- Site menu:
- Latest Discussions
- Latest Newswire
- Archives
- Submit Story
- Story HOWTO
- Syndicate
- E-mail Alerts
Why Desktop Computing Failed
Desktop computing failed because of you and me, the end user. Software manufacturers, as much as we’d love to blame them, are not at fault. They tried to fulfill our every wish and whim but they just couldn’t–not with a desktop operating system. With applications, they excel but with desktops not so much. Desktops can’t be all things to all people. Apple realized that with its introduction of iOS and its App Store. The local operating system has lost its importance. Traditional desktop computing failed and not a moment too soon. |
|
|
Comments (62)
Speak for yourself Ken
7 earlier comments in the full thread.
It's not about cloud. It's about, if you'd actually read you'd know, the failure of fat desktop OSs. Has nothing to do with cloud but everything to do with bloated OSs that people break because they're so breakable and exploitable. And, to you, Cafiero, you are not one to talk when it comes to null thought. Every time I see one of your posts, I think vacuous, hot air, waste of space, poor trapped electrons, etc.. You guys are a bunch of clowns who need something more to do with your time. Use your powers for good, children. Do you have such low self-esteem that you think that spewing your bile boosts your worth? It doesn't.
@khess -
Gosh. We think you write something stupid and we have low self-esteem? Guess I must be deep in the pits of depression given what I just posted.
Gosh. We think you write something stupid and we have low self-esteem? Guess I must be deep in the pits of depression given what I just posted.
It's your rancid commentary that defines you, not what I write.
@khess -
Darned right it's not what you write that defines me. Sadly, it does seem to define you.
Darned right it's not what you write that defines me. Sadly, it does seem to define you.
Rats, dinotrac, you beat me to it.
Seems to me that the Hubristic Hessian is Having a Hissy-fit by Harassing those He Heartily disagrees with Here //Har dee Har-Har//
-fb
-fb
Quoting:Every time I see one of your posts, I think vacuous, hot air, waste of space, poor trapped electrons, etc.. You guys are a bunch of clowns who need something more to do with your time. Use your powers for good, children. Do you have such low self-esteem that you think that spewing your bile boosts your worth?
Nice. Engage in ad hominem attacks. Very professional.
Correction John's Son "d",
When I read the quote, I thought it was an apt assessment of K.H.'s output. Just because he wrote it, does not implicitly reduce its validity describing his activities. Thus, I say for once Ken Hess gets it right.
Be beneficent, please.
YBT*
* a.k.a. Your Buddy Txt.
When I read the quote, I thought it was an apt assessment of K.H.'s output. Just because he wrote it, does not implicitly reduce its validity describing his activities. Thus, I say for once Ken Hess gets it right.
Be beneficent, please.
YBT*
* a.k.a. Your Buddy Txt.
LOL. At least you guys are getting a break from D&D or WoW.
How I do love to stir the Trolls.
How I do love to stir the Trolls.
Take you long to come with that one, Ken?
Nope. And, Larry, try to use full sentences lest someone criticize your writing. ;-)
Heh. Right.
@khess: Actually we just disagree with you Ken.
Where do you get the idea that the desktop has died or at least in the throes of it?
Do you really think office farms comprising literally millions of PCs are going to disappear to be replaced by some kind of pad?
Call centre staff are going to hold the phone in one hand, their iPad in the other?
Can you really imagine programmers/developers/web professionals trying to do serious work on a tablet?
Just where do you get these insane ideas from?
A point that I have made elsewhere is that a lot of home users who bought desktops purely for media consumption and email etc will find that they can do it more easily and more "mobiley" on a tablet or smartphone and for many of them they will decide that they just don't need a desktop anymore. Let me tell you though that they are *MUCH* in the minority of computer users now and for the foreseeable future.
The big mistake that many people are making when they look at the sheer explosion of handheld computing in the modern world is that it is somehow to the detriment of the humble desktop. It just aint so. There are just massively more computing devices out there now.
Where do you get the idea that the desktop has died or at least in the throes of it?
Do you really think office farms comprising literally millions of PCs are going to disappear to be replaced by some kind of pad?
Call centre staff are going to hold the phone in one hand, their iPad in the other?
Can you really imagine programmers/developers/web professionals trying to do serious work on a tablet?
Just where do you get these insane ideas from?
A point that I have made elsewhere is that a lot of home users who bought desktops purely for media consumption and email etc will find that they can do it more easily and more "mobiley" on a tablet or smartphone and for many of them they will decide that they just don't need a desktop anymore. Let me tell you though that they are *MUCH* in the minority of computer users now and for the foreseeable future.
The big mistake that many people are making when they look at the sheer explosion of handheld computing in the modern world is that it is somehow to the detriment of the humble desktop. It just aint so. There are just massively more computing devices out there now.
@skelband
If you'd actually read, you'd see that I didn't say anything about the hardware. It's the OS. I've actually also written that a piece on this is not the post-pc era, but that one must have slipped by.
If you'd actually read, you'd see that I didn't say anything about the hardware. It's the OS. I've actually also written that a piece on this is not the post-pc era, but that one must have slipped by.
@khess:
Granted but it actually changes nothing however.
The nature of the OS (and I presume that you really mean desktop environment) for desktops is defined by the activities that people do on them.
If you read around these pages, you will realise that many of the desktop environments being developed, Unity, the Gnome Shell are targeted precisely at users that are not likely to be using the desktop paradigm, which is why they will ultimately fail.
I see the industry in an in-between situation at the moment. Everyone sees tablets and smartphones being the future of computing and that is certainly true for a swathe of computing activities involved in communications and media consumption. But the desktop and its accompanying OS is primarily ideally suited to an entirely different use case and I don't see that changing at all in the near future.
What has happened is that a lot of people that were using the desktop and its OS for a use case for which it was not ideal are jumping ship. There is a reason why TVs and DVD players and PVRs don't look and feel like PCs. It is now why tablets and smartphones don't look and feel like desktop PCs.
It is also why Gnome and Ubuntu are making the BIG mistake of targeting their DEs at those types of consumption users. Those users are not going to be using desktop machines for their activities. That leaves us the "traditional" computer users saddled with DEs that just don't suit our workflow and the almighty mess that we are getting ourselves into.
Granted but it actually changes nothing however.
The nature of the OS (and I presume that you really mean desktop environment) for desktops is defined by the activities that people do on them.
If you read around these pages, you will realise that many of the desktop environments being developed, Unity, the Gnome Shell are targeted precisely at users that are not likely to be using the desktop paradigm, which is why they will ultimately fail.
I see the industry in an in-between situation at the moment. Everyone sees tablets and smartphones being the future of computing and that is certainly true for a swathe of computing activities involved in communications and media consumption. But the desktop and its accompanying OS is primarily ideally suited to an entirely different use case and I don't see that changing at all in the near future.
What has happened is that a lot of people that were using the desktop and its OS for a use case for which it was not ideal are jumping ship. There is a reason why TVs and DVD players and PVRs don't look and feel like PCs. It is now why tablets and smartphones don't look and feel like desktop PCs.
It is also why Gnome and Ubuntu are making the BIG mistake of targeting their DEs at those types of consumption users. Those users are not going to be using desktop machines for their activities. That leaves us the "traditional" computer users saddled with DEs that just don't suit our workflow and the almighty mess that we are getting ourselves into.
@khess -
Without regard to anything that may have slipped by, I think we're just amazed that you seem unable to understand the basic nature of technology. New stuff comes along and crowds old stuff out. That doesn't mean the old stuff has failed, which was the supposed point of your piece.
If you were to be honest -- or to actually think about the issue -- all that desktop computing gave birth to the technologies that are superseding it. Would android phones and iPads really have sprung up out of the vacuum? I doubt it.
Without regard to anything that may have slipped by, I think we're just amazed that you seem unable to understand the basic nature of technology. New stuff comes along and crowds old stuff out. That doesn't mean the old stuff has failed, which was the supposed point of your piece.
If you were to be honest -- or to actually think about the issue -- all that desktop computing gave birth to the technologies that are superseding it. Would android phones and iPads really have sprung up out of the vacuum? I doubt it.
khess wrote:It's not about cloud. It's about, if you'd actually read you'd know, the failure of fat desktop OSs. Has nothing to do with cloud but everything to do with bloated OSs
I did read it, it didn't seem much different from all your other poorly reasoned diatribes on cloud, where the desktop is irrelevent etc etc, blah blah woof woof, so pardon me, my bad.
BTW with 450 million plus Windows 7 licenses sold the bloated OS looks more like a success than a failure. I'd like it to be a failure, but I don't have the same ability to ignore reality that you do ken.
450 million plus, LOL. you believe some of the fiction that you read.
ken, only some, yours I can't quite suspend my sese of disbelief.
Agree with TA, there's practically no products out there on which there's such a high profit margin then on Windows or Adobe / Apple software. So it still is one of the most succesfull things ever sold.
Try selling rice, cars, TV's or a hotelbed for 3x costrpize and you'll fail. If desktop-OS'es were really bad, tons of people would complain at the big OEM's not to install them anymore.
Try selling rice, cars, TV's or a hotelbed for 3x costrpize and you'll fail. If desktop-OS'es were really bad, tons of people would complain at the big OEM's not to install them anymore.
New Ground for Ken Hess: A venture into the utterly moronic
14 earlier comments in the full thread.
@khess -
Throw stones at close range? You sound like a six year old:
"I dare you to come over here and say that!"
Seriously, even you should be able to do better than that.
Throw stones at close range? You sound like a six year old:
"I dare you to come over here and say that!"
Seriously, even you should be able to do better than that.
@mbaehrixer
" the desktop is also easier to fix when it breaks. if my phone is broken i am stuck. and it just takes one badly wirtten app to take the whole thing down. i haven't tried meego, but i doubt it is any better.
greetings, eMBee."
Android security and stability is not as good as it can be, infact I had lots of crashing with it over the 6 different devices I used, its in a way how Google set it up. But I do not have the same stability issue with Sybiam and most definitely not with Maemo, which is actually a fork of Debian. I can't say Meego is the same. But its not because its a portable or a desktop OS, more to do with Google digressing from linux precautions (and from times allowing malware and uncontrolled spying, not just for itself, but thirdparty apps, the platforms gears around ads and data collection for revenue). On top of that you have a more locked down hardware of mobile devices, so things like corrupting a phone's partition table = trashed.
greetings, eMBee."
Android security and stability is not as good as it can be, infact I had lots of crashing with it over the 6 different devices I used, its in a way how Google set it up. But I do not have the same stability issue with Sybiam and most definitely not with Maemo, which is actually a fork of Debian. I can't say Meego is the same. But its not because its a portable or a desktop OS, more to do with Google digressing from linux precautions (and from times allowing malware and uncontrolled spying, not just for itself, but thirdparty apps, the platforms gears around ads and data collection for revenue). On top of that you have a more locked down hardware of mobile devices, so things like corrupting a phone's partition table = trashed.
Oh Spurious Author ...,
So true and even call themselves an author or an opinion maker or a tech. guru or ...
Again, so true ... ah you noticed this is not where you published. You are so perceptive. In my case, I learned the hard way that interesting text lines associated with the name Ken Hess were not worth my time. Therefore, if I do not read it why should I post even a mini-critique on that site? Do you need the clicks that badly?
You are here. Why are you so sensitive when this mostly would not be seen were it not for your named presence? Does the old adage hold that 'there is no bad press'? Or is it simply you just like to see your name in print and indexed?
If not, don't have your opinion pieces listed here. Most of us will ignore you completely.
YBT
Quoting: [...] [O]ne of the problems with the Internet is that every bastard with a piece of virtual chalk can spew his stupidity like graffiti on a wall. [...]
So true and even call themselves an author or an opinion maker or a tech. guru or ...
Quoting: [...] And, you throw your stones from a distance. [...]
Again, so true ... ah you noticed this is not where you published. You are so perceptive. In my case, I learned the hard way that interesting text lines associated with the name Ken Hess were not worth my time. Therefore, if I do not read it why should I post even a mini-critique on that site? Do you need the clicks that badly?
You are here. Why are you so sensitive when this mostly would not be seen were it not for your named presence? Does the old adage hold that 'there is no bad press'? Or is it simply you just like to see your name in print and indexed?
If not, don't have your opinion pieces listed here. Most of us will ignore you completely.
YBT
khess wrote:You might not agree with what I say but to say stuff like 'utterly moronic' is insulting.
And yet you write stuff that fits that description, what in the world do you expect commenters to say?
And, thanks for helping make my story the top story AGAIN on lxer.com. LOL-ing all the way to the bank.
There's a simple remedy ken, I could simply delete your stories like every other peice of spam.
It's a sad fact of life that sh1t floats to the top.
You really shouldn't complain about what lxer readers etc say about your writing, and you really shouldn't be so antagonistic, when they write scathing comments. Given that, by your words, you are getting lots of extra click thoughs, lxer is clearly doing it's job as a news agreggator. Clearly, from what you write, a better job than the others.
The fact that most people are going to zdnet to read your articles first hand because they want to see just how asinine your writing is, should not be anything that troubles you, so long as you get the click throughs.
It's a sad fact of life that sh1t floats to the top.
You really shouldn't complain about what lxer readers etc say about your writing, and you really shouldn't be so antagonistic, when they write scathing comments. Given that, by your words, you are getting lots of extra click thoughs, lxer is clearly doing it's job as a news agreggator. Clearly, from what you write, a better job than the others.
The fact that most people are going to zdnet to read your articles first hand because they want to see just how asinine your writing is, should not be anything that troubles you, so long as you get the click throughs.
It is so sad when some one, who claims (or at least strongly implies) that he's so much more insightful, enlightened and intelligent than his collocutors, is so busy denigrating the other participants opinions and manner of expression, that he can't even recognize a direct insult, simply because it requires a smidgeon of thought to recognize it as one.
But it's also good for a laugh.
But it's also good for a laugh.
Quoting:And, thanks for helping make my story the top story AGAIN on lxer.com. LOL-ing all the way to the bank.I'd like to suggest that, from now on, we all just let Ken's articles die on the vine by not discussing them.
I can do that.
> Me, belittling you bunch of know-nothings?
No nothings? I guess I should return my BSEE then.
> You personally harassed me on a Yahoo group for no reason so get over it.
You? I've done nothing of the kind. You might want to be more specific in your accusations.
> ...but to say stuff like 'utterly moronic' is insulting.
That would depend entirely on whether it is utterly moronic, now wouldn't it?
No nothings? I guess I should return my BSEE then.
> You personally harassed me on a Yahoo group for no reason so get over it.
You? I've done nothing of the kind. You might want to be more specific in your accusations.
> ...but to say stuff like 'utterly moronic' is insulting.
That would depend entirely on whether it is utterly moronic, now wouldn't it?
jdixon -
I think Ken referring to me when he says, "You personally harassed me on a Yahoo group for no reason so get over it."
If it's an occurrence I'm thinking of, it was a disagreement over an issue -- which in and of itself was a reason -- and how disagreeing becomes harassing is a mystery. Also, it was on a Google group (Linux Dairy Council), not a Yahoo group.
Those are minor details, I know.
I think Ken referring to me when he says, "You personally harassed me on a Yahoo group for no reason so get over it."
If it's an occurrence I'm thinking of, it was a disagreement over an issue -- which in and of itself was a reason -- and how disagreeing becomes harassing is a mystery. Also, it was on a Google group (Linux Dairy Council), not a Yahoo group.
Those are minor details, I know.
> I think Ken referring to me...
Thanks for the info, Larry. The generic "you" didn't make any sense in context. But then, that's par for the course with Ken's writing.
Thanks for the info, Larry. The generic "you" didn't make any sense in context. But then, that's par for the course with Ken's writing.
Maybe he meant 'group of yahoos', which sure sounds like the LXer crew. Maybe we should get matching t-shirts.
Hey Ken, time and time again I did my best to argue with you on the contents of your article and explaining to you why I think your arguments are lame and way off. Like I did in my post above.
But seems you never give me a serious reply, always you ask for serious comments but then when I do, you're gone or you're whining about all other comments. Which is lame in my opinion, I found out the best remedy if you want to discuss something serious is to ignore all the people who aren't serious.
But if you're only at LXer for click whoring and whining, I think I can spend my time in a much better way than seriously reading / analyzing / replying to your writings. Proofs indeed TA & Carla (Tuxchick) were right, and both discussing with you or reading your articles is a waste of time.
BTW many LXer readers have installed desktops for other people, and most of those other people - even the ones fairly new to desktop computing - have no problem to use them. My sister insisted on Windows (XP), so we installed XP for her and she doesn't have any problems. It's not true I have to "support" her all the time, maybe once in a year and that's all. Same for my grandmother: Her laptop is not connected to the internet so she never has any problems. Which shows the desktop is not the problem; much more the design of the core of the OS - which in the case of Windows was not designed with an 'insecure internet' in mind.
But seems you never give me a serious reply, always you ask for serious comments but then when I do, you're gone or you're whining about all other comments. Which is lame in my opinion, I found out the best remedy if you want to discuss something serious is to ignore all the people who aren't serious.
But if you're only at LXer for click whoring and whining, I think I can spend my time in a much better way than seriously reading / analyzing / replying to your writings. Proofs indeed TA & Carla (Tuxchick) were right, and both discussing with you or reading your articles is a waste of time.
BTW many LXer readers have installed desktops for other people, and most of those other people - even the ones fairly new to desktop computing - have no problem to use them. My sister insisted on Windows (XP), so we installed XP for her and she doesn't have any problems. It's not true I have to "support" her all the time, maybe once in a year and that's all. Same for my grandmother: Her laptop is not connected to the internet so she never has any problems. Which shows the desktop is not the problem; much more the design of the core of the OS - which in the case of Windows was not designed with an 'insecure internet' in mind.
@hans -
You can see that behavior right here in this thread.
Ken, I suppose, is lashing out to preserve his hurt feelings, but I didn't start this thread out simply by calling names. I provided a complete rationale for my characterization of his position. Moronic is harsh, but this is Ken Hess we're talking about and you've seen the way he writes and reacts. Polite discourse is not in his playbook.
You can see that behavior right here in this thread.
Ken, I suppose, is lashing out to preserve his hurt feelings, but I didn't start this thread out simply by calling names. I provided a complete rationale for my characterization of his position. Moronic is harsh, but this is Ken Hess we're talking about and you've seen the way he writes and reacts. Polite discourse is not in his playbook.
Quoting:A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.Don't discuss his articles. Problem solved.
-- Joshua (the U.S. DoD supercomputer), WarGames
Thanks Dino & Bob, can't agree more. I'm fed up with the hit 'n run mr. Hess displays. I better spend my time writing a new article, so people can bash me, ahum.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Well perhaps that is a bit extreme in this case :D but it is the responsibility of all right thinking men and women to challenge ideas expressed by people that you disagree with.
Ignoring Mr Hess will not solve anything. Our silence will be treated as assent by default.
Well perhaps that is a bit extreme in this case :D but it is the responsibility of all right thinking men and women to challenge ideas expressed by people that you disagree with.
Ignoring Mr Hess will not solve anything. Our silence will be treated as assent by default.
Quoting:Well perhaps that is a bit extreme in this case :D but it is the responsibility of all right thinking men and women to challenge ideas expressed by people that you disagree with.If everyone ignores him, and sites like this one stop repeatedly falling for his trollbait and sending him clicks, then his employer will make him go away -- which would be the exact opposite of what has been happening here every time he has published a new article. If you must challenge him, do it on his site, where the only people who see it will be those who are already there.
Ignoring Mr Hess will not solve anything. Our silence will be treated as assent by default.
This isn't the most moronic thing he's written. Y'all are forgetting his tirade about how all physical servers are ready for the dumpster and simply everything must be virtualized or else you're a stupid dinosaur. That was as one of my customers went away from the cloud and virtualization and saved a boatload of money in the process.
failed huh
Well if desktop computing failed the industry itself is to blame. Greedy people will now take the smartphone and tablet market and wring out every pennies worth and some thing new will come along
and we'll see a similar story appear about the death of the that. Time marches on and the next big thing
awaits us in the wings to take over the industry for a profitable run, until the next big thing.......
Post a comment
A free account is needed to post. Write your comment here first: your text is kept in this browser while you sign up or log in, and is waiting for you when you come back.
Your message:Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, [text](https://link), - lists, > quotes, $x^2$ for math. Formatting help
Sign up and post (it is free) or Log in and post