back to article PC sales will rise again, predicts Intel, but tablets are toast

The last few years haven't been good for the PC market as the old upgrade cycle died and buyers piled into tablets and smartphones. But Intel is convinced the PC will rise again, thanks to new hardware and form factors. "I honestly feel this is a once in a decade moment," enthused Kirk Skaugen, GM of Intel's client computing …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tablet

    For desktop I'll take an incremental speed increase if it comes with a large power usage decrease. Less to cool, less noise, less UPS load, and I can finally shrink that ATX case.

    Tablet ... yeah I've already got one of those thanks.

    1. tentimes

      Re: Tablet

      That's the thing with tablets - once you have one there is not much of a reason to upgrade. I am still using my iPad 2 (even though I hate Apple!). It is slow but I cannot justify the £400 to get a new Android one, given the amount that I use it. I actually use my phone more then the tablet.

    2. qwarty

      Re: Tablet

      When NVIDIA and AMD shift from 28nm to finfet 14/16nm next year small desktops for gaming/graphics apps get more interesting but the Intel guy could hardly say that.

      He's right about 2 in 1. I couldn't go back to an old style laptop and as more people are experiencing the benefits and prices fall the interest among non techies seems to be growing. Anyone here found otherwise?

      1. Sherrie Ludwig

        Re: Tablet

        I have both a ten year old PC and an Apple Mini. My aging eyes much prefer the PC for actually seeing things I might buy for my business, for doing spreadsheet stuff and for any actual word juggling stuff I do, like email. Typing on a screen is miserable compared to a full keyboard. I use the mini for Square, for travel, and for navigation, and let's face it, games while waiting. I am a troglodyte who loves my 17-inch screen and will be replacing it with another if it goes pfft.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Trust

    Do you trust Microsoft with your biometric data?

    Same goes for Goozilla.

    1. Ian Easson

      Re: Trust

      The biometric data is stored in your local PC, not in the cloud or with Microsoft.

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Re: Trust

        It might be stored locally but for how long eh?

        I wouldn't put it past Redmond to add a little extra into an update to send it all to the Mothership.

        sine they don't want to reveal what is exactly in their fixes these days, who will know?

  3. Jim O'Reilly
    Holmes

    Get real!

    So everyone will rush out to get a laptop with 3D so that it will recognize them instead of typing a password??? No way! It's just as likely as we'll all embrace Windows 10.

    As for 2 in 1's, it's far cheaper to get a $150 tablet, add a $30 keyboard and enjoy Android! Google docs are as good as Office and collaboration is much easier, which is increasingly important.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Get real!

      and Google does what with all those lovely docs etc that you let them store?

      They are (IMHO) just as bad a Microsoft when it comes to slurping your data. Yes they might use it for other purposes but they are using it just the same.

      Enjoy your google tablet and everything it leads to.

      It is time people woke up the reality of the world we live in. Everything we do it tracked and logged by the varioys Government Agencies and Hackers around the world. We the people have to take steps to minimise our exposure to data slurping in whatever form it takes.

      Don't store anything the cloud. Turn location services off on your phone. Use multiple different aliases for the various Internet accounts you have. Etc etc etc.

      If you don't whatever comes your way is what you deserve.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Get real!

        "Watch the skies."

        "They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next...!"

        50's paranoia. It's grrrrrrreat!

        1. Steven Roper

          Re: Get real!

          "50's paranoia. It's grrrrrrreat!"

          You know, I used to hate smugness. That was until I got the joy of saying "I told you so" to all you head-burying ostriches that love using that word "paranoid" every time someone expresses concern about erosion of liberties and destruction of privacy, until the reality hits home and the chickens come in to roost. Then when the cops are turning your house upside down because a microphone in your smart TV picked up somebody saying something suspicious, I'll smile smugly and say "I told you so. You called me paranoid, but I fucking told you so. You deserve this."

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Get real!

            @ steve roper.

            "You know, I used to hate smugness. That was until I got the joy of saying "I told you so" to all you head-burying ostriches that love using that word "paranoid" every time someone expresses concern about erosion of liberties and destruction of privacy, until the reality hits home and the chickens come in to roost. Then when the cops are turning your house upside down because a microphone in your smart TV picked up somebody saying something suspicious, I'll smile smugly and say "I told you so. You called me paranoid, but I fucking told you so. You deserve this.""

            Yep. That's definitely paranoia.

            1. Steven Roper

              Re: Get real!

              "Yep. That's definitely paranoia."

              Yep. That's definitely arrogance.

      2. Jim 59

        Re: Get real!

        Agreed. It's fine storing your accounts in the "cloud", so long as you are paying the provider, under a binding contract which will hit them with big penalties after any data breach or data loss. But using a "free" service is something you should only do occasionally for data you care nothing about. Anyone doubting this can read the Google/MS/Dropbox T&Cs.

        Sure, use Google docs to write flyer for the local fete. But remember, it is part of Google now, not your flyer. You get what you pay for.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Get real!

      If your computing requirements are so low, why not? Others may need something better...

    3. CheesyTheClown

      Re: Get real!

      So, you have an issue with Intel and Microsoft locking you in, but you'll sell the farm to Google who has progressively (and far more successfully) taken control of your life. From monitoring your DNS lookups to monitoring your searches to monitoring your file contents to tracking your location (ever wonder how traffic data is so accurate?) to controlling your shopping habits to feeding you selected news articles, to installing fiber which will provide them some control of your TV viewing habits to controlling your navigation, etc...

      Google is charging you less money but asking you to pay with your soul instead.

      I genuinely believe that under current management, Google tries to do no evil. What happens when their empire is threatened and somebody like Carly Fiorina is given the CEO spot? Do you honestly feel ok giving Google so much of yourself to save a buck or two? Or have you simply decided that Google now knows so much about you that you may as well try to profit from it?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Get real!

        Google sold is soul to the devil when people like Schmidt came on boad... they were there assigned to make money, a lot of money, in any way. And I guess those very money blackened the souls of the founders too.... when you get used to your private 767 for a quick holiday on an exotic island, it's hard to think "no evil".

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: Get real!

          If you want to know what your private data looks like at Google or Microsoft or any of the other places that collect it, then picture a giant sand dune. It's in there somewhere, one or two grains.

          Do you imagine some geeks at Redmond looking at your browsing history and laughing at your choices? The could be very bored at my "private data" if they ever saw it, but they won't because it's in a massive pile of the same sort of boring crap.

          I get dog food ads on YouTube and in browser windows, but I don't own a dog and haven't kept a dog ever. All you have to do is script some misinformation activity and your "private data" is worthless.

          1. nematoad
            Unhappy

            Re: Get real!

            "It's in there somewhere, one or two grains."

            Ah, security by obscurity.

            That always works, doesn't it?

            OK, that's fine and if you are happy with that, good luck. As for me I'l take all the precautions I can and that includes avoiding anything to do with Google.

            1. DropBear

              Re: Get real!

              I'd quote the well-known "It's not paranoia if they're really after you", but I don't think there's any point - the broken babelfish in the ears of those with their head in the sand translates anything they hear as "you're right you're safe you're right you're safe you're right..."

            2. werdsmith Silver badge

              Re: Get real!

              @nematoad.

              no, not security by obscurity, just irrelevance.

          2. Hans 1
            Big Brother

            Re: Get real!

            If you want to know what your private data looks like at Google or Microsoft or any of the other places that collect it, then picture a giant sand dune. It's in there somewhere, one or two grains.

            You idiot, sorry, but you are. They basically know where you live, if you were stupid enough, they even know your real name. They sell that data to some advertising corp which has other sources of information about you, such as customer cards of your local supermarket, grocery, or DIY store. They recoup all that with big RDMS' and they have the local grocery store give you free vouchers for, say, incontinence pads, because your Mrs, while in her 60's, ordered a large quantity of menstruation pads online for your step daughter. Obviously, they thought the pads were for her ...

            Don't believe me ? Already happened here in France, big scandal ... Seriously, this IS already happening, wake up, anybody in ????

            Now, guess what, they know your birthday (you certainly entered it on some form or another), they know all your contacts (whatsapp, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Facebook, anybody?), they know their birthdays too ...

            1. tacitust

              Re: Get real!

              When you start calling people idiots, it's best to get at least the basic facts right first. Google doesn't sell personal customer data to anyone. Companies pay Google to place their ads based on the data they have collected on their users. Those companies have no idea who is seeing their ads unless you click on one and go to their site. Even then, they don't know anything about you unless you give them your personal details directly.

          3. Jim 59

            Re: Get real!

            If you want to know what your private data looks like at Google or Microsoft or any of the other places that collect it, then picture a giant sand dune. It's in there somewhere, one or two grains.

            No problem. It's called data mining and re-identification. And it's all covered by the Google and MS terms and conditions.

        2. goldcd

          I disagree - google has to make money.

          I quite like the way they did it, with efficiency. Nobody wants to see giant, intrusive adverts for stuff they have no intention of buying. You have making it go away, advertiser is completely wasting their money.

          Google simply stepped in, created a far more attractive advert, and put things on it I might vaguely want to buy.

          Maybe you'd prefer all sites had subscriptions - but reality is that internet we know today is supported by advertising. I don't mind Google's adverts (that much).

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I disagree - google has to make money.

            Google doesn't sell ads only - it collects an enormous amount of data, processes them to find whatever it's interested in, and then sells that to anybody willingly to pay. Tailored ads are just a part of its business.

  4. Mikel

    In other news

    Hershey's anticipates a boom in chocolate demand, Bic says more will shave next year than ever before now that the hipster fad is done, and Boeing anticipates a surge in demand for air travel because reasons.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: In other news

      I'm actually waiting for the 5 blade Bic

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: In other news - I'm actually waiting for the 5 blade Bic

        I'm waiting for the BigLittle razor with two sets of 4 blades which switch over according to how thick the hair is, but gets rather hot.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Sales of two-in-one systems are up 150 per cent"

    Yep, when the marketing man speaks with his forked tongue TONGUE TIPS ARE UP 100 PER CENT!

    Wake us up when a big product category increases by 150% rather than trumpeting what's little better than statistical foam of the also-rans. Meanwhile here's a more enjoyable misleading comparison...

    Percy: You know, they do say that the Infanta's eyes are more beautiful than the famous Stone of Galveston.

    Edmund: Mm! ... What?

    Percy: The famous Stone of Galveston, My Lord.

    Edmund: And what's that, exactly?

    Percy: Well, it's a famous blue stone, and it comes ... from Galveston.

    Edmund: I see. And what about it?

    Percy: Well, My Lord, the Infanta's eyes are bluer than it, for a start.

    Edmund: I see. And have you ever seen this stone?

    Percy: (nods) No, not as such, My Lord, but I know a couple of people who have, and they say it's very very blue indeed.

    Edmund: And have these people seen the Infanta's eyes?

    Percy: No, I shouldn't think so, My Lord.

    Edmund: And neither have you, presumably.

    Percy: No, My Lord.

    Edmund: So, what you're telling me, Percy, is that something you have never seen is slightly less blue than something else you have never seen.

    Percy: (finally begins to grasp) Yes, My Lord.

    1. David 132 Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: "Sales of two-in-one systems are up 150 per cent"

      Upvoted if only for the Blackadder reference.

      The scenes with the Infanta Maria and her interpreter still crack me up every time.

      Second only to the home-selling conversation with Mr & Mrs Pants in the season-II episode.

      "What we're talking about, in privy terms, is the very latest in front-wall fresh-air orifices, combined with a wide-capacity gutter installation below."

      "You mean, you crap out of the window?"

      "... Yes."

      "Well, in that case, we'll definitely take it. I can't stand those dirty indoor things."

      ..Wait, what were we talking about again?

      We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion about PC sales.

      1. Martin an gof Silver badge

        Re: "Sales of two-in-one systems are up 150 per cent"

        [Blackadder]

        Totally OT, but glad to report that the 11 & 14 year-old children have been totally enamoured with Blackadder, though they found series I a bit "different". Mind you, they also enjoy a lot of other "classics", from Dad's Army to Red Dwarf and beyond...

        M.

        1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

          Re: "Sales of two-in-one systems are up 150 per cent"

          Upvoted for good parenting.

  6. Sureo

    I finally upgraded 2 five-year-old PCs this year, and that was only to get SATA3 and USB3. (One Intel and one AMD. The AMD, with a weaker processor, boots up faster.)

    I thought I had no use for smart gadgets but I got a tablet recently (for free thanks to bank promotion) and find it a fun toy and occasionally useful. It sucks for doing any serious work though.

    I don't know what this means for Intel.

    1. Longtemps, je me suis couche de bonne heure

      Presumably by serious work, you mean word processing?

  7. Tromos

    "Skaugen said the new cameras make this impossible"

    If he'd said the new cameras make fooling facial recognition much more difficult, I might have some respect for the rest of his opinions.

    1. ntevanza

      Re: "Skaugen said the new cameras make this impossible"

      A warm corpse works just fine. The trick is to hold the computer over it, rather than trying to get it to sit up.

      Sorry, oversharing again.

    2. DropBear
      Trollface

      Re: "Skaugen said the new cameras make this impossible"

      What he meant is that now you actually have to wrap that photo onto a pot of moderately fresh coffee...

  8. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "The new form factors – including mini-computers – are also inspiring companies that haven't been big in laptops to get in the game he said, citing Microsoft's Surface Book and InFocus' $99 Kangaroo PC as examples."

    Somehow these don't look like minis as I remember them.

    1. Chika
      Holmes

      Somehow these don't look like minis as I remember them.

      These youngsters have no idea when they are referring to such technologies. You ask them what a PDP 11 is, for example.

      Pah!

      (How about an "old fart" icon? ;)

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Yes!

        Still have the PDP-11 Instruction set manual on the bookshelf and a complete set of PDP-11/45 Schematics in the loft.

        Those were the days my friend

        We thought they'd never end

        We'd sing and dance forever and a day

        We'd live the life we choose

        We'd fight and never lose

        For we were young and sure to have our way

    2. David 132 Silver badge
      Coat

      Somehow these don't look like minis as I remember them.

      Ah, you obviously haven't seen the upcoming docking station/port replicator/golfball printer for the Surface Book.

  9. Fungus Bob
    Holmes

    "Today there are more than a billion PCs that are more than three years old

    In other words, thats more than a billion PCs that are nowhere near useless yet.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Today there are more than a billion PCs that are more than three years old

      And probably the bulk of them are happily running W7.

    2. Palpy

      Re: "Today there are more than a billion PCs...THE SHAME

      I just bought a reconned 3-year-old laptop. Now I feel like such a Bad Consumer. And I have no 3-D camera, nor a 3-D golf ball printer, as one commentard promised me.

      But the laptop will run Qubes OS, which is apparently very little like Win 10 indeed. So behind the times, and yet so little urge to catch up...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey Intel, I'm still waiting for those Z8500 and Z8700 Mini pc tv media boxes instead of those crappy bay trail units.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "In the next few weeks both HP and Lenovo are going to be releasing laptops with 3D cameras built into the lid, and Intel has been working with Microsoft to make them integral to the Windows 10 Hello biometric security system. The camera scans the user's face and then opens the operating system, and Intel hopes the system will also replace password logins for websites."

    Will plastic surgery will be necessary once this 3D facial info is hacked / leaked?

    Seriously, none of the big players in the the tech industry are seeing what a watershed moment this is for privacy, how is that possible? When I first read the paragraph above, I thought it was to take 3D photographs which might be interesting, although 3D laptop screens turned out to be a gimmick...

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      "Will plastic surgery will be necessary once this 3D facial info is hacked / leaked?"

      Well, let's put it this way: it's much, much easier to change a password. The biometric data will leak one way or another sooner or later. What are the odds it won't even be stored encrypted? But as the common or garden variety user always puts convenience before security, this could actually be quite successful.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Will plastic surgery will be necessary once this 3D facial info is hacked / leaked?"

        Hmm. So if I correctly understand this approach to security, then certain information derived from having a number of cheap laptop sensors view/scan my face, possibly including an infrared (thermal/heat) signature, will be saved within the target system. At a later time, the laptop security app will try to use this info to make a go/no-go decision. It will either allow or deny me user or root level access, by performing a new sensor scan/view, and then making an intelligent A-to-B comparison between the new/current data, and the saved-away-for-reference data.

        Oh, my. This promises to be a source of endless fun & amusement. Let's call the "saved-away-for-reference" data, the "keyfile".

        So, let me put-on my black hat for a bit (black watch cap actually, but same symbolism).

        At some point, the user (victim) is likely to fire-up said laptop, successfully satisfy the login requirements, and possibly even connect to the internet. If I'm then able to root the laptop using any of the conventional phishing or spear-phishing techniques, then can I simply copy the most recent keyfile? Maybe I can transmit it back to myself as an attachment using a good old-fashioned email hack?

        Alternately, can I remotely overwrite the victim's keyfile with my own? Brings a whole new wrinkle to the crypto-locker ransomware business.

        Can I crack the data format on the keyfile itself? Can I write a simple hex editor to allow me to change the saved data? Better yet, can I use the keyfile data and a 3D printer to create a head & shoulders bust of the victim? How much data does a keyfile retain, anyhow?

        Will the operating system automatically upload saved copies of the victim's keyfile to the NSA, Microsoft, Google, ComCast, Amazon, Ebay, Mozilla, etc? Can I passively capture this transmission or alter it in flight? Can I crack one of the redundant archival servers (used for storage of keyfiles by large faceless enterprises) and simply download a few hundred million?

        If the scan/view process is not obtrusive (no little red flashing light) then can I remotely trigger a keyfile capture by the victim's laptop and upload the victim's new keyfile to myself? (Here's looking at you, kid!) Can Ebay also do this? (Allowing them to be somewhat more certain that the $47,000.00 USD bid, made for an autographed copy of Taylor Swift's last wardrobe malfunction, was indeed done by the victim him/her self.)

        Will there evolve a black market in keyfiles? (I'm rather fond of actress Scarlett Johansson. I'm curious what her 3D head & shoulders bust might look like.) Will it be illegal to buy/sell the keyfiles of others? Do victims automatically receive copyright benefits on their own keyfiles? What if my employer (Walmart, Target) requires me to provide them with a current keyfile, as a condition of employment?

        Last, but far from least... can I fabricate a functional/working keyfile via remote observation? Using videos, photos, and other representations of the victim's head & shoulders? I would think that most public figures (actors/actresses, appointed and elected gov't persons, hereditary royalty, wealthy people, etc) would be hopelessly compromised, in this event.

        I could ramble on. But this covers most of the thoughts I find interesting at the moment.

        1. Vic

          Re: "Will plastic surgery will be necessary once this 3D facial info is hacked / leaked?"

          this covers most of the thoughts I find interesting at the moment.

          The first thought that came to me is this: if the technology is sensitive enough to discriminate between identical twins, what happens when I grow a beard?

          Vic.

        2. Hans 1

          Re: "Will plastic surgery will be necessary once this 3D facial info is hacked / leaked?"

          Use a print of Homer Simpson to authenticate with the laptop, should just work ;-) ... yes, you need to lug it around with the laptop, but it's just the weight of a page of A4/US letter. Don't spill coffee on it or you will be in trouble, have a backup at work and at home, just in case.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And Black tape makers report a boom in sales

      that strangely coincided with the general availabiltiy of Laptops with cameras built into the lids after a bug in the software meant that the camera was never switched off and several intimate bedroom scenes were uploaded to the internet without the players knowing or giving consent.

      Several lawsuits and divorce cases are now pending.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    First of many?

    First one I've seen, anyway. Having had a look at the PC Does What? video, I've been expecting the likes of Intel to start banging on about how we're all going to so love what the new kit can do that we'll be junking our existing perfectly useable machines in order to sign up to the glorious future that Microsoft and the major OEMs have in store for us.

    Err - no. No thanks.

  13. Captain Obvious

    Really....who cares anymore????

    I used to be one of those people on the constant upgrade cycle. However, most of my systems are 2-5 years old. All have SATA 3/USB3/other advanced technology. What do I need with incremental speeds, new motherboards, DDR4, and new USB? The only thing worth upgrading is possibly the video card, and I am quite satisfied with their performance. All of the CPU's are already low wattage - in fact, some of their newer chips consume more power with no discernible benefits than my existing CPUs. Unless they come out with cheap 32 core chips at 3 GHz, maybe then we will talk.

  14. a_yank_lurker

    Mature Market

    He must some very good weed. The device market is basically a mature market. As long as all my devices suit my needs I have no real reason to replace any of them. I suspect i am not that different from most. All my planned purchases are replacement for deceased kit never had something like that before kit.

  15. Breen Whitman

    <scumbag Intel>

    Talks up PCs.

    Talks down mobile devices, of which they have weakest market share.

    </scumbag Intel>

    1. hugo tyson
      FAIL

      Intel-based tablets

      Exactly, my first thought was: Intel got the market for Intel-based tablets wrong. They did; they're not so good, so people didn't buy many,

  16. phil dude
    Coat

    system thresholds...

    It would appear that Intel has sussed something else is going on. I would vote that maximum memory is going to increase in the server space, giving the low end laptop/desktops with a bit more headroom.

    I am frankly amazed you can get a TB on a motherboard now - granted it would be pricey, but that was once the province of supercomputers...!

    I just wish Intel had a more effective competition so the pricing was less exponential than the technology.../s

    P.

  17. ben_myers

    MINI-computers ????

    Why would the author purloin the word "mini-computer", which has a long-standing meaning of a computer smaller than the mainframe dinosaurs that once roamed the planet? To quote Wikipedia, the most handy on-line reference: "A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold for much less than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors."

    Methinks that author Thompson has not been around computers for very long.

  18. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Did the guy know Microshit-on-you was going to burst their cloud bubble and everyone would go back to using the hard disk for more than booting an OS off?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Windows tablets are toast

    And perhaps Android tablets too.

    iPads are selling very well.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Windows tablets are toast

      iPads selling very well?

      with a double digit year on year percentage decline in Sales?

      If that is selling well then the devices that have tanked must be paying consumers to take them away by now...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows tablets are toast

      Sure, that's why the iPad Pro needs to look like a Surface Pro...

  20. Christian Berger

    The future of the PC is not with Windows 10

    Microsoft has made clear again and again that they do not care about the desktop any more. That's why Windows 8 and Windows 10 had a GUI geared towards tablets.

    The future of the PC is with professional users using Linux. Essentially it's the "workstation" market, which, for a while merged with the PC market, and now essentially is mostly covered by PCs running Linux.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The future of the PC is not with Windows 10

      Professional users do use professional software. Which, unluckily, is often lacking in a Linux version. Professional users usually care little about the underlying OS, they care about the software (and devices) they need to use. And the Stallman attitude "everything must be open source" helps very little in that direction... the day Linux drops the GNU, it would have far more chances.

      1. Christian Berger

        Re: The future of the PC is not with Windows 10

        "Professional users do use professional software."

        That's exactly my point. Yes you could get a cygwin environment with vim, awk and all the normal Unix tools... but that's just a hassle when you get the same from any Linux distribution. Just try to make active filter design on a Windows box where your simulation software has to be manually run for every simulation. On a normal unixoid system you can execute your SPICE on a command line and write a small program around it which runs all night and presents you with the optimal solution in the morning.

    2. naive

      Re: The future of the PC is not with Windows 10

      Unfortunately, i see no basis for Linux taking a major share in the desktop market, unless it is at the low end, where it might sit between full blown classic windows+office machines and chrome books.

      The key remains the lack of consumer applications, like high-end games. Microsoft did a great job with windows 10, it just looks great, is fast and fluid. Also in the gaming world there is no move to Linux. The highest benchmarks for gaming related frame rates are on windows systems, since the whole gaming ecosystem is built around windows.

      So where would this growth come from ?. Not from performance, since from Windows 7 on, Windows is not slower as Linux. Not from the UI, Windows 10 UI is the best i have seen in 35 years. Not from stability, reboots for updates are not an issue on desktops. Not from applications, since 99.9% of consumer apps are built for Windows.

      It could come from the price, Linux could save $300.- for a desk top OS + Office. But the only real price sensitive market segment, schools and students, is controlled by Apple and MS due to huge discounts, so young people believe their products are the norm, and the rest is some weird niche. Microsoft even managed in the last 15 years to obtain 99.9% market share in countries where an official Windows license would cost a monthly salary, just by allowing piracy.

      The only way Linux could rise is when large countries decide they had it with the endless US spying enabled by the law enforcement loopholes MS builds into its products. If China would outlaw use of Windows, enforce a Linux distro secure enough to make it impossible for the three letter boys to snoop, then the necessary application ecosystem would come into existence as a side effect. This would eventually spill over to the West, where currently Microsoft is considered to be the norm by most influential decision makers in governments and large corporations.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And another thing

    Yes, I'm sure there's lots of new stuff being churned out by Intel, and of course I understand their need to make more money to keep the company solvent, but by the time I need a new gaming PC, there'll be plenty of refurbed current PCs on the market for me to buy, and...

    There's some very interesting stuff happening down at the cheap end of things, things like Raspberry Pi's, Beaglebones, and their ilk, too. For instance, I'm in the process of building my own portable computer using an RPi2, a couple of phone charger battery doodads and a 5in HDMI screen as the key components. I want to get a solar panel in there somewhere (I see there are phone charges with solar panels built in, so might use one of those), and if I want a camera, there's a ready made one for the RPi.

    I'm confident I can get this all to work, because aside from a change to config.txt, all any of it needs is to be plugged into the appropriate other bits. The hardest thing is going to be sorting out a preferably steampunkish/dieselpunkish enclosure, but then, I know people who can, for that sort of thing. In short, I've been having the kind of fun with computery stuff that I haven;t had since the days of the Amiga. And my little portable-to-be has plenty of power to surf the interwebs, email friends, and play video and audio to entertain me. It also won't send my data anywhere unless I tell it to, or take snaps of me unexpectedly. If a component fails, it's all cheap enough I can replace it without wincing too hard.

    Sure, I could buy something prebuilt with more power for the same kind of price, maybe less, but I wouldnt be able to fix it myself, and it'd be less fun. And whilst Intel are busy producing ever more oomfy chipsets, these tiny, but sufficiently powerful computers are only getting more numerous, and easier to muck about with. When they're available, I intend to try one of those prebuilt Chip handheld computers, the first thing to appear that resembles what I thought a future handheld computer might be like forty years or so ago - a computer under my control, not a 'smartphone' full of crapware inflicted on me by a phone company.

    And with bits that can serve as the basis for a mobile phone being readily available, along with 3D printing becoming ever cheaper well... perhaps people will just assemble the bits they want to create the devices they need, and what then for the current PC manufacturers? And once enough folk find that it has become sufficiently easy for them to do so (no I'm not claiming that's happened yet - it isn;t quite easy/cheap enough for most folk yet) and they can have a personalised bit of computing power free of spyware, what then for WIndows?

  22. Detective Emil
    Meh

    It must have been dark in that hall …

    … because Kirk Skaugen was sure whistling loudly.

  23. tony2heads
    Holmes

    3D cameras on board

    I can just imagine attractive you ladies of negotiable virtue making big business out of this.

    But, as for fooling login system, would a waxwork dummy head work as well? It worked for Sherlock against Colonel Sebastian Moran.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 3D cameras on board

      Probably, if it doesn't get melt at 37°C. Also, a 3D printed and painted one, probably.

      Just, it requires far more data, expertise and technology compared to a simple photo.

  24. Joerg

    All bull .. PC sales never went downhill...

    The industry just keeps crying whenever it loses a small percentage of units sold worldwide.

    But they keep earning billions anyway.

  25. werdsmith Silver badge

    My old iPad2 has the special code line in iOS 7/8/9

    millisecond_tick(host_hw) { if (host_hw == ipad2) sleep(200); }

    So I need a new one.

  26. Jim 59

    Rich

    Paragraph 4: It used to be the case that people upgraded their PCs every two years or so...

    What! You Londoners are so rich.

    Most people renew their PC every 6 years, after Windows has slowly strangled it by installing oceans of unwanted guff, killing performance so much the hapless user can hardly log in anymore. The simple solution of reinstalling Windows from disk is no longer possible for home users. They must take the PC to the shop for a "clean up", or buy a new one. Most buy a new one, not wanting to share their pr*n collection with the local laddo.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Rich

      Most users usually upgraded PC after they found the pirated copy of the new OS didn't run well on their old hardware... since Windows introduced activation less users "upgraded". Also some needed to "upgrade" after all the pirated/crappy software they installed took so much control of the hardware it became so slow...

  27. 080

    3D Golfball Printer

    I could do with one of those, I loose so many of the little buggers.

    1. Big_Ted
      Coat

      Re: 3D Golfball Printer

      3D Golf balls ?

      God I hate you rich MEME 's

      Some of us have to make do with 2D golf balls cut out of magazines.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    For Sure

    ...and AMD will be the one making the sales while Intel runs around in circles in panic mode. But hey don't take my word for it, just wait a few months and see for yourself how Intel's world comes crumbling down - just as they deserve for exploiting consumers.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like