On 11/27/2011 2:09 PM, George wrote:
> On 11/27/2011 5:42 PM, dsi1 wrote:
>> On 11/27/2011 8:58 AM, phaeton wrote:
>>> I still like to think that USENET will persist, as well as IRC (which
>>> is very alive, thankfully). Like notbob (or not like bob?) I'm also
>>> in the "desktop computers are not going away" camp. The people who
>>> are getting that excited over tablets to say this apparently don't use
>>> their computer for much.
>>
>> My view of this is that the desktop was mostly an unfortunate accident.
>> A diversion of a couple of decades brought about by the needs of
>> backwards compatibility to the original 8088 microprocessor, the
>> availability of dirt cheap RAM, and the economics of planned
>> obsolescence. We're left with big monsters that have to be loaded up
>> with gigantic OSes when we turn them on, requiring careful maintenance
>> and replacement with faster and better hardware/software, robust power
>> supplies of at least 400W or so, huge amounts of RAM and hard drive
>> space and a good amount of floor/desktop space.
>>
>> The new computers will be lightweight and portable and will be a useful,
>> easy-to-use, multipurpose tool. It will turn on and off quickly, we'll
>> use simple, cheap, quick loading, programs and it will connect us with
>> everybody on this planet. It's the dream of the personal computer
>> realized.
>
> Its also a dream for lots of organizations. If all of your data is held
> by others what privacy do you have?

I think that our concept of privacy will change very soon. We won't have
that luxury of concealing ourselves - not like we do today, anyway. I
don't have much problem with remote storage and have backed up my iPad's
files and apps on Apple's massive iCloud server. It probably wouldn't be
of much interest to most folks, but I could be wrong.

>
>>
>> In the future, the desktop will be viewed in the same way that the cars
>> of the 70s we a really bad time in it's history.
>>
>