@ s1n:

Yes, producers will still need regular machines for the time being. Same goes for business users. I said that in my post. You can’t easily produce content on tablets. But, eventually we might get better input methods for ultra-portable devices things will change.

Tablets are consumer devices. Those of us who are producers will probably stick with desktop PCs. Every so often, clever pundits proclaim the end of the . It started with the Palm Pilot, then the Blackberry, then the smart phone, then the netbook, and now the tablet. I’ve heard these ridiculous claims before and they’ve yet to pan out in the last 20 years.

Tablets seem like fine replacements for laptops, but not useful for any heavy lifting (think what 8 hours a day typing on an on-screen keyboard will do to your sanity). Being able to replace my power supply, memory, processor, etc far exceeds the value of having a walled garden tablet.

Don’t waste your time proclaiming the end of anything, you’ll just end up being wrong. After all, how many people proclaimed the end of the mainframe (think “cloud”)?

>Valve’s interest in Linux is related to their efforts to launch their own gaming platform<

sounds a bit like we're back to booting into games or have dedicated gaming consoles?

I’m yet waiting to see how it all plays out. Tablets are still too expensive for my taste, especially since they are just suckier internet browsing machines, perhaps I will think about buying one when Google releases their cheapo version. Even if I do some things are just easier to do with a proper setup in your room or office, in that case portability isn’t a very important feature. Tablets can fill the niche of computing on the go, but there will always be demand for computing at home, as long as the devices sync with ease I can see desktops surviving.

Yes, metro apps and their settings are a nightmare for mouse keyboard input, but they are so bad at this time, nobody would even think about using them. Secondly, what the windows store currently has to offer is quickly produced copies of famous appstore apps (accuweather, cut the rope, a tv guide, a cooking book and a nyt reading app). There is not one app that i would mark as even slightly useful”

If your are interested in making some more windows8 related blogentries i would share with great amusement screenshots and some of my own critical points with you.

Happy first of may! (its a holiday in germany)

@ Mrjones2015:

Honestly, I hope you are right. If users find it intuitive enough, then I will be happy.

From what I read the major usability issues for the desktop are that the controls are intuitive for touch users, but not for mouse users. There are button type things hidden in the corners, scrolling is not intuitive. etc. Metro hides away the task bar and forces some apps to run in full screen whether the user wants it or not. I suspect users daily routines will have to include many additional clicks to excorcise away the insistent metro overlays and cause much confusion, generate a lot of support calls and require much user training.

I mean, look at what has happened with Office 2007. The change from menus to ribbon was not that drastic, but we are still dealing with an aftermath. We still get weekly request to install “the good office” on workstations because people don’t want to deal with 2007 and 2010.

But, maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong.

Btw im using netscape navigator on the ipad :D

Ive been using the win8 cp since it came out now and i seriously think you are overestimating the impact of metro on the overall usability. All these big changes mentioned will not affect ones daily productive work.

For most people there will be only a very few new things comming.
Remember, the more things change, the more they stay the same ;)

Heres a list of things i see actually differ from Win7
-Start button is now hidden in the corner
-programs are now aligned horizontally in big tiles
-shutdown is located in a weird place, bofh having a good day will add a tile in the startmenu

most used programs will be run and maximized/minimized using the taskbar (or opened by doubleclicking desktopicons) as usual

You didnt show any real examples, what do you think will trigger the usability catastrophy?

@ astine:

Exactly. I think we are on a convergence course. Mobile OS’s need to ramp up in functionality, and desktop OS’s need to accommodate for extra mobility and alternate control schemes.

In the short term (next decade) the desktop (or rather the laptop) will be still be around. People will need it for work, and so it will remain a core tool for white collar workers. The devices will just get thinner and more portable as we go.

Beyond that I think we might see glasses and contacts push out traditional displays (at least that’s where we seem to be going right now) at which point the “screen size” is no longer a concern because the new devices will be able to take advantage from your entire field of vision.

Eventually a “computer” might be a tiny key fob that you wear on your key chain or around your neck, which interfaces with your glasses which read your eye movements and with your wristband for hand motion tracking. Hell, eventually they might figure out how to bake it into the frames of your glasses so you don’t have to carry an additional thing. If you are a business guy, you might carry a foldable bluetooth keyboard in your bag for better typing.

Well, 12.04 *is* Canonical’s bet for the future…

Seriously though, I don’t think that the desktop will ever go away altogether. Tablets are nice for web browsing, but you really need a keyboard for long text entry. Also tablets don’t provide very large screens. If tablets are to entirely replace laptops and desktops, they will need to be trivially converted to laptop and desktop form factor: at the very least by providing a bluetooth keyboard, more likely by providing whole (bluetooth?) docking stations. Once you start using them like that, people are going to want desktop operating systems anyway. (Actually, that’s why the hybrid, tablet-desktop approach might be the right one in the long run.)