“The desktop computer really will become obsolete,” Amy H. Tabor, director of facilities planning for RNL, a global, full-service design firm, tells “Infoworld” (http://macte.ch/Ey8gW). “This change is driven by the way we work, the need for more flexibility and space use, and the younger generation expecting the difference.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we’re not entering a desktop-less world. Even in a “post PC” world the desktop will have a place for years to come. It will only disappear when we totally replace desktops with laptop computers — which we’ll then connect to large displays when we want to use them as, well, desktops.
Daniel Burrus, business strategist, technology futurist, and the author of the new book “Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible,” tells “Infoworld”: “The workplace is changing dramatically, and the tipping point is now. In 2010 more non-Windows machines, like tablets, iPhones and other devices, than Windows computers were plugged into the Internet. Smartphones outsold laptops and PCs.”
Burrus says that increasingly the computer of choice is a smartphone or a tablet. “We will see enterprise level apps for services workers, sales, maintenance,” he says. “It’s a form factor that’s incredibly powerful.”
Yes, the tablet — by which I mean the iPad, of course — is a great device. But it, and the iOS, can’t replace a desktop or laptop with OS X for all chores. When it comes to Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, CAD and other high-end apps, you need a Mac. When you need a big screen, you need a Mac. When … well, you get the idea.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the desktop has been greatly exaggerated.
— Dennis Sellers