The Monitor is a Limiting Form Factor

[Renegade]

Ok, I'm sick of BS claims by semi-retarded journalists. I felt like destroying one BS claim: "the desktop is dead".

I've just written up why the desktop will never die.

I take a rational approach and explain why the media whores are complete morons.

My general approach is to explain types then go for specifics.

I identify 7 types of computing then classify then into 2 types then go from there.

I conclude with the monitor being a limiting form factor.

[KynloStephen66515]

Agreed,

With me at least, the desktop will never die.  Ican never get what I need from a laptop, especially with screen real estate.

Laptops are also stupidly hard to modify if you have big hands (I have rather large hands and chunky fingers), this also means I sometimes have to connect an external keyboard in order to type with any actual speed behind me.

Gaming:

I simply CANNOT game on a laptop WITHOUT an external mouse/keyboard.  The touchpad and onboard keyboard are useless to me.

Writing/Programing:

Can be done on laptop, however, with the lack of screen space, I find it difficult to concentrate because i am having to constantly minimize my window to grab something from the background or choose a new sone because my playlist has repeated itself 6 times.  At least on a normal computer with multiple screens, this is solved because I can have what i need for writing on one, and everything else on the others.

[Deozaan]

Yeah, but once they get those paper-thin OLED displays that you can roll up in your laptop bag, the desktop is DOOMED!

[MilesAhead]

It will be replaced by a Wi-Fi earring.  The audio/visual pumped directly into your brain.

I understand the etiquette is left ear for Linux and right ear for Windows.

[Stoic Joker]

I understand the etiquette is left ear for Linux and right ear for Windows.

I'm guessing you would have needed to have a drivers license in the 70s to be old enough to get that joke...


...I did btw.

[KynloStephen66515]

It will be replaced by a Wi-Fi earring.  The audio/visual pumped directly into your brain.

I understand the etiquette is left ear for Linux and right ear for Windows.

HA!

+1 

[app103]

I understand the etiquette is left ear for Linux and right ear for Windows.

And through the nose for Mac? 

[MilesAhead]

I understand the etiquette is left ear for Linux and right ear for Windows.

And through the nose for Mac? 

Heh heh.  You guys have a piercing sense of humor.

[Stoic Joker]

I understand the etiquette is left ear for Linux and right ear for Windows.

And through the nose for Mac?  

...With a paper punch ... Because, nothing says Think Different quite like self mutilation.

[barney]

Yeah, but once they get those paper-thin OLED displays that you can roll up in your laptop bag, the desktop is DOOMED! Wink

Really?  That's what movies said about VCR - TV as well - and what music execs said about CD/DVD - and ... nope, didn't/won't happen.  No way, with current technology, to get desktop performance with any kind of e-newspaper or pad computer.  They're great for presenting information, not so great for manipulating data.  Kinda like comparing a garden spade to a steam shovel - they both have their place, but neither will ever replace the other.

[Renegade]

Yeah, but once they get those paper-thin OLED displays that you can roll up in your laptop bag, the desktop is DOOMED!

While that initially sounds good, the fact is that it's not true. Paper thin displays will open up new possibilities for portability, but... The desktop will live forever. Here's the proof inside 1 simple question:

Do you want to unscroll and hold a 24" paper thin monitor on your lap or hold it as you are walking?

Clearly no.

It's entirely about the physical limits of human vision and our need to have sufficiently large display space to easily view things. You can miniaturize computers, but you can't miniaturize humans or conversely increase the quality of people's vision (that's another question though for biotech).

Do you want to play the latest 1st person shooter on a 3"x5" screen? A 9" screen? No. You want a big huge honking mother of a display that covers the entire wall! You don't really want a 24" display... you want a 24' display! Because that's bigger, better, and much much cooler to run down cops and shoot hookers on. Why watch blood squirt 12 mm when you can watch it squirt 12 feet?

The desktop may be reduced to the size of just a keyboard someday, but displays will always remain large.

On a side note, the keyboard is the limiting factor in how small a computer can be until speech recognition and tracking retinal movements becomes popularly viable. It's all about interfacing with humans, and what factors on the human side are limiters.

[Stoic Joker]

So basically you're saying, Star Trek's ultimate gaming system, the Holodeck was not portable.

[Renegade]

So basically you're saying, Star Trek's ultimate gaming system, the Holodeck was not portable.

YES~!

Exactly~!

It's all about getting information from a human into a computer and from a computer to a human. Holodecks are about the best way to do it~!