Re: [OT] web/desktop dying
On Wednesday, 9 November 2016 at 16:00:45 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: On 11/05/2016 02:00 AM, Joakim wrote: Nothing is ever "completely replaced"- somebody somewhere is still using a mainframe or a UNIX workstation- but yes, PCs will basically disappear, just as you never see those old computers anymore. Android 7.0 has a full multi-window mode, just dock your smartphone with a monitor and keyboard/mouse and start working: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/this-is-android-ns-freeform-window-mode/ I'd hardly call that a "full" multi-window mode. Why? Note that it has been fleshed out more since that March article, as that was a developer preview build of Android 7.0. I've been (begrudgingly) using android on a daily basis for years now, and honestly, OS support for freeform windows is the least of what Android needs to be worthwhile as a PC replacement. Hell, even on the desktop, I usually have everything maximized anyway. Even with freeform windows, I'd sooner use *Win8*, of all things, on the desktop than fucking android. There are four main areas that are currently making Android and absolute shit as a desktop replacement: The OS itself linux is too stable for you? ;) the look style guidelines Eh, Material Design is fine. It will evolve as people start using Android to get work done on larger LCD monitors. the entire 3rd party ecosystem While there are a lot of Android apps, I agree that there are problems with the Play Store and its ecosystem, but nothing that can't be fixed on an open platform, that has the possibility to install competing app stores too. and the form factor. Ie, basically everything. That's ridiculous. There's no difference between docking your laptop at a KVM at your work desk or docking a smartphone instead. The software on the smartphone is currently slower and doesn't have as many pro apps, but many will choose to use the smartphone they already have, rather than pay more for a desktop or laptop PC they don't need. And the idea that plugging in a mouse, keyboard and monitor fixes the form factor issues is ludicrous, because seriously, compare that to them already just *being* there as with a laptop (yea, laptop keyboards and trackpads suck, but not remotely as badly as what's built-in on a smartphone/tablet). Obviously if you're docked and using a mouse, keyboard, and monitor, there is no difference of form factor. On the go, you will have options like this, for just $100 more: https://the-superbook-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-laptop-f.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders I already have a smartphone. If I want a laptop, I'll pay $100 and dock it. If I want to work at a desk with a KVM switch, I have to buy the keyboard, mouse, and monitor regardless. That is a cost and ubiquity advantage that the PC cannot match. Point-and-shoot cameras and standalone GPS devices are still better than using your smartphone, but nobody buys them anymore because your smartphone is good enough and always with you. Or compared to, you know, not having to deal with a plugging in a hub, connecting all that shit, clumsily propping the stupid little thing up, OR bluetooth for that matter, because, let's be honest, fucking NOBODY other than us power users can figure out that obtuse "pairing" shit. With USB-C, you will simply plug your phone into a dock connected to a KVM switch and go, you know, what you do with your laptop if you use it docked now. Wireless protocols like Bluetooth and Miracast will eventually kill off all the wires, and be even easier. But it probably will take over anyway, because, let's face it, when the fuck has being complete and utter fucking shit ever stopped a computing tech from becoming a runaway success?: Windows, C++, Java2, Web-as-a-platform, JS/Ajax/Toolkit-overload, walled-garden services, zero-privacy private surveillance, non-tactile "touch"-screens, intrusive forced-update systems, removing-features-as-a-feature, widescreens for general computing purposes, iOS/Android "phones", etc. That's a very mixed bag. Yes, some of that tech was mediocre or a step backwards, but most people who were around in the golden age you admire get a lot more done on computing devices today. Computers have become so powerful that they can make up for a lot of those dumb decisions. We do need to weed out a lot of those mistakes over time though. People are goddamned morons, and you know what? These motherfuckers DESERVE to have their privacy stolen, waste all their time futzing around with fucking broken software & devices, lose their data, and die while text-driving (or while letting GPS/Google drive their car, which mark my words, will be the next thing). I'd hope the whole fucking world burns, but it looks like I don't *need* to hope for that, it's pretty much guaranteed at this point anyway. I agree with most of those criticisms, but that's straying far afield from
Re: [OT] web/desktop dying
On Friday, 11 November 2016 at 10:56:31 UTC, Chris wrote: On Thursday, 10 November 2016 at 16:48:01 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: I hope you're right, because I definitely need to use an "old-fashioned" machine in order to get things done without wasting enormous time & effort. [...] Sit on the bank of a river and wait: Your enemy's corpse will soon float by. I remember about 8, 9 years ago I warned that Apple was paying too much attention to the iPhone and that it was neglecting the Desktop/Laptop users. Who cares, right? I read about a year ago that Apple had a problem and sales were dropping, because they were neglecting their Desktop/Laptop users. Well, what can I say. I stopped using Apple years ago, because they became the same as (or worse than) MS. This whole App-store lock-in, the whole you-have-to-register-or-die-approach. F**k you! Enter Linux.
Re: [OT] web/desktop dying
On Thursday, 10 November 2016 at 16:48:01 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: I hope you're right, because I definitely need to use an "old-fashioned" machine in order to get things done without wasting enormous time & effort. [...] Sit on the bank of a river and wait: Your enemy's corpse will soon float by.
Re: [OT] web/desktop dying
On 11/10/2016 05:14 AM, qznc wrote: On Wednesday, 9 November 2016 at 16:00:45 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: But it probably will take over anyway, because, let's face it, when the fuck has being complete and utter fucking shit ever stopped a computing tech from becoming a runaway success?: I don't believe that. Software developers need a big machine, because these days you have to run a bunch of VMs to get anything done. Unless we migrate to Cloud-IDEs, we will use PCs in the foreseeable future and I don't see Cloud-IDEs happening. Office Workers who are happy with MS Office alone could use Android. However, there is always this old internal app, which barely works on newer Windows versions. It will take a few decades until those are replaced. Executives could move to pure mobile and probably already did. Reading reports and writing emails works well already. I believe the PC is just as tenacious as the x86 architecture, which is still backwards compatible over the last three decades. I hope you're right, because I definitely need to use an "old-fashioned" machine in order to get things done without wasting enormous time & effort. But I've experienced this pattern far too many times to be confident in that: - I use XYZ all the time, just like everyone else. It has a few things that could use improvement, and would be entirely feasible to fix, but for the most part works fine. - Instead of XYZ's existing, easily solvable, problems actually BEING solved by those in a position to do so, somebody (maybe even the same people) comes out with UVW, with tons of fanfare because of one or two little things it does better. But, for the MOST part, UVW is total shit and vastly inferior to XYZ. - UVW's hype begets more hype as people worldwide mistake hype (and "newness") for worthiness. - Most people delude themselves into pretending UVW's downsides (compared to XYZ) don't exist, because after all, it's newer and has hype so therefore it's unquestionably better. Or, they just simply tolerate UVW's downsides, because, again, it's the hot new shit, so it MUST be the right tool for the job, right? - Eventually, more and more people are forced to migrate from XYZ to UVW because of both market and industry pressures and because of XYZ becoming harder to obtain and getting less and less attention, shrinking ecosystem, etc. - UVW marginalizes XYZ. - A small faction of UVW users actually recognize UVW's downsides (or at least recognize there are "dinosaurs" who are holding out and must be converted for their own good). So the UVW folk make a half-assed amateur attempt to "fix" the downsides, only UVW still never actually reaches parity with XYZ. And why bother trying? XYZ's already been all but killed off. I've seen it over, and over, and over. Unless people finally wise up and quit mistaking hype for worthiness (highly unlikely), I fear the same is poised to happen to PC's. I'm already forced to rely on these god-awful "modern" smartphones far more than I'd like to.
Re: [OT] web/desktop dying
On Wednesday, 9 November 2016 at 16:00:45 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: But it probably will take over anyway, because, let's face it, when the fuck has being complete and utter fucking shit ever stopped a computing tech from becoming a runaway success?: Windows, C++, Java2, Web-as-a-platform, JS/Ajax/Toolkit-overload, walled-garden services, zero-privacy private surveillance, non-tactile "touch"-screens, intrusive forced-update systems, removing-features-as-a-feature, widescreens for general computing purposes, iOS/Android "phones", etc. People are goddamned morons, and you know what? These motherfuckers DESERVE to have their privacy stolen, waste all their time futzing around with fucking broken software & devices, lose their data, and die while text-driving (or while letting GPS/Google drive their car, which mark my words, will be the next thing). I'd hope the whole fucking world burns, but it looks like I don't *need* to hope for that, it's pretty much guaranteed at this point anyway. I've adopted this philosophy: "Sit on the bank of a river and wait: Your enemy's corpse will soon float by." I just sit and wait, and indeed Ajax and other technologies have been floating by ... Stick to what you know is good and don't jump on the latest bandwagon that happens to pass by. In terms of technology, you will save a lot of time, money and energy (no, I never "learned" Ajax:) #ontwitterallday #shitdidntseethattruck #donttextanddrive
Re: [OT] web/desktop dying
On Wednesday, 9 November 2016 at 16:00:45 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: On 11/05/2016 02:00 AM, Joakim wrote: Nothing is ever "completely replaced"- somebody somewhere is still using a mainframe or a UNIX workstation- but yes, PCs will basically disappear, just as you never see those old computers anymore. Android 7.0 has a full multi-window mode, just dock your smartphone with a monitor and keyboard/mouse and start working: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/this-is-android-ns-freeform-window-mode/ But it probably will take over anyway, because, let's face it, when the fuck has being complete and utter fucking shit ever stopped a computing tech from becoming a runaway success?: I don't believe that. Software developers need a big machine, because these days you have to run a bunch of VMs to get anything done. Unless we migrate to Cloud-IDEs, we will use PCs in the foreseeable future and I don't see Cloud-IDEs happening. Office Workers who are happy with MS Office alone could use Android. However, there is always this old internal app, which barely works on newer Windows versions. It will take a few decades until those are replaced. Executives could move to pure mobile and probably already did. Reading reports and writing emails works well already. I believe the PC is just as tenacious as the x86 architecture, which is still backwards compatible over the last three decades.
Re: [OT] web/desktop dying
On 11/05/2016 02:00 AM, Joakim wrote: Nothing is ever "completely replaced"- somebody somewhere is still using a mainframe or a UNIX workstation- but yes, PCs will basically disappear, just as you never see those old computers anymore. Android 7.0 has a full multi-window mode, just dock your smartphone with a monitor and keyboard/mouse and start working: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/this-is-android-ns-freeform-window-mode/ I'd hardly call that a "full" multi-window mode. I've been (begrudgingly) using android on a daily basis for years now, and honestly, OS support for freeform windows is the least of what Android needs to be worthwhile as a PC replacement. Hell, even on the desktop, I usually have everything maximized anyway. Even with freeform windows, I'd sooner use *Win8*, of all things, on the desktop than fucking android. There are four main areas that are currently making Android and absolute shit as a desktop replacement: The OS itself, the look style guidelines, the entire 3rd party ecosystem, and the form factor. Ie, basically everything. And the idea that plugging in a mouse, keyboard and monitor fixes the form factor issues is ludicrous, because seriously, compare that to them already just *being* there as with a laptop (yea, laptop keyboards and trackpads suck, but not remotely as badly as what's built-in on a smartphone/tablet). Or compared to, you know, not having to deal with a plugging in a hub, connecting all that shit, clumsily propping the stupid little thing up, OR bluetooth for that matter, because, let's be honest, fucking NOBODY other than us power users can figure out that obtuse "pairing" shit. But it probably will take over anyway, because, let's face it, when the fuck has being complete and utter fucking shit ever stopped a computing tech from becoming a runaway success?: Windows, C++, Java2, Web-as-a-platform, JS/Ajax/Toolkit-overload, walled-garden services, zero-privacy private surveillance, non-tactile "touch"-screens, intrusive forced-update systems, removing-features-as-a-feature, widescreens for general computing purposes, iOS/Android "phones", etc. People are goddamned morons, and you know what? These motherfuckers DESERVE to have their privacy stolen, waste all their time futzing around with fucking broken software & devices, lose their data, and die while text-driving (or while letting GPS/Google drive their car, which mark my words, will be the next thing). I'd hope the whole fucking world burns, but it looks like I don't *need* to hope for that, it's pretty much guaranteed at this point anyway.
