End of an Era?

As many media outlets are advising, this week has marked a very large milestone in Internet and IT development with figures being published that demonstrate that more people throughout the world are using Google android operating system devices to search the Internet than any other platform. In the foregoing, it had been the PC and laptops running on the Windows platform that had up to this point in time dominated in Internet search.

By example, in 2012 PCs running on the Windows platform were used to perform more than 80% of all Internet searches. It may have been that even in that period the majority of Internet searches were carried out using the Google Chrome browser, but that browser was being used on a PC or laptop running a version of the Microsoft Windows Operating System. In the same year devices running on the Android operating system accounted for less than 4% of all Internet searches carried out.

However, in the above all has now changed with devices running on the android operating system now accounting for 37.93% of all Internet searches carried out, as against devices running on the Windows operating system accounting for 37.91% of all Internet searches carried out. A full breakdown of the above statistics and comment can be found by following the below link: -
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170403005635/en/Android-Overtakes-Windows-Time-–-StatCounter

As can be seen in the link, the Google android system only holds the slenderest of leads over Microsoft's Windows system at this point in time. However, that statistic hides a very large scale trend, that being the dramatic growth in the use one system as against the dramatic decline in the use of the other over the last five year period. What has also become obvious in the statistics would be that Windows 10 has failed to halt the growth in IT users choosing a mobile platform operating system as first preference at the expense of the Windows platform.

All the above has undoubtedly been brought about by the failure of Microsoft to create any substantial foothold on the mobile platform. However,Satya Nadella the new chief executive of Microsoft has cleverly over the last years repositioned the Redmond giant so as to create a commanding position in cloud storage technology. Many businesses now use as first preference Microsoft cloud services as against all others. In the foregoing Satya Nadella has once again secured Microsoft financially into the future.

What the future holds for the Windows 10 platform is unclear, but what I believe we should all be thankful for is that it was Microsoft by way of Bill Gates and the windows platform who brought the Internet into all our homes in the1980s, thus changing how we all communicated with the outside world and indeed the very way we now live our lives.

Bill

The current trend can not be denied, but whatever that means for the future is very hard to predict. Thanks to Steam, the future of PC Gaming looks very bright for example and gaming has always been a huge drive towards faster hardware and better software.

Also: humans are weird. About ten years ago I hated going by train or bus, because everyone was on their cell phone talking to someone on the other side, for the whole journey. It was still new and thus very popular then. Ride the train now, and it is wonderfully silent. Smartphones can still make phone calls, but they might as well take that option out again. Talking on your phone is simply not cool anymore. Everyone is using WhatsApp or putting stuff on Facebook and Twitter. Until that goes out of fashion again of course, to be replaced by... if I knew it I would be a millionaire. Maybe Trainz OS?

I predict that Microsofts Hololens will be the next obsession ;o)

clam1952 said:

I predict that Microsofts Hololens will be the next obsession ;o)

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I have a mental picture of all those folk on the Tube wearing VR devices. Remember that Dr Who episode where people had gas masks welded to their faces? :hehe:

Predicting the future in IT or related industries is very tricky but it's always been an interesting ride.

My next PC will still be a desktop/tower.

I think you are confusing requirements with wishful thinking.

To run TANE you need windows and a fair bit of horse power. To browse the web you need a bowser, there are practically no local processing requirements and something to run it on. Android will fit the latter at a cheaper price, it won't meet the former set of requirements.

Start with what are you trying to do ie the requirements, then you can choose the most appropriate solution.

I wouldn't try to write something the size of war and peace on a text editor on Android but technically it is possible. Before this new fangled word processing came in that's what we did. We used a text editor on a mini computer as an alternative to a type writer. Saved having to retype it all if you made a spelling mistake.

Cheerio John

Unlike other VR devices, the HoloLens is a full Windows 10 based computer running on an i7 CPU, which makes this very intriguing though at the moment it's a bit clumsy still but as we know technology gets smaller and more refined over time.

clam1952 said:

I predict that Microsofts Hololens will be the next obsession ;o)

Click to expand...

Oh please, gawd help us all!

There is no way I could comfortably and conveniently do what I do on my PC, and I don't mean just playing games, on any android/google or whatever device, other than casual communications. Long live the PC!

Rob.

I predict that as this generation ages its devices will get larger and larger to accommodate their maturing eyesight!

:B~D

I saw a TV show and the mother and father were discussing how their mindless children were so addicted to electronic communication devices, that their children could not live for a single second without staring, and texting, and telephone calling someone ... If it was something like a raging housefire, and the phone rang, the children would grind to a halt to answer, and text ... and if the internet went out permanently the children would go insane with withdrawal from their electronic devices, being totally obsessed and pathetically dependent on them.

I remember a time, not so long ago, (around 1998, @ twenty years ago), that there were pay phones, and rotary dial house phones ... there was no other communication besides those two devices ... we got along nicely without them ... we found travel directions, and booked airplane and hotel tickets without modern high tech electronic communication devices.

What I worry about is that someday finding a desktop Windows PC will not even be in existence, and spare parts would have to come from an electronics salvage yard ... But what do I care, I'll be long gone by then.

Albert Einstein said: “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. We're becoming slaves to our own technology. And it's happening faster than we can comprehend". “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” Albert Einstein

cascaderailroad said:

I saw a TV show and the mother and father were discussing how their mindless children were so addicted to electronic communication devices, that their children could not live for a single second without staring, and texting, and telephone calling someone ... If it was something like a raging housefire, and the phone rang, the children would grind to a halt to answer, and text ... and if the internet went out permanently the children would go insane with withdrawal from their electronic devices, being totally obsessed and pathetically dependent on them.

I remember a time, not so long ago, (around 1998, @ twenty years ago), that there were pay phones, and rotary dial house phones ... there was no other communication besides those two devices ... we got along nicely without them ... we found travel directions, and booked airplane and hotel tickets without modern high tech electronic communication devices.

What I worry about is that someday finding a desktop Windows PC will not even be in existence, and spare parts would have to come from an electronics salvage yard ... But what do I care, I'll be long gone by then.

Albert Einstein said: “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. We're becoming slaves to our own technology. And it's happening faster than we can comprehend". “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” Albert Einstein

Click to expand...

My nephew is like that. He will actually not use the bathroom because he's too busy playing with his tablet; not like he couldn't take it with him. When threatened about losing the tablet due to various reasons, he actually gets very nasty and snappy and has a tantrum. It's not like he's 3 or 4, but instead 5 going on 6.

I never thought of it as an addiction an more of another infliction called SBS. SBS is found among those bratty children whose parents spoil them by letting them get away with everything they want. Spoiled Brat Syndrome is very common today among all walks of life, however, there are some which are more affected by others.

I don't think we'll be scrounging through buckets at the dump looking for computer parts. There's quite a business in the electronics spare parts market usually with a 1000% markup for components and in some cases repair services. Computers are not going away, not even the Intel or AMD based computers running Windows, Solaris, or Linux - some flavor. There are too many specialized applications which require the hardware and operating system capabilities locally which is never found in the cloud. Android is a great mobile operating system, but for standalone complex operations it does not fair well. We may see declining numbers of desktop and laptop computers, meaning that they won't be sold in the 10 of millions, but they still will exist.

Hi everybody.
Many thanks to forum members for posting their thoughts on this topic. If we can leave aside for the moment the questions raised on abuse of mobile phones and also the future of Hololens, to take up the future of the PC and the Windows operating system which is fundamental in this topic

In my opening posting on this thread I put forward the recent statistics published on the percentage of Internet searches carried out by way of mobile devices as set against the number of Internet searches carried out on Windows PCs and laptops. Those figures demonstrate a dramatic decline in the numbers of people using Windows devices for the above searches which was matched by the dramatic rise in the number of people using android mobile devices for the same purpose. The foregoing figures demonstrated clearly that people wish by choice to use their mobile devices for Internet browsing, purchasing and communicating with others by way of Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and many other social media sites.

The above has been made possible by the steady increase in the power of smartphones to carry out the above, but most of all within those devices the proficiency of voice recognition that enables not only the foregoing communication tasks to be easily carried out but also document creation and editing to office standards to be performed. Anyone who enters a modern office (with good broadband connection) these days will see that everybody is carrying out their daily tasks by way of voice dictation on their smart phones which are casting to large screen monitors creating and editing the documents that personnel require.

In the above, the office PC is no longer required which has bought about the ever increasing decline in PC sales worldwide which many see as irreversible. It is not that the PCs have become inefficient at carrying out the above tasks, it is the fact that the smartphone has much more versatility and portability which when put together with the outstanding voice recognition and dictation capabilities of those phones, makes for them to be unmatched by the PC. For those who doubt the foregoing I would encourage them to ask for a demonstration in your local phone store of the recently released "Google assistant" an office workers dream if ever there was one

In the above it is clear that what was the backbone of the PC market is fast disappearing (or as fast as fibre broadband can be connected to businesses) which will leave only the high end gaming market for the PC to dominate. However, even in that, statistics published last year demonstrate that more revenue was derived from the mobile gaming market in 2016 than both the PC and console gaming market. The foregoing would seem to demonstrate that the smart phone and tablet devices that people use throughout the day become first preference for their entertainment and leisure at the end of those days.

I would very much concur with those in this thread that have stated that the gaming PC is not about to disappear in the near future. However, many younger people in this era will never use a PC in their everyday lives as all will be carried out by way of their smart phones and tablets. Therefore, to survive the PC gaming market will have to find ways to encourage next generation of PC gamers away from their casual gaming habits on their mobile devices and invest a substantial sum of money to obtain high end gaming.

Hollolens which without doubt will be an awesome product may be the vehicle to encourage new PC gamers into the market. However, in my humble opinion it weakness will be in the fact that it has to be tethered to a PC to operate, while Google's tango project system (which is very similar to Hololens) operates by way of a high-end smartphone or tablet without a headset. For there is the problem of the adversion people seem to be forming against the wearing headsets which is seen by many as "just not cool" or "looking daft".

To end on a lighter note, many of us must have watched the video on YouTube where Steve Ballmer former chief executive at Microsoft picks up one of first iPhones ever produced and advises at a technology conference to the watching audience "it will never catch on, it has not got a keyboard".

Microsoft have never recovered from that statement.:hehe:
Bill

Posting created on Samsung Galaxy S2 tablet using Nuance Dragon Anywhere speech recognition app in aprox six minutes.

The HoloLens is not tethered to a PC. It is a full PC complete with an i7 processor, video card, hard disks, and memory.

Hi John, I will bow to your above undouted knowledge, but the developers Hololense devices i have seen on Youtube seem to be tethered to a PC. whether that is just for the developers?. However, there is still the problem of having to wear a headset to use this technology.
Bill