The purpose of all predictions of this type is for the purpose of creating a public mindset which is conducive to the goals of the predictor. Unless the prediction is based on real hard facts, I usually ignore them. Even if they are fact based, I may anyway, unless it makes sense to me, and I accept it, because facts are only tiny pieces in the big picture.

JMH said:

Is the PC on the way out? VMware’s CEO Paul Maritz believes so.

“PCs are not the only animal in the zoo anymore” said Maritz during a speech at the annual VMworld conference yesterday in Las Vegas. And he sees the other animals as thinning down the PC herd dramatically as ‘increasingly, users are holding other devices in their hands.’

He goes on:

What we’re seeing in the cloud era is not just hundreds of millions but billions of new users and devices now coming into play. Three years ago over 95 percent of the devices connected to the Internet were personal computers. Three years from now that number will probably be less than 20 percent. More than 80 percent of the devices connected to the Internet will not be Windows-based personal computers.

By 2014, less than 20% of devices connected to the Internet will powered by Windows | ZDNet

Let's not ignore the author's summation of the issue. He says:

"Personally, I think that the reports of the PC’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Mobile devices are increasing in popularity, and web traffic from them as a result is increasing, but I don’t see this having much of an effect on the overall PC ecosystem for some time to come."

andyparks said:

I will not be getting rid of my pc because with a tablet I cant download films and put them on to disc I can do this with my pc

And what do you do with those disks? Watch them on a TV? Well, maybe by 2014, you will be able to steam your films in fantastic resolutions in full 3D onto your TV directly :)

I need a 'real' keyboard, so I've gotta have a computer. No way around that.