What will the younger generation do ?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Ridcully Feb 03, 2012 6:42 AM EDT |
From all the info I have, my impression is that the "kids" have almost totally rejected Windows on either smartphones or pads......it is either Android or iOS. Given the huge numbers of Android phones out there now, it makes logical sense to me that if, and it is a big "if", those kids want a conventional computer, they are going to be most at home with one that runs either iOS or Android. Granted, Android as it runs on smartphones is probably not the ideal OS for the conventional computer, but it will be familiar territory, and it won't be long before the kids and the developers advance Android to something a little more "complex" and fitting for the new environment. Could it be that Android is finally the version of Linux that smashes through the Windows stranglehold on the desktop ? Will some OEM's break ranks and offer Android ? My crystal ball simply doesn't have the resources.....but with a great deal of hope, the best phrase is probably: "watch this space - it's going to be interesting times ahead". Just speculation of course Uncle Steve -- and do be careful of the chairs. :-) |
| JaseP Feb 03, 2012 9:55 AM EDT |
Try out Android-X86,... It's passable as a desktop OS, if only the productivity software existed for it. When I say "passable" I mean it just like that, "D-." A full Xubuntu runs circles around it. Try Android-X86 on a net book. You'll see what I mean... |
| dinotrac Feb 03, 2012 12:32 PM EDT |
I've already got a taste of that with my Asus Transformer. With the keyboard on, I can kinda sorta use it like a PC, enough so that I don't bring my netbook along any more unless I need to do some serious typing/development work. Usually, the actual work is done on my home workstation -- whether sitting at my desk or logged in via ssh. Compared to my real workstation...kinda sucks. As a mobile extension...not terrible. |
| henke54 Feb 03, 2012 12:44 PM EDT |
my 'cristal ball' is telling me nothing ... yet ... ;-P : http://smarthouse.com.au/Home_Office/Notebooks_And_Tablets/Q... http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/820 http://blip.tv/flourish-conference/libreoffice-and-the-docum... http://www.muktware.com/news/3145/android-approved-pentagon-... http://news.softpedia.com/news/Android-Is-Finally-Coming-Bac... |
| Khamul Feb 03, 2012 1:26 PM EDT |
I predict Android, or a slightly different variant, will become the new de-facto OS in 10 years. It won't be much different from current smartphone OSes: you'll only be able to look at one task at a time, apps will always be fullscreen, and you can forget about multiple monitors, as that's "too confusing". It'll be just like 1985! We old people can reminisce of the days when we had multi-monitor setups, and could have a dozen apps running at once and quickly and easily switch between them, having many of them viewable at the same time, but our kids will say we're crazy and that stuff is "too complicated". They'll also laugh at some of the things we tell them about the past, like landing men on the moon, doing nuclear fusion research, finding exoplanets, etc., saying those were all lies because there's no way anyone could concentrate on anything long enough to do such things. |
| mrider Feb 03, 2012 2:54 PM EDT |
@Khamul +1 humorously pessimistic (although probably accurate). :) |
| JaseP Feb 03, 2012 5:37 PM EDT |
I think we'll still be multitasking. I just think we'll have 2-3 tablets on our desk, a desktop machine (probably the size of a large pencil sharpener), a phone, and maybe one or two other devices... all talking to one another ... |
| Khamul Feb 03, 2012 6:09 PM EDT |
Here's a different prediction: in 25 years, we'll have a moon base, and maybe even a space elevator, probes traveling to other star systems, and probably multi-monitor desktop setups even more advanced than what we have now. Except that all those spacecraft will have a Chinese flag on them, and the people on the moon base will be speaking Mandarin, and you won't see those nice computers in the US. In the English-speaking countries, we won't have computers any more capable than a single-tasking (maybe task-switching) tablet running locked-down MS software, and internet access will be highly restricted to keep us safe from "terrorists" and "pirates", and we'll spend all our time on Facebook or playing the latest version of Angry Birds. Meanwhile, our economies will resemble that of Zimbabwe, with 75% unemployment and worthless currency. |
| Ridcully Feb 03, 2012 6:21 PM EDT |
@henke54.....just checked those urls and I agree that a "beginning" has been made....but what I was thinking about at the time was the possible Android invasion on a massive scale onto the world's desktops to displace the Redmond software. And to me, that starts with a commercial perception that there is solid public demand, followed by a response from the OEMs. |
| montezuma Feb 03, 2012 6:48 PM EDT |
Wow that is bleak Khamul. My prediction is different. In 25 years nation states will be fading away as the global economy becomes fully integrated. There will be a moonbase and interstellar probes which will have the flag of Earth. There will be a global government with limited federal powers to ensure global labor conditions and to put a break on unlimited multinational corporation power. There will be many "state" governments like China, India, Europe and North America. |
| tracyanne Feb 03, 2012 6:52 PM EDT |
I predict that the Empire of the West will still be strong, though fading, and the Empire of the East will in comparison allow it's people more freedoms. Not because the Empire of the East has become more free, but because the Empire of the West has become less free, by continuing to make laws that are designed to give it's failing corporates more power to control and kill thier competition. |
| Khamul Feb 03, 2012 7:11 PM EDT |
The US empire is on the verge of total collapse, so I think your (pl) predictions are far too optimistic. In addition, the people who can actually do useful things are getting old, and the younger generation is largely incapable and uninterested. Just look at the enrollment of US citizens in engineering programs of US universities. (Of course, part of this may be because the "doer" professions have been screwed over for so long by the MBAs, that people just don't want to bother signing up for it any more, but the effect is the same regardless of the cause.) As for nation-states fading away, that sounds like a pipe dream, unless you're talking about a global government (or large regional governments, e.g. Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania) run by elite, unelected cabals. Just look at the people running governments today; the only places where there's even a semblance of real democracy (the people having power over their leaders by way of elections) are mainly in western Europe and maybe Canada, and that's about it. Everywhere else, it's dictators and unelected cabals (like China). At least the unelected cabal in China seems to actually care about building the country up and doing useful things, instead of gutting it and taking everything they can get like our "elected" (in sham elections) leaders here in the US. How exactly do you plan to move from the extreme corruption and lack of democracy seen worldwide today to this Utopia you envision, in only a quarter-century? Even the Europeans look like they're in big trouble as they can't agree on monetary policy (the Greeks want to work 30hours/week and retire at 50 and want the rest of the Europeans to pay for it) and this is threatening to break them up. Moreover, multinational corporate power seems to be growing, not decreasing, and governments are encouraging it; there's a word for this: fascism. The trend is towards much more of this, not less. |
| montezuma Feb 03, 2012 9:56 PM EDT |
Khamul, I would not presume to plan on anything. These things happen because ordinary people take action. I don't think anyone likes corrupt elites and sooner or later they get the boot. Look at Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Syria. Whether this can lead to a better world is where one is either optimistic or pessimistic. We obviously differ on that. Note: I am not saying Tunisia or Egypt is great just that they got rid of their dictators. As to global governance I think it is inevitable. It happened on a small scale in the 19th century as small regional states united into nations because of economic imperatives. It happened with the United States and with the European community. The trend is toward globalisation. Mainly this is economic at present but eventually it will become political because the two things go together. As to the US collapsing, I really seriously doubt it. All that is happening is that the US no longer runs the world and they are having trouble adjusting to that new reality. The US is however an amazingly resilient place. They will spring back with a greater sense of reality and humility. It happened in England in the 1970s..... |
| henke54 Feb 04, 2012 12:57 PM EDT |
Quoting:However, the government chose to work on Android first because Google already allows people to tinker freely with its code, said those working on the project. Federal officials have met with Apple, but they were told they could not have access to the core of the company's mobile operating system, said Angelos Stavrou, an information-security director at George Mason University who is working on the government project as a contractor, in a phone interview.http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/03/tech/mobile/government-and... |
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