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Yes Frank, the horse has left the barn– it’s not Plus PC, it’s Past PC

Aug 21, 2011 11:37 pm by Kip Kniskern | 38 comments

OK so I like Frank Shaw. I liked him when he worked at Waggener Edstrom, although we never really dealt directly together, and I like him at Microsoft. I also quite like him as a person, as a writer, and as an adversary on Twitter (more on that in a bit). Two of my favorite acts of public relations coming out of Microsoft recently came from Frank Shaw, when he listed Microsoft “by the numbers” , and when he got into a “slapfight” the Google lawyers over a recent patent spat.

So when Shaw prompted his Twitter followers to “discuss” his latest blog post, this one entitled “Where the PC is headed: Plus is the New ‘Post’”, I responded, and we had quite a discussion (well for Twitter anyway). Shaw’s position in the post, and in our Twitter back and forth after that, is basically that PCs aren’t going away, “it’s a long game”, and Microsoft will “persist and endure”: they’ve done it before (Shaw specifically cites netbooks, but the list is long), and they’ll do it again.

Only this time, the market has moved past PCs. Or, as I allude to in my final tweet in our little exchange, “why close the barn door after the horse is gone?” Shaw, and Microsoft, apparently (although I hope against hope that not everyone takes his position on this), seem to think that a strategy of taking the long view, to “endure and persist” will allow Microsoft to prevail. Or, as Shaw says, “there is no barn”.

Microsoft may well think that the world has not moved past PCs, that the iPad is just another netbook. But of course they’d be wrong. Shaw is right that “we use our tools to create, collaborate, communicate and consume”. The problem with computers is, like books before the printing press, it has been nearly as difficult to consume as to create. Instead of hand copying with quill tip pens, we configure our PCs at our desks and install device drivers. In proper balance, we’re far more likely on the whole to consume and communicate than to create, and creation is the only thing the PC is specifically good at. For everything else, we can, and rapidly are, moving past the PC.

Brian S. Hall goes so far as to “decode” Shaw’s post, and while some of his vitriol is a little over the top, he captures what Shaw can’t seem to fathom:

In the past year, and again in the past few weeks, I’ve seen a resurgence of the term “post” applied to the PC in a number of stories including The Wall Street Journal, PC World and the Washington Post. Heck, I even mentioned it in my 30th anniversary of the PC post, noting that “PC plus” was a better term.
Translation: Everyone but Microsoft, even staid old media, has come to accept that the PC is dead. � …
A new thing shows up, kills the old thing, end of story. But in the world of technology, it’s rarely (but not never) that clear cut. Most of the time, in fact, new objects enhance and complement the things we’ve already got. They don’t replace them.
Translation: Those that do the “enhancing” and “complementing” wind up earing all the money. Microsoft will still be around. Just not making any new money. � …
Because creating and collaborating are two of the most basic human drives, and are central to the idea of the PC. They move our culture, economy and world forward. You see their fingerprints in every laboratory, startup, classroom, and community.
Translation: You see them gathering dust in every laboratory, startup, classroom and community. Smartphones and tablets; that’s the real action. That’s how people collaborate now, with other people, data, services. Not on the PC.
At Microsoft, we envision a future where increasingly powerful devices of all kinds will connect with cloud services to make it all the more easier for us social beings to create, communicate, collaborate and consume information. I encourage you to tune into our BUILD conference in mid-September where our vision for this world of devices will become clearer.
Translation: And our hand to God, we’ll deliver on that future. In 2018.
So while it’s fun for the digerati to pronounce things dead, and declare we’re post-PC, we think it’s far more accurate to say that the 30-year-old PC isn’t even middle aged yet, and about to take up snowboarding.
Translation: We are blind. And stupid. And doomed.

Will there be PCs in our foreseeable future? Of course. We’ll be using them to create and collaborate (and to consume and communicate, while we’re at our desks) for many years to come. Only there will be millions (billions?) more who don’t need Office, who don’t need dual monitors or desks, and who, for the first time, will be able (are able) to communicate and consume on a grand scale. If Microsoft persists and endures to try and bring them back to the PC, they are indeed doomed. Let’s hope there’s a brighter future at Build and beyond than that.

This entry was posted in Featured, Opinion and tagged Corporate Strategy, Windows. Bookmark the permalink.

Peter
How is Microsoft not knowing the end of the PC. Just because they still advertise it’s an awesome machine to use, doesn’t mean they are blind.
Ok, they failed so far, but they at least speak about tablets since Windows 7. Windows 8 is the product that makes everything you do on a PC possible on a tablet. Unlike any mobile os to date.
They also make Win8 a big risk because they make it work well for tablets. So how is this all being blind?
I must have missed a joke here :P
- His Shadow
  “Windows 8 is the product that makes everything you do on a PC possible on a tablet. ”
  Except it’s not shipping.Therefore, it’s irrelevant.
  Or would like a quick rundown of all the marvelous promises to redefine personal computing Microsoft and it’s partners have made over the years, while Apple just went out and did so?
sk1rtsfly
The PC will not be dead before literally everyone in the world has one! Along with their smartphone and tablet. Slowing growth simply means maturity, not death.
Mikko Kunnari
PC is anything but dead. Actually, Windows 8 makes tablets like PCs. And then PC is back. Because when you compare the possibilities of full Windows OS to any mobile OS it is very clear who is going to win. And when you use those PC-tablets there are always situations when you want a bit more… you add bigger screen, keyboard, mouse, printer = the full PC with just a different computer case :)
Josh
“Microsoft may well think that the world has not moved past PCs, that the iPad is
just another netbook.”
The iPad is less than a Netbook. Tablets (except, ironically, for Tablet PCs) are almost entirely asymmetrically balanced towards consumption. The notion of production on such devices is absolutely ridiculous – finger based touch screens are an absolutely terrible interface for such a thing. A netbook is at least symmetrical (in that it sucks evenly at both). Microsoft’s weakness historically in the tablet space was because they wanted to try to make a symmetrical device – hence the stylus and the full suite of app support – but the approach did not lend itself to the optimal means of consumption.
If, and it does seem this way, MS’s vision is akin to the Asus transformer with WIndows 8, where you can unplug and have a tablet optimized for consumption, but plug in and have true tools of production, I think they will have the best approach on the market.
(as an aside, I do recognize that some few misguided people try to use iPad’s for production, but that is akin to the Perl Zealot proudly announcing that they are producing full GUI apps in their crippled scripting language. Sure, you can do so, but if you actually wanted to use the right tool for the job you could do it in a fraction of the time)�
- Anonymous
  @ Josh “The iPad is less than a Netbook.” … But more than most people need.
  You are looking at this wrong.�
  The bit you are missing is that people are almost entirely asymmetrically balanced towards consumption too. The notion of most people producing anything on a PC is laughable. The “buy a PC and get things done” argument is over.
  PCs for MOST people are more computing power than they actually need. I am not talking about people who hang around these forums posting, they all need as much power as they can get, but real people just don’t need it and that is what you guys don’t see.
  There is little or no point in you trying it – you are already convinced you need a PC. That is fine, but take a step back. As long as a product can send and receive email, visit the web, access Facebook, store photos, edit videos. Then that’s enough. For most people. The ones who don’t actually need a PC to get work done.
- His Shadow
  Give it a rest with the “consumption” angle. None of the twats rattling on about “consumption” never created anything more than a snarky blog post in their lives. Funny how being for “consumption” doesn’t doom PVRs and TVs as a successful product, does it?
  For one, people *are* producing content on the iPad in increasing numbers. For two, the people that *need* the horsepower of a full blown desktop for what they are doing, can still fucking buy one! No one is coming to take away the hardware you need and replace it with hardware that’s not fit to the task.
  For three, the OVERWHELMING majority of people who need access to the internet, mail and their personal data DON”T need anything more than a wifi/cellular connected tablet, and almost all arguments to the contrary are either baseless claims about “content creation” or head-up-your-own-ass babble about how much your dual monitors rule or the increasingly ridiculous idea that only a “full OS” (?) can let you email a spreadsheet or read your friends Facebook posts.�
Anonymous
Aside from blind allegiance to Microsoft, which is understandable given his job, I mostly agree with Shaw here. The PC isn’t dead, it’s evolving, and I think Microsoft is uniquely positioned to evolve with it. Your criticisms of Microsoft’s past efforts to shape the market around the PC experience are mostly accurate, which is why their previous tablet and smartphone efforts failed so miserably. A traditional PC experience doesn’t work on other form factors. But the tablet and mobile revolution currently led by iDevices and Android just isn’t all that spectacular. The tablet form factor is cool and there have been some really neat software solutions to date, but it’s mostly just about image. Sure you can create as well as consume on these devices, but by and large they’re just dumbing down the entire experience, but making it look really flashy. There’s a lot of stuff people will awkwardly try to cram into an iPad or iPhone that would be much easier to accomplish with a traditional PC, it’s just cooler to do on an iPad. Integration and flexibility are the new factors, not just mobility and simplicity. And where others see Microsoft as being slow to realize or implement their vision of mobile computing, I see a company more interested in doing it right than just throwing something out there to say they’re competing in the space. Historically, Microsoft’s measured stance makes them always seem positioned to come from behind, but that strategy gives them an opportunity to let other companies innovate and work out the kinks. Time will tell, but I think in a couple of years, mobile devices running Windows/Phone 8 will be the new PCs, and they’ll make other devices seem too limited or ramshackle to be taken seriously.
- cuz84d
  The problem with some PCs are they are too general for everything.. so specialized devices are needs for many jobs then, not everyone needs one. We do have to get beyond the PC is general enough its good enough and people want specialized devices for many of these other tasks, simply because they don’t need a full PC to give them an average experience, they want a good device that does exactly what they want.. and sometimes more.
- His Shadow
  And here we go again…
  “but it’s mostly just about image. … by and large they’re just dumbing down the entire experience”
  It’s “dumbing down” to have an instant on device that just works with practically no configuration? It’s “dumbing down” to remove extraneous interface devices and layers of file management in favour of near instantaneous first level access to your data?
  Let’s make this perfectly clear: the average consumer who just wants to plug in to the Internet thru email, social networks, web browsing, movies, TV shows and music doesn’t think it’s about image and doesn’t give a shit about all the layers of bullshit that you are convinced are so important on a PC running Windows. Neither does the blogger or journalist or writer. It’s about a device that again, just works and gets the Hell out of the way.�
  “making it look really flashy.”
  This comment is idiotic. . It’s “flashy” that you go from turning the device on and viewing your data in about three or four touch/swipes? Or does it just bother you in addition to being utilitarian in it’s design, that the iPad is a beautifully designed piece of hardware? Should it be in brown and have a corroded brass wheel on it some where? Maybe throw some grills, rubber feet, ports, panels and screws on the back so it’s not so “flashy”?
  This anti-hipster hipster bullshit about “image” is insufferable pretentious, and it’s time you get your heads out of your asses long enough to realise the future is here and several companies have already been left behind. How many iterations of the iOS and the iDevices will there be before Microsoft releases Windows 8 and Windows 8 makes it into the tablet/smartphone space? That’s right, Win 8 is over a year away. Might as well be a lifetime. Hell, when iOS 5 is released and cuts the cord for iDevices which will then access iCloud, none of what constitutes a “traditional PC experience” will matter.
http://twitter.com/alexh2o Alex Hooren
Sorry but I agree with Microsoft here! Smartphones and tablets are becoming powerful enough to BECOME PCs! No one said a PC has to sit on a desk in an ugly plastic box. Anyone who genuienly believes an iPad can replace a PC is misguided. On the other hand, a PC adept at mimicing an iPad, can replace an iPad.
Full Windows running on all devices, with functionality deliberately “crippled” for each device to suit it’s use case, but with the option to scale to full functionality at any moment, all connected through cloud syncing to remove device lock – that is the future. That is the future of the PC!
- Anonymous
  exactly!
- Matthewmsft
  exactly :P noone said the PC has to be Windows XP, it will most likely evolve beyyond the Windows NT we’ve come to love, but saying that the iPad is going to take over Windows, now that’s just plain dumb. plus, not a lot of people bring up the fact that to use an ipad/ipod/iphone you need to tether it to a PC….
  - cuz84d
    I think Windows 8 and Metro UI will really start to redefine what the PC is and what it should be this day in age for the average public. The worker bees who need it, just need the same desktop like functionality as they are used to, but consumers do not. It will be Post-Truck PC and more Hybrid PC.
    - Anonymous
      Based entirely on cues supplied by what Apple has already done.�
      - Anonymous
        sshhhh! Don’t tell ‘em!
Rohithv
Why is a tablet or a smart phone not a PC. In next 3 to 5 years when these devices especially tablets can do whatever a desktop can do then are they tablet or are they PC. With advances in hardware I think that is bound to happen especially with tablets. I think most of the arguments presented in the post assume that all these devices will remain as it is today.
I think here MSFT gets it and hence one OS for all three devices (Windows 8) is their future. As long as the user experience is for the form factor it should work.
I think they have the right vision. Now its all about execution.
- Anonymous
  I agree with you. Its funny I remember just before the ipad 1st came out. Everyone was expecting it to be this revolution in the PC. We all had visions of a Courier like device, mixed with apple magic. Then it hit and everyone turned around and said oh…its just a big iphone. Its some time later and well its still just a big iphone. If that is what tablets are expected to be in the future then its a dead market. When MS releases win 8 giving the full power of the PC in an integrated tablet form then other companies will be forced to follow suit or will get left behind. �
- http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6G3ZZJCHOLYP3S5CRCIHQ7WDSE MVIM
  This will never happen. The technology already exists. It is in netbooks and ultraportables today. It is Apple who wants products like the iPad to be neutered and functionless, while maintaining prices higher than their supposed competitors in the PC market. But the fact is that the tablet doesn’t fill any void in the computing ecosystem. This is nothing more than a giant ploy to sell consumers devices they
  don’t understand or need, for prices far higher than what they are worth. The tablet is nothing more than a solution in search of a problem.
  - Anonymous
    No. The tablet is a different way to interact with data. I’ll believe Microsoft can deliver an integrated OS across all the different data interaction devices: smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop; when they actually ship something. So far they’ve shipped two OSes that aren’t compatible.
    Remember, in the same way 25 years ago no-one “needed” a computer, no-one “needs” a tablet. They are selling well because people like using them more than they like using desktop or a laptop for a great many tasks.
- His Shadow
  In the specific example of the iPad, all one needs to do is look at the iPod. Put that first, Firewire click wheel iPod next to a Touch and realise all the iterations in between were derided as inconsequential. It will be the same with the iPad. By the time the 5th or 6th generation hits the streets, it’s capabilities in both power and OS features will be so far beyond the first iPad that it will be a full blown mobile computing experience lacking for nothing. But none of the incremental upgrades to that point will raise any eyebrows or draw any attention. But in the end there will just be a device with a majority market share and a pile of dead imitators in it’s wake.
Anonymous
This philosophical discussion is great until real world numbers quickly kill it. Ipad is the only tablet sellling well (all others are falling to the wayside; touchpad, playbook, xoom anyone??) and even then its sales numbers are nowhere near the number of PC’s, let alone the things its supposedly killing i.e. netbooks. This market isn’t sitting still either. Win8 is MS’s shot on the tablet goal and with its approach tablet and PC will be one. It will be interesting to see if ipads stay as they are (consumption) or become more likes their brethren the MAC (a PC) once Win 8 hits.
- Matthewmsft
  agreed. Smart Phones are selling better than tablets…
- cuz84d
  I think we’ll see the PC finally move toward what it should be with windows 8, but I do hope that metro keeps pushing the customer PC experience throughout the OS to something modern and less windows.
Hype Sucks
This is a short and mediocre comment for a long but mediocre article.�
PS: You should post on Mashable.
cuz84d
We got to get past the Truck PC experience for consumers OSs.. clearly mobile is leading the way to the future without Windows of old.. we need a new experience, one like the mobile experiences the easy to use devices the clear and simple ways of doing what you need to do.. we need to hide the complexity and bring forth the UX into a new era.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6G3ZZJCHOLYP3S5CRCIHQ7WDSE MVIM
I’m shocked that a pro-Microsoft site like LiveSide.net would publish such an editorial. Sadly, I couldn’t disagree with you more. The tablet is the biggest waste of computing technology since Microsoft Bob. The tablet computer couldn’t even make a dent in the mid-2000s when BillG was hawking them. Sadly, it took Jobs and his iSheep to convince the average American that they want another overpriced product that they don’t understand.
The tablet’s role in the computing ecosystem is already jointly served by the netbooks/ultraportables and the smartphone. Thus, if you already own a laptop and a smartphone, there’s just no reason to own a tablet. I can’t imagine anyone who owns a tablet today and doesn’t already have a smartphone. Even if you only own the smartphone, you can pick up two $250 netbooks and do more with them than with one $500 iPad. The iPad is a limited, neutered device that doesn’t serve any purpose than to give you an iPod Touch with a bigger screen. It’s a web browser without Flash support. It’s an e-mail device without a keyboard. And it costs more than a device that has both of those things. The tablet is a solution in search of a problem.
But despite all of this, Steve Jobs has sold everyone on a future of technology inferior to its predecessor and no one seems to mind.
- http://arnabocean.com Arnab Gupta
  And yet who’s the one carrying the portable computer and working on it,
  when he wants to, *where* he wants to? You, with “two netbooks”, or the
  guy at the coffee shop with his “iThing”?
  *That’s* the point. The
  point is to not carry two netbooks; the point is to get meaningful work
  done when required, where required.
  - Anonymous
    Are you really that stupid? Or do you just drunk post?
    The POINT was that “smug coffee shop guy” is spending roughly 3 times more so his iPad can mimic the $200 netbook. He’s saying that for the price of the iPad ALONE he could have 2 netboks, not that he needs them to do the work. iDiot!
    So let’s ask your question differently shall we?
    And yet who’s the one that jut has to open the lid on his PC to work on it where he wants to when he wants to? You, who has to open his stand case & unpack your blue tooth keyboard (gee iHope you remembered to charge the battery) or the guy with the actual computer?
    Please, don’t procreate
- His Shadow
  “Sadly, it took Jobs and his iSheep to convince the average American that they want another overpriced product that they don’t understand.”
  Congratulations. You are an insufferable, ignorant asshole.�
  You are the *exact* reason that iPods, iPhones and iPads are the market leading, trend setting devices they are: because the overwhelming majority of people don’t see it as a badge of honour to piss around for hours with a device to get it to work. They just want the damn thing to do what they want it to do and *gasp* they don’t give a *shit* about what some cheap tech dork thinks is important.
  “Don’t understand”? On the contrary, people *immediately* understand what they have in their hands an that’s what scares the mediocre PC kit bashers out there. If anyone can get their data, get their movies, get their email, web pages and blog posts on an instant on device that doesn’t need RAM upgrades or hard drive swap outs or re-installation of some obscure Realtek audio driver…. Well that just makes you irrelevant, doesn’t it?
  And anyone who doesn’t think their netbook is neutered is fucking deluded.
  - Anonymous
    Congratulations. You are the reason most OS agnostic people think Apple users are douchebags.
    “…iPads are the market leading, trend setting devices they are…” roughly 25 million iPads have been sold since the original was released. There were 92 million PC’s shipped in q4 2010 ALONE!
    When was the last time you used a PC 1985? I have 4 PCs’ running at home and guess what I just plug stuff into them and it “just works”!
    When you say “..that doesn’t need RAM upgrades or hard drive swap outs or re-installation of some obscure Realtek audio driver.” Have you tried running iOS 4 on an iPhone 3G? What do you think the iPhone 4 is? It’s a hardware upgrade moron. It’s Apple’s bread an butter.
    You are just hopeless.
    - His Shadow
      No, actually, you are the reason “people think Apple users are douchebags”, because this is the narrative you’ve created in your mind to explain what you don’t understand. And anyone who dares challenge the idiotic myths and fallacies regularly trotted out on Apple articles MUST be a douchebag because your shallow canards can’t possibly be wrong.
      What you should have said is “thanks Divine Shadow, for trying to inject some facts to counter the ridiculous meme of the robotic Apple supporter who automatically buys everything Apple ever releases regardless of how many iDevices they already have because gosh, the only way robbcab could ordinarily explain Apple’s success is with hyperbolic claims of Apple’s witchcraft marketing and the stereotype of legions of brainwashed drones.”
      92 million PCs, eh? Who cares? No, really, who gives a shit? The only one happy with that is Microsoft, because those “top 5 OEMs” don’t have much to show for those legions of unremarkable beige boxes living under desks and running email and spreadhseets, do they? In fact, things are going so well for the OEMs that one of the largest is getting out the business altogether, following another large OEM manufacturer who spun off their PC division years ago. And hey, how about that Dell and their collection of dead iDevice competitors? You remember Dell, the company that Apple could buy twice and still have billions left over? And let’s go over the lifespan of the nearly 110 tablet competitors unveiled at CES this year, less than 20 of which made it to market and several of which have since been canned. Yeah, all these people chasing after Apple’s iPad, but Apple hasn’t set any kind of trend. Sure. Try to keep up.
      “I have 4 PCs’ running at home and guess what I just plug stuff into them and it “just works”!”
      Yeah, sure you do. That’s what they all say. They “just work” after you’ve wiped the original install, spent hours waiting for all the updates to download, installed your antivirus, dug out driver disks and rebooted about 40 times. But sure, after that, they “just work” until someone in the household installs a trojan that’s so pervasive only a format and re-install can remove it. But funny how with boatloads of Windows 7 malware out there, everyone driven to comment on Apple article has never had a virus? I’m going to take a wild guess and say the only reason many Windows types claim they don’t have viruses so often is because they don’t yet know they have one.�
      What’s hopeless is that despite the undeniable numbers that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Apple is a roaring success of a company firing on all cylinders, haters still cling to witless cliches that ceased to be valid over a decade ago. But if that makes you feel better, you go right head and repeat those cliches to your hearts content. Meanwhile, Apple will continue to change the world of computing and Apple buyers will be enjoying their well designed, easy to use value retaining devices.
    - His Shadow
      No, actually, you are the reason “people think Apple users are douchebags”, because this is the narrative you’ve created in your mind to explain what you don’t understand. And anyone who dares challenge the idiotic myths and fallacies regularly trotted out on Apple articles MUST be a douchebag because your shallow canards can’t possibly be wrong.
      What you should have said is “thanks Divine Shadow, for trying to inject some facts to counter the ridiculous meme of the robotic Apple supporter who automatically buys everything Apple ever releases regardless of how many iDevices they already have because gosh, the only way robbcab could ordinarily explain Apple’s success is with hyperbolic claims of Apple’s witchcraft marketing and the stereotype of legions of brainwashed drones.”
      92 million PCs, eh? Who cares? No, really, who gives a shit? The only one happy with that is Microsoft, because those “top 5 OEMs” don’t have much to show for those legions of unremarkable beige boxes living under desks and running email and spreadhseets, do they? In fact, things are going so well for the OEMs that one of the largest is getting out the business altogether, following another large OEM manufacturer who spun off their PC division years ago. And hey, how about that Dell and their collection of dead iDevice competitors? You remember Dell, the company that Apple could buy twice and still have billions left over? And let’s go over the lifespan of the nearly 110 tablet competitors unveiled at CES this year, less than 20 of which made it to market and several of which have since been canned. Yeah, all these people chasing after Apple’s iPad, but Apple hasn’t set any kind of trend. Sure. Try to keep up.
      “I have 4 PCs’ running at home and guess what I just plug stuff into them and it “just works”!”
      Yeah, sure you do. That’s what they all say. They “just work” after you’ve wiped the original install, spent hours waiting for all the updates to download, installed your antivirus, dug out driver disks and rebooted about 40 times. But sure, after that, they “just work” until someone in the household installs a trojan that’s so pervasive only a format and re-install can remove it. But funny how with boatloads of Windows 7 malware out there, everyone driven to comment on Apple article has never had a virus? I’m going to take a wild guess and say the only reason many Windows types claim they don’t have viruses so often is because they don’t yet know they have one.�
      What’s hopeless is that despite the undeniable numbers that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Apple is a roaring success of a company firing on all cylinders, haters still cling to witless cliches that ceased to be valid over a decade ago. But if that makes you feel better, you go right head and repeat those cliches to your hearts content. Meanwhile, Apple will continue to change the world of computing and Apple buyers will be enjoying their well designed, easy to use value retaining devices.
      - Anonymous
        “And anyone who dares challenge the idiotic myths and
        fallacies regularly trotted out on Apple articles MUST be a douche bag because
        your shallow canards can’t possibly be wrong.”
        Thanks for proving my point. Could you be any more pretentious?
        “92 million PCs, eh? Who cares? No, really, who gives a
        shit?”
        Well since the article is about the “Past-PC” vs.
        “Plus-PC” era, you would think that everyone would care. Well not you, but everyone else. Thanks for proving reading comprehension is
        among your long list of shortcomings.
        “..legions of unremarkable beige boxes living under
        desks and running email and spreadhseets…”
        Holy 1985 Batman! the “beige box” era died a long
        time ago. Tell me, are you still rocking a mullet with your black mock-turtle
        neck?
        “…You remember Dell, the company that Apple could buy
        twice and still have billions left over?”
        Wow! You mean to tell me Apple makes more profit selling a
        closed ended system than a company that actually has to compete? Alert the media! But when all is said and
        done,
        Apple sells fewer PCs & tablets (8.1 Million) as Dell
        (11 Million). Apple’s profit margin is 36.9%.�
        Congratulations! You’ve been gouged.�
        Please take the red hot poker from your ass and return it to Steve
        Jobs. He needs it for the next moron.
        I also question what it says people in general that Apple’s
        success gets bigger as their products get more dumbed-down. I hear their next
        “magical and revolutionary” device will be controlled by how much
        drool falls on the display. Should be
        perfect for you.
        “And let’s go over the lifespan of the nearly 110
        tablet competitors unveiled at CES this year, less than 20 of which made it to
        market and several of which have since been canned. Yeah, all these people
        chasing after Apple’s iPad, but Apple hasn’t set any kind of trend. Sure. Try
        to keep up.”
        Two points.
        First, I for one am thrilled that the Android and
        Windows-tablets to date are failing miserably. When they’re more than a big
        smartphone (sans phone, of course), call me, I might be interested.
        Second: Agreed, Apple has set a trend in a niche they
        created. You think that the reason other tablets haven’t caught on is because
        other than iWorshipers, people just don’t find them all that useful? Of course you don’t.
        “undeniable numbers that prove beyond a
        shadow of a doubt that Apple is a roaring success of a company firing on all
        cylinders”
        Right, less than 8% of the PC market
        (including tablets) Roar! Lost the market lead in the smartphone market to
        Android in roughly two years. Roar!
        “haters still cling to witless clichés that ceased to
        be valid over a decade ago. But if that makes you feel better, you go right
        head and repeat those clichés to your heart’s content.”
        Clichés? Really? Who
        said: “RAM upgrades or hard drive swap outs or re-installation of some
        obscure Realtek audio driver”,�
        “beige boxes”, and your entire last paragraph about installation
        configuration & rebooting.
        You sound like a caricature of an iSheep…Say Baaaa! 99% of the things you mention haven’t been
        true for over a decade. I wouldn’t
        expect you to know that, but since you think you know everything, I figured I’d
        do you the service of pointing it out. Wake up and smell the millennium, your
        coffee’s ready.
        Also, getting back to your reading comprehension
        problem. Where were the clichés that I
        used? Was there one?
        Oh, right, the Apple users are douchebags part. If the fruit fits…
http://twitter.com/fxshaw Frank X. Shaw
Hello Kip, most worthy adversary and often ally. :) I agree w/ many of your commenters who have more eloquently made my point.
http://twitter.com/fxshaw Frank X. Shaw
and for the record, my “there is no barn” was of course a poor play on words from the Matrix. “There is no spoon.”
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- http://www.LiveSide.net Kip Kniskern – LiveSide.net
  Thanks for stopping by, we’re honored! It’s an interesting conversation, but I think your shareholders might disagree with you whether the barn we’re talking about is real or not ;)
http://arnabocean.com Arnab Gupta
@yahoo-6G3ZZJCHOLYP3S5CRCIHQ7WDSE:disqus and yet who’s the one carrying the portable computer and working on it, when he wants to, *where* he wants to? You, with “two netbooks”, or the guy at the coffee shop with his “iThing”?
*That’s* the point. The point is to not carry two netbooks; the point is to get meaningful work done when required, where required.