PC makers plan rebellion against Windows at 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), analysts say

Fox News ^ | 01/01/2014

[SeekAndFind]

Fearing rapidly plummeting sales of traditional laptops and desktop computers -- which collapsed by as much as 10 percent in 2013 -- manufacturers are planning a revolution against Microsoft and the standard Windows operating system, analysts say.

At the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January, multiple computer makers will unveil systems that simultaneously run two different operating systems, both Windows and the Android OS that powers many of the world’s tablets and smartphones, two different analysts said recently. The new devices will be called “PC Plus” machines, explained Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies.

"A PC Plus machine will run Windows 8.1 but will also run Android apps as well," Bajarin wrote recently for Time. "They are doing this through software emulation. I'm not sure what kind of performance you can expect, but this is their way to try and bring more touch-based apps to the Windows ecosystem."

These machines will be able to switch nearly instantly between the two operating systems, according to Computerworld

[adorno]

The fanatics exist everywhere, but that still doesn’t make it excusable.

However, the iFanatics are the worst of the lot. Why would anybody want to spend a lot more to own a device, just because it’s got the aura or the logo or the hype, that comes with Apple stuff.

[usconservative]

When it comes to people doing “more” on their smartphones it depends on what “more” is defined as. Recent surveys still point to internet traffic still being done mostly from PCs, by a large margin. That margin is considerably larger than the combined traffic from smartphones and tablets.

You and I must be reading vastly different surveys. Everything I've been reading from research firms such as Gartner and Forrester for example, indicate that more and more internet traffic is being generated by Smartphone and 4G enabled tablets than PC's.

Those studies are backed up by more and more people dropping their internet service @ home and relying on their SmartPhones and their data plans for their internet needs. (Case in point: Comcast is hemorraging both TV and Internet subscribers.)

When it comes down to it, what are people using their Smartphones for? eMail is one, purpose/task built apps is another (task lists, reminders, online banking) listening to music and watching videos for example. Most of these tasks were previously done on PC's, however as people have looked to consolidate costs during this never-ending recession, they've opted to keep their smartphone data plan and dump the internet connection (and cable tv...) connections at home.

I commute via train into/out of Chicago on a daily basis -- you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the train car I sit in that isn't using their smartphone in some way during the commute. Not that I spy on people but there's a whole lotta video's being watched and occasional email being answered.

[adorno]

Well, you do have some minor points in your argument. But, those are very minor points.

The Macs are made with limited specs, and so is the OS. By limited, I mean that, they don’t support a lot of the same things that a Windows OS is expected to support and serve. If you want simplicity without expandability and controlled by Apple, then, of course, Macs are the devices for you.

But, if one wants to look for affordability, and capabilities/features, and support for a decade or more, and if you’re also looking for an ecosystem with millions of applications, then you have to go with a Windows machine.

BTW, within my family, we have 2 iPhone 5s, and 2 iPads, and 2 Android smartphones (LG G2; love that device), and one Windows smartphone, one Windows tablet, and 3 laptops, and a humongous-power desktop with Windows. I use the mobile stuff on the road, by the devices which get most of my family’s usage, are the PCs. Those PCs can do it all, except when portability is more practical.

Also, I didn’t need to hear your history with hardware and/or software, since, it doesn’t make any difference when it comes to the reality of usage and specs and needs. I could brag about being in the computer industry for more than 40 years myself, but, I find it unnecessary. I like reality and practicality much more.

[Abby4116]

I didn't think there were any hardware issues from 8 to 8.1. I upgraded back in October or whenever it came out. I did NOT set up email the 2nd time around (use hotmail and have some mail on the server going back 10 years which the live mail thing wants to download ALL to my pc) so I just use hotmail on the web.

Hope you get the upgrade straightened out soon. I know Toshiba had me download lots of little hardware updates preparing for 8.1 before the release. That may be your "motherboard" problem since so much is on the motherboard these days.

[adorno]

Gartner and Forrester for example, indicate that more and more internet traffic is being generated by Smartphone and 4G enabled tablets than PCs".

Re-read what that statement above means, and do look at those studies again. While I agree with the basic content of the studies you mentioned, the fact remains that PC internet traffic far outweighs that of smartphones and tablets combined.

I'll help you out in the interpretation:

" "More and more", just means that, those devices are gaining more traffic, but that still doesn't meant that they've surpassed the PC internet traffic. It's all a matter of interpretation and understanding what's being written, and sometimes, what's being written is written in a way that's confusing, purposely, and with the intent of making some "preferred" products or services seem as if they're taking over the world. Gartner and Forrester are known for hyping and misleading, even if their content might seem "reasonable" and straightforward.

[adorno]

BTW, here's a recent study which shows that tablet traffic is not as "significant" as many people expected:

"Tablet internet usage less than 5 percent, behind mobile and desktop, new data suggests"

http://www.zdnet.com/tablet-internet-usage-less-than-5-percent-behind-mobile-and-desktop-new-data-suggests-7000024348/?s_cid=e019&ttag=e019

[usconservative]

Well, you do have some minor points in your argument. But, those are very minor points.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooook....

The Macs are made with limited specs, and so is the OS. By limited, I mean that, they don’t support a lot of the same things that a Windows OS is expected to support and serve. If you want simplicity without expandability and controlled by Apple, then, of course, Macs are the devices for you.

Limited nothing. I seem to recall a time when Mac's were banned from exporting to certain countries specifically because of their advanced architecture. I can expand my Mac's physical hardware capabilities (Storage, Memory) just as easily as I can my PC.

It appears your argument boils down to "there's more apps for the PC than there are for the Mac" sure, I'll cede that point. It's a red herring IMO because you're missing the one of the key reasons people purchase them in the first place: ease of use. Then there's stability, reliability, the fact Mac's don't get attacked by viruses and malware constantly, and there's no such thing as "patch Tuesday" for Mac's.

But, if one wants to look for affordability, and capabilities/features, and support for a decade or more, and if you’re also looking for an ecosystem with millions of applications, then you have to go with a Windows machine.

Not a point we need to argue. It's well known Microsoft supports operating systems far longer than they probably should which BTW stifles innovation on their part. Mac's don't have this problem. ;-)

BTW, within my family, we have 2 iPhone 5s, and 2 iPads, and 2 Android smartphones (LG G2; love that device), and one Windows smartphone, one Windows tablet, and 3 laptops, and a humongous-power desktop with Windows.

I didn't need to hear how many smartphones, desktops, etc.. you have in your home. But if that's all ya got, you have some catching-up to do. ;-)

[usconservative]

Here's why that ZDNet article has no relation to this discussion:

"The perception is that tablets are proliferating and replacing traditional PC and laptop machines so we developed our research platform to isolate tablet usage stats," said StatCounter's Aodhan Cullen in prepared remarks. "In reality we found that tablet internet usage globally at less than 5 percent is still relatively small compared to desktop and mobile."

Not relevant to the discussion because the research was tailored to isolate tablets. Our discussion has been about SmartPhones notably how people are using them in place of their PC's.

[adorno]

You’re still drinking the Apple “kool-aid”.

Macs are still being made with the “same” components as PCs, and they’re still being made to limit what an owner can do with them. A purchaser cannot “upgrade” or swap out the the hardware and can’t fix it if something goes wrong, and can’t upgrade to a different OS.

There is nothing special about the hardware on Macs, and their is even less special about the Mac OSes. In fact, Mac OSes tend to go unsupported after about 3-5 years.

Also, that’s a bunch of bull about Macs not getting viruses. The only “protection” that ever favored Macs, was the fact that they were a minor player in the PC market-place. It was mostly “security through obscurity” that had Mac users feeling safe.

Macs aren’t selling very well lately, and they could be going the way of the dinosaur within the next 3 years, perhaps 5. Even Apple is not showing that much love for Macs, and they’ve been concentrating their efforts on iPhones and iPads. A lot of people in the industry are making the same claims as I have regarding how Apple is not really serious with their Macs anymore. They’re just “mobile” and iCloud and iTunes, mostly.

[Revolting cat!]

The haters of Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc, etc, etc, would be happy in the Soviet paradise where a single brand (if and when it was available) ruled. Ridiculous fanaticisms (and calling others ‘fanatics’.)

[Rage cat]

“However, smartphones become obsolete a lot quicker than PCs, and thus, people might end up purchasing 2 or 3 or more smartphones, as opposed to just a single PC that lasts 5 or more years, and for which the OS gets support for 10 years or more.“

PCs hang around a lot longer than that. The computer I am using is 13 years old and is still running XP. It’s a dual core. Only had to reinstall XP once back about six years ago. So this installation is pushing 7 years old without reinstall.

The only problem I have seen so far is it’s stuck at IE8. firefox and chrome run perfectly fine.

It is still powerful enough to run win 8 if I wanted to install it. That is a testament to the staying power of PCs in the field. It’s 13 years old and can still run the most modern OS available. That is also partially caused by the fact that resource requirements for desktop operating systems has kind of plateaued for a while now.

I have the license and installation disk for win 7 but I have never seen a reason to upgrade.

I also have a computer on the work bench in the back of the house that I still regularly use that is still running Windows ME. It’s 20 years old. I use it for basic dos/win electronics related programs. I use it to browse the web once in a while, but I am stuck with using the Opera browser because it’s the most recent browser that supported ME.

I have one computer under the workbench that is around 25 years old. It’s set up for win 3.11. I sometime fire it up and surf the web with IE5 just for grins and giggles. It makes the sys admins scratch their head when they see a win 3.11 user agent string in their log files.

[Revolting cat!]

If you prefer this screwdriver (a tool, for the slow thinkers here) you are a 'Sears Kool-Aid drinker'!

[adorno]

You’re still missing the bigger point.

Smartphones are being used for voice communications, and for texting, and “some” media consumption, and for Facebook and Twitter, and perhaps some e-mail. When it comes to most internet type stuff, such as all of the stuff you can do with smartphones and tablets, and the other stuff, such are reading news and information, the PCs have the majority of the traffic. In fact, when it comes to my usage of my smartphone, I do as little as possible and just wait until I’m in front of a bigger screen; the tiny letters on a tiny screen are just too much for my eyes, and I hear the same from most people I know. Smartphones have a place in today’s world, but regular internet use does not make them preferred in any sense. Even viewing videos on the tiny screens is not conducive to having a nice experience.

The study I pointed to dealt mostly with tablets, but, one can only deduce that, if tablets with the bigger screens aren’t being used as much as people suspected, then the smartphones with the tinier screens would also not be doing so well. Smartphones will show a bigger slice than tablets for internet usage, but that’s only because they can be a lot easier to take anywhere, otherwise, they still can’t match PCs for internet usage.

[Rage cat]

“My first PC was a dual-floppy 8086 with 256mb of memory on which I wrote financial accounting software.”

Dang, I got jipped!!!
My 8086 only had 512KB and was only upgradeable to 640KB…. :-)

[usconservative]

Macs are still being made with the “same” components as PCs,

Yes, which is exactly why I can upgrade and memory, storage, etc.. as I wish ...

and they’re still being made to limit what an owner can do with them. A purchaser cannot “upgrade” or swap out the the hardware and can’t fix it if something goes wrong, and can’t upgrade to a different OS.

Now who's drinking the kool-aid??? On the one had you admit they're made with the same components as a PC then go on to claim I can't upgrade it? Absolutely incorrect! I've upgraded the OS on my Mac with zero issues, which is alot more than I can say about the Windows 8 --> 8.1 upgrade that screwed up one of our home computers.

Also, that’s a bunch of bull about Macs not getting viruses. The only “protection” that ever favored Macs, was the fact that they were a minor player in the PC market-place. It was mostly “security through obscurity” that had Mac users feeling safe.

Hmmm ..... I remember reading some talking points from Microsoft which stated the same thing. Who's drinking the kool-aid now?

There is nothing special about the hardware on Macs, and their is even less special about the Mac OSes.

You're really contradicting yourself here. On the one hand you claim I can't upgrade my Mac (which I can ....) because it's a Mac, then you go on to point it's the same as a PC but I still can't upgrade it because it's a Mac, and now you say there's nothing special about Mac hardware and software?

Which do you wish me to believe? Fact is, I've upgraded my Mac hardware and software in the last two years and those upgrades (specifically the OS) has gone much more seamlessly and without error than the latest Microsoft OS.

And again, I say that as a guy who goes all the way back .... (nevermind, I don't want to repeat myself.)

In fact, Mac OSes tend to go unsupported after about 3-5 years.

It's called INNOVATION, something Microsoft should be trying rather than keeping old OS core's at the heart of their OS and keeping their users back. BTW:When I say "innovation" that doesn't mean make my PC look like my damn' gaming console.

Macs aren’t selling very well lately, and they could be going the way of the dinosaur within the next 3 years, perhaps 5. Even Apple is not showing that much love for Macs, and they’ve been concentrating their efforts on iPhones and iPads.

Which goes precisely to my point at the very beginning of our discussion that Smartphones (and if you wish to include them, tablets) are not just gaining market share, they're actually replacing desktops and laptops. Why is that? Because of the basic functionality people use on their PC's they can do on their SmartPhones whenever they want, where ever they want.

A lot of people in the industry are making the same claims as I have regarding how Apple is not really serious with their Macs anymore. They’re just “mobile” and iCloud and iTunes, mostly.

That's not a majority opinion, it's a minority opinion. The fact is Consumers are driving computing "to the cloud" by their choice of PLATFORMS they use to perform daily tasks. Those PLATFORMS may be iOS, Droid or even Windows powered SmartPhones or Tablets. Apple sees that in their Consumer base, as do the Droid OS vendors.

The one who's far behind the curve and struggling to catch up is Microsoft. I have Gartner and Forrester research on my side to back that claim up.

[Utilizer]

Imagine how fast your computer would be if the 50-75(?)% of Windows you didn’t need and never used, was not there to inhibit its operations?

Crikey! And then someday someone might actually look into that and style it somewhat like a UNIX-style system where what you do not need you do not have to have installed in your machine, and -just to tweak everyone's noses in it, call it LINUX! Linux Is Not Unix!

What a concept, 'ay?

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

You sound old. I bet you miss the horse and buggy days.

[usconservative]

Smartphones are being used for voice communications, and for texting, and “some” media consumption, and for Facebook and Twitter, and perhaps some e-mail.

Which accounts for the overwhelming majority of what people do on their PC's anyway .... now being done on their smartphone. When it comes to most internet type stuff, such as all of the stuff you can do with smartphones and tablets, and the other stuff, such are reading news and information, the PCs have the majority of the traffic.

WHAT?! You're contradicting yourself here, whether knowingly or not. Are you saying that people keep their PC's around just to read news online??

The study I pointed to dealt mostly with tablets, but, one can only deduce that, if tablets with the bigger screens aren’t being used as much as people suspected, then the smartphones with the tinier screens would also not be doing so well.

That's an incorrect deduction (or conclusion) on your part. Here's why: I can stick my smartphone in my shirt pocket and have both hands free. I can't do that with my tablet.

That's just ONE example. Here's another: If I'm going to dinner with my wife, which am I more likely to take: my smartphone or my tablet? (Answer: smartphone.) Why? I can check email quickly when she steps away to the ladies room or text my kids @ home to make sure things are OK. In that specific situation my Smartphone is more useful and less conspicuous.

[Utilizer]

It's alot easier to control Hardware, OS, Peripheral and Driver quality (ie: "it just works") with a much narrower base of hardware to work with, which is what Apple does.

True. But just try to find a supercharger or a four-barrel Hemi carb or Edelbrock Hi-Rise manifold to strap on to a Yugo or a Datsun and see how far you get.

[usconservative]

Dang, I got jipped!!! My 8086 only had 512KB and was only upgradeable to 640KB…. :-)

No, you didn't get gipped. I posted in error as you well know!

I did not have 256mb of memory, I had 2mb of memory as I had the Rampage Memory Expansion board in mine. Yes, I was dumb enough to purchase one and I'm embarassed to remember how much I paid for the damn' thing........

I have no idea why I typed 256mb other than it was so long ago I no longer think in terms of "KB" or perhaps it's my early onset dementia since turning 51 this year.