Windows 10: The PC is broken: Time to fix the business model or quit

Read more: The PC is broken: Time to fix the business model or quit | ZDNet

 

A good bump in the economy would probably render that analysis inaccurate. Business users as well as home users have been under considerable economic stress the past 5 years. Everyone I know who has an older desktop wants a new desktop, but are waiting for better economic times.

:)

 

Is MS ever going to fix the broken interactive USSD IN WP7.x ? Or should I get a iphone rather....my mobile banking works there

Is MS ever going to fix the broken interactive USSD IN WP7.x ? Or should I get a iphone rather....my mobile banking works there.....help me, the force is still strong with me....but I'm starting to feel the call of the dark side (iOs)

 

Is MS ever going to fix the broken interactive USSD IN WP7.x ? Or should I get a iphone rather....my mobile banking works there

I'm not sure there is an issue with USSD lebina but if there is, I am sure that the folks at Microsoft are dealing with it.

As for what device you ultimately use, that is a personal decision. As for me, there is no other phone I would even consider after using Windows Phone for the past two years. It does everything I want and has truly been the best mobile experience I have
ever had.

 

Isn't the PC gaming hardware market vibrant atm?

 

Depends on how you look at it. Sure, hardcore gamers are still likely to shell out lots of money for top of the line kit, but the number of hardcore PC Gamers is relatively small (compared to the overall market).

The problem PC makers have is that, in general, PC's are as fast as they are going to get. Performance only increases marginally year over year. And for most people, PC's are already plenty fast for their needs.

So unless their PC breaks or there is something that comes along to obsolete it, they aren't going to be upgrading.

 

I agree, Mystere. None of my comps are the latest hardware but all perform very well.

It used to be each new version of Windows needed better hardware but now that trend is reversed!

Glad I don't make desktops.

 

Tablets and Laptops are probably going to still have good sales due to the fact they're easy to lose, break, and batteries wear out much faster than Power Supplies of desktop units.

Plus, most of Intel's new technology is around wireless and battery life. Getting more power per watt is key, so users may still upgrade their systems to get better battery life. But that won't help desktops.

 

I have just had a hip replacement so was stuck for a few days in the lounge with Android phone, tablet and HP notebook so can comment on the desktop alternatives.

You are dead right about batteries. They're a darn nuisance! The notebook is a few years old now and doesn't last long on battery power.

Perhaps the Samsung Note 7 battery fires will temper the love of lithium powered devices!!

But, as far as I am concerned, you just can't beat the desktop for convenience, power, screen size and real keyboard! And you don't have to charge it all the time!

Desktops still rule for me.

 

Perhaps someone ought to inform Intel about this, as they don't appear to be aware of the "Sky is Falling" situation:

Intel boosts outlook on surprising PC sales | OregonLive.com

 

In my humble opinion, the number of "hard core gamers" has never been larger than it is today, and it's still growing. There are far more people playing PC games and buying them now than has ever been the case. Many of the first-week sales of even mediocre game sales today are far greater than "mega-hits" of ten years ago...selling 5 million copies used to be flat impossible in the lifetime of a game--didn't matter the category. Today, certain games do that in a *week* or less....the market is far larger than ever before. There's Kickstarter's incredible success--just many, many things that are only possible today because the gaming market is so much larger than it used to be. (Look at Star Citizen--only a gigantic, healthy PC gaming market could ever support something like that.) No way would Sony and Microsoft be coming out with new, higher-end consoles, if there was no market for gaming PCs--indeed, Sony stated recently that the main reason it is doing a 4k-capable console is precisely to try and stem the bleed to PCs. State of the art tech for the entire industry is only found in the PC marketplace, etc--but that has always been the case.

The only thing that isn't growing at the moment is the PC OEM business in terms of annual new-box sales...but OTOH, the PC hardware peripherals market is booming...just take a look at the enormous variety available through Amazon or NewEgg, etc. Upgrading is the rule, these days, whereas years ago buying new PCs every few years was the rule. Indeed...peripheral upgrading has become commonplace. I see that increasing, really...it isn't that people aren't buying, it's *what* they are buying that is different.

Tablets and other semi-PC's (as I call them) aren't enough for most people--and of course, cell phones certainly aren't enough for people's computing demands...*Wink The PC desktop marketplace is very healthy and it's booming...again, it's just that the ways of measuring it today must be different because the markets themselves and the hardware is a lot different than it used to be. Personally, for instance, at home, I haven't bought a new OEM PC box since 1995...! But I've owned at least a dozen or more "computers" since then by way of buying the components and assembling them--no more difficult today than Lego blocks--or playing a game like Minecraft. And if you can't do it yourself, there are millions of Mom&Pop computer stores in the US alone that'll be glad to sell you a box that they have configured and built themselves from the very same peripheral sources...What's changing is more the way these things are counted than anything else, imo.

 

You make some good points, waltc?

 

Haven't been hearing much about development of 128-bit computing the last few years.
Microsoft Working on 128-bit Windows

 

Precisely...and this is nothing new for Intel lately, either. (I feel like '"chaw'in" for a bit so please pardon me *Wink) The company has had several "record-breaking" quarters recently for its *desktop PC /Laptop PC components* businesses. And it's not just Intel. nVidia has released many new discrete desktop GPUs; AMD is doing the same, and in a couple of months AMD will be back with us again on the high-end of the x86 CPU marketplace--ZEN looks to be a humdinger. No way on earth would AMD or nVidia or Intel be doing all of these products for a shrinking, dying market...*Wink I am especially looking forward to the price wars AMD will bring back to the high end of the x86 CPU markets--If AMD comes out with cpus that meet or exceed Intel's current $1k cpus but AMD is selling them for half that price (and this appears to be exactly what is happening!)...that's going to light a fire under the x86 desktop CPU marketplace like we haven't seen since AMD knocked Intel's socks off in the early part of the century with Athlon and then the A64...! This will be great for all of us! I don't know of anyone who prefers or thinks he prefers Intel cpus right now who would be bothered by a huge price cut in those Intel cpus, eh? Exciting times ahead, starting in the next ~90 days! Glad to see AMD back under competent management again!

--The industry temporarily lost its marbles back about the time Jobs (RIP) was pushing the iPad and cell phones as the "post PC" era... Some people weren't distracted by all the silly hype and fuss--like Intel--which kept its course steady and wasn't as badly hurt as some companies--but Microsoft, with that silly Win8 debacle made a wrong turn--and AMD's management took a wrong-turn, too--branching off into very-low profit, very-high-volume mobile markets like ARM, etc,--when AMD should have stayed to compete with Intel in the x86 CPU marketplace, and Microsoft should have built on top of it's best-selling OS in history--Windows 7! But--and we could talk about these things for days!--there's just no accounting for just how *bad* human managers can be at their jobs, sometimes, is there? Win10 is essentially what would have happened had Microsoft built on top of Win7 and eschewed Win8 (Metro, etc.) completely, and ZEN for AMD is precisely where AMD has needed to be for the past couple of years--so I'm very glad about all of that.

What might've happened to the industry if both Microsoft and AMD had *failed*--can't even imagine that, really--but I think we came much closer to it than I've ever seen. It didn't happen--of course!--but mistakes like that...well, many companies don't survive them--take Apple, for instance. Had Apple not essentially jumped completely away from PCs (Macs) and not diversified into cell phones--Apple would not be here today. No doubt about that whatever. Apple went from 100% dependence on its PC business (Macs) to essentially a 20% dependence on its Mac/PC business and a 70% + dependence on its cell-phone businesses--and if that had not happened Apple would be gone. Microsoft, otoh, could never do that because it's PC OS business, in contrast to Apple's, was and is a huge success. SO basically, what works for Apple won;t work for Microsoft and vice-versa, because the companies are entirely different with far different strengths and weaknesses. Apple's always been about hardware, primarily, whereas Microsoft is a software company. Either company's management becoming confused on those points would be dire for either company, and it almost was for Microsoft, imo.

Apple Computer--the old Apple, is dead and gone, but some semblance of the original Apple Computer is left, and for Apple fans that's got to be a positive. And if Yahoo! had been smart enough to jump @ Microsoft's insane offer of $40B+ for the Yahoo! search engine--instead of the peanuts it is now selling the same businesses for to another company--I am not at all sure that *Microsoft* would not have bought the big one...! Ballmer made *so many critically expensive mistakes*! Billions to Nokia in a terrible decision to blindly copy Apple's iPhone move--at least $10B sucked away there...Windows 8--another horrible mistake Ballmer made in copying Apple's iPad tablet--which was a fad and even now is coming full circle back to its initial starting point*--billions of $ gone there, too! If not for Yahoo!'s essential stupidity in turning down Ballmer's insane offer--well, it could have been curtains for Microsoft, believe it or not! Just delighted that Microsoft got rid of Ballmer and Sinofsky--it was close.

In talking about markets contracting and so on, it's most necessary that we understand how critical the management decisions in all of these companies is to not only their individual bottom lines but also to the markets in which these companies are major players. Like the PC gaming marketplace--which is a combination of many product markets created by many different companies--not simply just a gauge of raw supply and demand. When these mistakes in management are corrected and the markets set out on a constructive (not conflicted) path, it's possible that the future growth of the PC desktop marketplace might far outstrip the so-called halcyon desktop markets of the early days! IE, I think it is very likely that the best is yet to come!

 

Given that the Laptops of today easily have the processing, video, and storage capabilities of desktops of only a few years ago, it's no wonder that desktop sales are stagnating or falling off.

I have a desktop that is five years old. Runs a 6-core 64-bit processor at 3.2GHz, has three flat panel displays connected to it, a two-drive external drive dock connected via USB 3.0, a separate USB 3.0/2.0 hub for other devices, and a really nice Gaming keyboard that is rugged as all get out. I'm quite pleased with it!

Then recently, my son's old HP desktop died and he replaced it with a new Lenovo desktop. Once I got to look at it, I had a hard time NOT drooling! Native USB 3.0 ports -- lots of them. Latest Intel i7 core processor. Large SSD already included. Win10 Home included. HDMI, DisplayLink, HDMI ports included. 64GB DDR4 memory included.

But then, I realized that my DDR3 memory is not much slower than his DDR4. I already have USB 3.0 expansion cards in my PC. It's already running Win10 PRO, not Home. It already has a video card with DisplayLink ports. And I've moved over to using an SSD for the OS a while ago.

So, while my OLD PC is certainly NOT up to the performance of his brand-spanking NEW one, I'm also not pressed with spending $1000 to make up the difference in performance.

And, I know other folks who would rather buy some add-in cards to expand their systems, than spend similar amounts to get new desktops.

Laptops are different in that, generally, they are NOT upgradeable -- so folks buy new ones every few years to get the newest hardware features.

As to the comment in the article about adding touch and speech -- the first has already been done with lots of the new laptops sporting touch screens. But as to speech, Dragon has been messing around with that for MANY years, and operating your PC by talking to it simply has never caught on. I tried that with a Microphone and my desktop a while back, and found it to be more trouble than it was worth. A few well-placed shortcuts were far more useful than having to remember commands to "dictate" to the PC.

And nowadays, ALL my kids have tablets and use them all the time. You can't walk into a coffee place without seeing a veritable sea of tablets. So, yeah, THAT's where the market growth is going.