For the past couple of years, since the advent of the iPad and other tablets, there has been a lot of digital ink spilled over how we’re living in a “post-PC world”. It got me thinking as to what that means.
At first blush, it sounds like the prediction that the computer as we know it is going away forever. With today’s announcement that Dell is taking itself private (the opposite of what you usually hear, right?) and the lack of focus on the part of Apple over the past 3 or 4 years on OSX upgrades, it might seem that the headlong surge to mobile computing might be the end of our relationship with our computers at home or work.
Not so fast.
As we sit here today, I believe the definition of a “post-PC world” means how we interact with our data and how that data is stored. Cloud storage has made it insanely easy to never be far from your digital stuff. Before, everything had to be stored locally on your hard drive. Now Dropbox, Amazon cloud services, Google Drive and dozens of others make all your stuff accessible from anywhere. The ability to get your music, documents, email, photos, etc. from multiple devices says more about how we store and interact with things, and less about the machines we use to get to that storage locker in the sky.
There are certain things that phones, tablets and other “post-PC” devices are still not much good at: Skype, video gaming, video editing, Photoshop, document creation and document editing etc etc etc., and until such time as they can handle “computer” tasks like these, they will always just be cloud access devices.
So, I think branding this evolution as post-PC is somewhat misleading. “Post hard drive” might be more accurate.
How about you? How much do you rely on the cloud?
4 Responses to “What is a Post-PC World?”
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Rely on the cloud? Not enough yet. Or, not enough as some people might expect me – a supposed “techie” – to. But the form-factor and functionality of my new Asus Q200 (I think that’s the model) touchscreen laptop is just about perfect. At some point, don’t devices reach some sort of ideal form, where keyboards and screens are neither too small nor too large, where they “fit” the human form best? Like mobile phones have sort of reached that point, so never will be good at those things you rightly note they aren’t good at. The Goldilocks Principle? Netbooks were TOO small, I think, but MacBook Airs (about the same size as my Asus) seem juuuust right. But if I could trust the cloud…
“The computer” may be going away, but everything I read suggests that its impact will integrate into almost every aspect of our lives – including our bodies. The “death of the PC” may just mean that almost everything takes on characteristics of current day PC’s. Our appliances will be “connected”, chips will be everywhere including in our bodies monitoring our health. Heck, Ray Kurzweil talks about the singularity when humans and computers will merge.
But, to answer your last question, I am irretrievably committed to the cloud. All my documents, images, etc. live there.
Oh how I wish I knew more about clouds. I’ve really got to catch up, but I like your take on this brave newer, newest world.
Good column … Agreed, “post-PC” is premature, but sometimes it feels weird being the only person at a meeting with a laptop …