Windows 8, Windows 9 in the Post-PC World

[alfred01]

...soon your pc will be watching you..........

It already is.

I knew it. Where's my aluminum hat?

 

[Trucidation]

I knew it. Where's my aluminum hat?

Latest research indicates velostat is now the material of choice.

 

[Layback Bear]

I remember when it was stated that computers would create a paperless world. Then why do they keep selling Printers and Printer paper. I have given away 3 printers and still have two that I use.

 

[ACES]

I remember when it was stated that computers would create a paperless world. Then why do they keep selling Printers and Printer paper.

Very true!

I use my PC for a lot of 2D civil, environmental and architectual design. I am not sure how I could accomplish my daily task s with a cloud.

I do think that for home desktop is going to be a thing of the past. It probably already should be!

ACES

 

[Kris340]

I don't want any machine or device making choices for me... that's all I know.

 

[jimbo45]

anyone remember the paperless office?

Hi there
It seems to me the more advanced applications get MORE and MORE paper gets generated.

I have a rediculous situation now on my present contract where the time sheets are electronically filled in and approved -- works fine -- BUT the client company still wants 3 yes 3 not one BUT 3 PRINTED copies of these which it just files away in some box folder in an archive never to be seen again.

I understand Invoices etc must be kept for a number of years in "reproducable orginal form" i.e you could save these as PDF's etc to an optical archiving system or similar and print if required - but Timesheets in paper form. !!

Another stupidity is that we have an electronic system of "approvals" for getting say a program defect remedied and migrated into production. These approvals are sent via a workflow system to the appropriate approver or manager after each previous step in the process has completed satisfactorily.

Even with this system they STILL want oodles of paperwork before the stuff is deployed into the target live system.

Amazing isn't it -- but the client is paying so who can complain apart from making entries in the suggestion box that the company could be more respectful of the environment by consuming less paper.

Where's the "paperless office".

I also certainly can't watch TV media on a small "smartphone device" either. A Netbook is about the smallest device I would use and that is STILL a PC.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Barman58]

I have a client where the Chairman "doesn't do Computers" so I've had to set up Outlook 2007 to work "like a Fax Machine" and prints out each and every email received.

I've also know offices where workers have kept superseded paper forms active when a computer entry system is implemented, they fill in the old forms and then transfer to the PC. They even spend time learning to use the computer systems in order to create the "forms" in word as the company, quite rightly, will no longer supply them.

This sort thing goes on due to human nature's unwillingness to change from what it's used to, the unfortunate thing in today's economic climate is the amount of needless waste it causes.

As for TV on a phone - I will use mine to stream the latest BBC news broadcast, but I will not be sitting down to watch the latest blockbuster on the train. Of course the addition of internet access and network connectivity to a full size TV is a step in the right direction. But you still need a keyboard and mouse to operate it correctly which in my opinion makes it a PC, even if the processor and storage is in the display

 

[Sunimar]

This sounds good but i guess have to wait for Windows 8 longer then we thought...it seems not less then 2-3 yrs down the line. Ohh i was expecting it to be lot earlier then that by the fall of 2012 (before end of world acc to Mayan calendar )....Windows 9 might not be out then before 2020...
Well agree with Ray Ozzie that the way we look at PC will change may be in next 5 years....

 

[Fayla]

The day Windows forces me to use this Cloud stuff and stops all access to local drives (USB, etc) is the day I quit computers :/

besides, not everyone loves or uses smart phones-- heck, I have a four year old Nokia phone that i keep mostly for incoming calls. That's it. I won't swap my big screens or multimedia hardware for a tiny smart phone now, or ever.

 

[Fayla]

I Just want to add will Windows ever be "Virus Proof" ?? If the OS Upgrades then so does the Viruses One thing I Hope to see in Windows Within the next 10 Years is some Protection against Viruses and Spyware

Nope, it won't. Windows is software, software will always have bugs. After all, software is made by humans and humans are very flawed beings

 

[Sunimar]

Yeah me too got a 3 1/2 yrs old N72 & don't think I'll submit to giving up my lovely desktop or notebook for a smart phone, iPhone with some exception but nah not my lovely computer....

 

[MaverickN]

Having a physical object in which we can control makes us feel safer and secure than if a computer were connected to us and in charge of our lives...

I hope that the only changes being made will be in the OS itself.

 

[Tepid]

I Just want to add will Windows ever be "Virus Proof" ?? If the OS Upgrades then so does the Viruses One thing I Hope to see in Windows Within the next 10 Years is some Protection against Viruses and Spyware

Nope, it won't. Windows is software, software will always have bugs. After all, software is made by humans and humans are very flawed beings

Also keep in mind that,, Viruses can be made to infect all OS's, not just windows.
Maybe a little bit harder, but certainly NOT impossible.
Windows has the largest market share and therefor is the largest target.
no point in wasting time on Linux or Mac where the damage is minimized by such a small market.

While Cloud Computing may exist, I do not foresee it becoming the main stream unless it is forced upon us.

I also see many people jumping to Linux (I being one of them) if that does happen.
The Linux community would explode if Cloud Computing ever becomes a forced reality.

 

[xarden]

Paperless office. Oh I wish I had that at my old job... We had an entire warehouse full of paper. It was primarily the paperwork for building consents for every building built in the city for the last 50 years.
But I guess it wasnt too bad. If it wasnt all on paper, then I wouldnt have found a ginger pin-up girl on A1 on the back of the building plan for a warehouse in the wops built sometime in the early 70's.

But with the cloud...
As I've stated in other threads, the beneficial use of any cloud would be in corporations and schools. But not for the regular Joe Bloggs consumer, or PC enthusiast.
I'll also entertain the idea of using a cloud system in my home, as long as I run and administer the server myself.
The Ubuntu Server Edition seem to be doing this already.

@Tepid,
Its not that virus's arent worth the while to build for Linux... Its most of the software for the popular distro's are written by Joe Bloggs so it can be easily done.
The hard part is getting the software to run on the OS. Software repositories are maintained by the Linux community, so if anyone of them realises that the code seems... dodge... it'l be reported and removed. They are very effective and reliable at this.
It doesnt use that 'activex' stuff that IE have, so browsing dodgy Seriallz sites is actually safe(r than from Windows).

 

[Barman58]

The cloud for the "average" user that we all deal with here from time to time would I feel be a good thing.

My reasoning here is that so many "average" users have little or no actual data security in place.?

The number of Users that I see who are running an expired AV solution is huge, they think that the free AV that came with their "new" system, (2 years ago!!), is still working.

Also how many "average" users have any data backup policies in place? very few, the on-line storage is normally fully backed up, (after all, this is the way that professionals work), this alone would save a lot of heartache for users who lose data, either by accident or external causes.

Of course there is the need for on-line cloud storage to be run professionally, and securely to keep private data private and this will take work by those involved, as it is currently not always adequate.

Local and Cloud storage gives in my opinion, the best of all worlds, and can be made transparent to the "average" user

 

[Tepid]

Not when I fear the ultimate long term goal is to have, just a dumb terminal with the OS in the cloud.

I think though that we are all speculating on the positives and negatives of something that is in it's infancy still.

However, a huge negative would be the potential of a company operating a cloud and if they go under or something, then where would your data go? Especially if they were unscrupulous people to begin with.

It would have to be a heavily regulated industry which even then I fear could lead to, too much gov't control over the whole thing. That is a massive negative.

Once your data is in the cloud,, how can anyone really be sure their data is actually private? you can't.
Same can be said on the personal PC, but at least there, you have ALL the control over it, than in the cloud.

You can take your system off line and move the data off to an external source which you can lock away in a safe (Massive Positive). Not something you can do in the cloud (Massive Negative).

 

[xarden]

Agreed.

 

[ahriman]

I'll stop using computers before I'll put my data in 'the cloud'.

Actually, I've been worried enough about this to start a move to OpenBSD
as my main platform (dual boot with windows, for now).

 

[Barman58]

I cannot personally see the migration to the cloud ever being total in the way of the old system of totally dumb terminals, but would retain considerable local processing and storage.

If we look at the devices that are the vanguard of these cloud connected devices, SmartPhones, Tablets, etc. they all have local processing and storage - If nothing else the producers of the actual hardware will want this and they are a substantial and powerful lobby.

Security and viability of cloud providers is and will always be a major concern and is another reason that I believe that the PC as we know it still has a long life ahead.

The cloud in tomorrow's world will come to be a vital part of computing for both home and business users, but will I believe, always work as an extension of the equipment we use today not a replacement for it

 

[sinbin]

I think Matt is right.

They can miniaturize every other component but when I am doing any apps I still want a decent sized display and a decent size keyboard.

I understand the appeal of running apps off of a PDA or phone sized device but most of the time there's simply no need to do so.

all this phone tech is pointless.i want to sit in my warm house with my big monitor screen and compute.i dont want to be out using it on a bus or what ever!its all gimmicky rubbish thats not needed really.