IBM exec: PCs going the way of typewriters

[Simon]

An executive that worked on the first IBM PC has claimed the format is heading the same way as the typewriter.

Speaking 30 years to the day after launching the first IBM PC, Mark Dean, chief technology officer at IBM for Middle East and Asia said IBM was right to leave the PC industry in 2005, when it sold out to Lenovo, and said the world was heading into a post-PC era.

"It's amazing to me to think that 12 August marks the 30th anniversary of the IBM Personal Computer," Dean said on IBM's Smarter Planet blog. "The announcement helped launch a phenomenon that changed the way we work, play and communicate. Little did we expect to create an industry that ultimately peaked at more than 300 million unit sales per year."

But according to Dean, the arrival of tablets, smartphones and cloud computing means the writing is on the wall for the PC, although he admitted they would still hold strong in many industries – for now.

Read more: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/369274/ibm-exec-pcs-going-the-way-of-typewriters

[Rik]

We shall see...

[cavillas]

I can't see most of industry using tablets, phones etc for all of their office work, such a view is a bit simplistic and he is just trying to justify IBM's mistake of leaving the PC arena.

[john]

Actually Alf, I can see tablets replacing PC's in an office environment, well at least to some extent. Because of their greater flexibility some already use laptops to hotdesk and they can also be easily taken into meetings or transported from site to site. Tablets may prove to be more convenient still especially if data can be securely accessed over the net rather than residing on the tablet.

[pctech]

do you fancy writing a report on a touchscreen?

[Glenn]

You can use one of theses for that.

[talos]

Can't see it myself, I can see the tablet replacing the laptop but not the PC. There are times when a permanent fixture on a desk with a conventional keyboard can't be bettered

[Glenn]

Ditch a PC and use a thin client connection

[Rik]

But how about us portly types? 

[pctech]

I want the software on the hardware I own to be under my direct control.

[Rik]

Well, as much as possible, eh Mitch?

[pctech]

Indeed, phones and other devices I don't care about but leave my damn PC alone!

[Glenn]

I want the software on the hardware I own to be under my direct control.

How much software you own at work which ie was Alf was discussing, I know I own none of what I use here?

[pctech]

Indeed I don't but was thinking more about my home setup.

[Rik]

Where you don't own the software either, of course.

[Lance]

If we had thin clients to crunch the numbers in some large excel sheets I use, I would welcome the switch from laptop to tablet. Since we started hotdesking I've gone almost paperless and normally my laptop is in whatever meeting I am.

[cavillas]

I love desktop PC's, much easier to work with when writing and looking through a very large screen.  If any of the hardware goes wrong then I can replace it myself quite easily, also with the software.  everything is easily repairable and replaceable not so with tablets or even laptops completely.

[pctech]

Got it in one Alf.