Why Moore's Law, not mobility, is killing the PC

Hi there
Lots of things I would have had a desktop for I can now use a phone -- I stream all video - Audio now to the TV via the phone and NAS -- for example you can get programs like VLC commander (Free) for your phone to stream the video to the TV.

E-Mail I use less and less now --e-mail IMO has passed its point of usefulness -- too many pointless emails and Spams -- there's better methods these days for communication.

How many times do you see people at work these days spending often up to 1 or 2 hours a day just reading usually pointless "circular" type of e-mails -- you know those emails that have cc: and then a whole load of names. --They know where I work that I won't even LOOK at any email if the cc: has more than TWO people on it -- if an email is CC'd then it obviously isn't important.

ICit2lol said:

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
Lots of things I would have had a desktop for I can now use a phone -- I stream all video - Audio now to the TV via the phone and NAS -- for example you can get programs like VLC commander (Free) for your phone to stream the video to the TV.

E-Mail I use less and less now --e-mail IMO has passed its point of usefulness -- too many pointless emails and Spams -- there's better methods these days for communication.

How many times do you see people at work these days spending often up to 1 or 2 hours a day just reading usually pointless "circular" type of e-mails -- you know those emails that have cc: and then a whole load of names. --They know where I work that I won't even LOOK at any email if the cc: has more than TWO people on it -- if an email is CC'd then it obviously isn't important.

What do you you mean you actually talk to people for a change Jimbo? LOL!!

Mate I cannot get away from it at work in a government department the email is all - no being sarcy but I have to admit it is good for the saving of evidence that one has done something or has actually requested something be done.

Hi there
things like ms LYNC are good - you actually get to SEE and TALK to people you want to in the business

email is actually a diminishing useful tool these days for businesses -- unless it's really carefully and sensibly used.

If I have something really urgent that needs to be done then I use an old fashioned FAX -- this still has the evidence you might need as per email but the fax gets directed right to the person concerned and often people are so surprised that the fax machine even works any more that it gets picked up straight away.

I'll almost bet in a few years email will really drop down business users requirements just as the use of texting is being replaced by social media like facebook etc. The only basic use I can see for email these days is just to send documents or attachments. Even purchases on the Internet don't need email and even when say I buy a ticket for Eurostar (International Train service between London and Paris / Brussels via channel tunnel) I just use the Square image on the electronic ticket which is on my phone and hold it to the scanner at the station.

At home I might receive 70 - 100 emails a day minimum -- I delete probably about 98% of these without even OPENING them and read probably about 2.

Cheers
jimbo

strollin said:

FAX vs email? I'll take email over FAX any day. With email, I can request a notification be returned when someone opens it, with FAX you have no idea if it actually got to the person it was sent to. We have FAX machines at my office and the FAXes just sit in the machine, nobody is there to pick up the FAX and give it to the recipient.

The only way I want to receive a FAX is today is via email.

I've sent more emails this morning (been at work an hour) then I've sent FAXes in the last year. If any technology is ready to be dumped, IMO, it's FAX.

Hi there
it's amazing how people seem to MIS-UNDERSTAND some posts -- sending faxes is easy by email - you don't think I actually meant go to a fax machine and actually scan and send did you.

What I meant was that at the other end a FAX could be picked up since it's so rare and the sort of businesses I'm dealing with you don't have a whole slew of people in an open plan office with a "Public fax" machine.

Email recipients can be just as irritating on their computers (or phones) by having sounds active whenever an email arrives -- in fact phones can be worse since users of these seem to forget ANY respect for other people when using these in public -- there's nothing worse than being near to someone in an open plan office who is forever texting or emailing and keeping the keyboard (whether physical or on screen one) sound clacking for each keystroke and having a ring for the arrival every 5 secs or so of a message --and they sort of look at you aggressively if you ask them politely to mute the ring and turn the sound off -- mind you I'm quite large so they usually comply -- consultants seem to be the worst at this --they seem totally oblivious to anybody else on the planet once they start their daily marathon session with their phones.

Cheers
jimbo

strollin said:

FAX vs email? I'll take email over FAX any day. With email, I can request a notification be returned when someone opens it, with FAX you have no idea if it actually got to the person it was sent to. We have FAX machines at my office and the FAXes just sit in the machine, nobody is there to pick up the FAX and give it to the recipient.

The only way I want to receive a FAX is today is via email.

I've sent more emails this morning (been at work an hour) then I've sent FAXes in the last year. If any technology is ready to be dumped, IMO, it's FAX.

I totally agree with about losing FAX. Business, especially doctors' and lawyers' offices, maintain FAX is more secure than email. I maintain, horsefeathers! Transmissions via email can be via encrypted attachments. Even better, just email that a document is available for download from a secure site (the way my credit union does with monthly statements, for example).

Layback Bear said:

Well I like email. It doesn't make any ringing noises. I don't have to look at it for 5 to 7 days or maybe longer.
I don't have to answer any of them. I can block the senders of the emails; I like that a lot. I got it down to about 3 to 10 emails a month received.
My bank, ISP, and Crackle sends me one once a month and the other 6 or 7 are junk that slipped through. Maybe 8 or 10 times a year I will get one from a friend.
I like email.

I'm with you, man. Email doesn't interrupt me or demand my immediate attention like a phone ring does. I've yet to have an email wake me up. I can read my email when it is convenient for me. My friends know I prefer emails over phone calls. I've come close to yanking my land line because of phone spammers—politicians as well as telemarketers—and I'm not far from doing it anyway. In fact, I shut off the ringers and answering machine on my landline phones for the three months prior to the last major election. I don't give my phone number out to anyone but close friends (and some business with warnings of dire consequences if the give out or sell my number). Business that just think they have to have number to ship me something or to get a discount get a 555 bogus number that will lead to directory assistance. As a result, I've got the phone spam to one or two calls a month now.

I had my email spam down to a dozen a day until a friend and neighbor had her computer hacked recently and the number quadrupled. That number has been gradually going down. Despite all its faults, Yahoo mail has come up with a surprisingly good spam filter. It rarely tags any legitimate email (and won't do it again once I tell it the email is ok) and has yet to miss any spam. I just glance at the spam folder once or twice a day to make sure nothing valid got snared, then dump the whole lot in one fell swoop. I'm as stingy with my email addy as I am with my phone number. I don't do surveys or contests online. My friends know not to give my email address out.

I have a cell phone but it only makes and takes phone calls (texting is too combersome). I got it primarily for emergencies. It stays in my purse or pocket turned off until I actually need it. I neither need nor want tot be connected to an electronic umbilical cord 24/7 (same for my home phone; I answer it only when it's convenient otherwise the call can go to the machine).

Email also doesn't cost me anything other than the price of an internet connection which I'm going to have anyway. Even with occasional attachments (I open attachments only from trusted sources after i scan them), the bandwidth of the emails I get in a month is neglegible.

But that was the case last and the year before - and possibly the year before that, wasn't it ?

pc's were selling pretty well then, weren't they?

Why is it suddenly responsible for poor 8 sales?

Slartybart said:

Great article - thanks for posting it.

The only reason I purchased a new machine last year was becasue my previous machine died. It ran software fine and I could probably upgraded to Win7. Otherwise I was happy with a AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 / 1.9 GHz dual core and 4 GB of memory.

But, it bit the dust - bad MOBO.

I think you should be able to get 7 to 10 years out of a machine. Businesses run on a 3 to 5 year purchase schedule.