None of these are going away, just more ways of doing things. I think that a desktop home PC hub may well morph into a media centre / home server that runs most of the home, whilst all the casual stuff is done on tablets.

[usxhe190]

The end of PC will only happen if broadband and 3G cost peanuts and the speeds are increased.

[Lucio]

The headline stems from the improvements to IOs that mean you no longer have to hook it up to a computer to configure it.

[Terbinator]

they can rebrand hard drives as "cloud cache devices"!

At first i was like
But then i was like:

I really can see it happening.