The Decline and Fall of Tethered Computing

Laptops are outselling desktops for the first time in history.

My work computer has been a laptop with a docking station for the last three-plus years.
Chandler bought a new MacBook for school and work earlier this year.
The iPod Touch that came with the MacBook has become my primary home computer. When it’s insufficient I fire up the laptop on the couch. Both of our desktop PCs have been forgotten.

Ubiquitous mobile computing is growing and it will continue to grow. iPhones are seeing huge sales growth amongst middle class consumers. Apparently the $200 up-front cost hits a sweet spot for people with a need for multi-function mobile computers.

This landmark news evokes visions of Ozymandias, as featured in selva’s photo above. The desktop PC isn’t coming back.

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Thanks Marshall for the laptop news.

entmike

I'm still chained to a desktop just due to my lifestyle. The desktop still serves its purpose for being a docking station/file repository/gaming rig/server/development workstation. I own a laptop that mostly sits by the wayside, and is more or less a coffee table browser when I have company and they want to show me the latest Internet meme video or whatever. Yet even with the laptop which serves that purpose, it's quickly being split between my iPhone when I'm laying on the couch, and either AppleTV for YouTube videos, or PS3 for playing videos. It's obviously just me, but I've just never been an avid user of the laptop.
http://www.sharingatwork.com Daniel J. Pritchett

I don't mean to say that laptops are the solution for all problems, just that mobiles are filling in a lot of gaps. Cheap in-home Wi-Fi and affordable 3G devices like the iPhone are extending our online work beyond the traditional desktop computer.

I'd probably still use my desktop more if it weren't so old and juust out of reach of my wireless access point. There's no longer a great benefit to spending my own money on upgrading my desktop PC. I've got my work laptop for any heavy-duty work I need, and my iPod – plus maybe a netbook if I get one later this year – and I'm pretty much set. If I want to get back into gaming there's Xbox Live or a Nintendo DS or even some lo-fi browser-based games.
entmike

No, I agree, just for me there is still a gap that is being filled that won't make the desktop platform fall totally off the map for me. For gaming, yes I have my consoles, and for pictures/videos/other life media, there are now networkable storage drives (which I love, just waiting for the 2nd gen consumer models come out), but since I do dabble at home with NetWeaver, photoshop, etc, a more beefy system that just “sits there” is currently a necessity. Now that I think about it though, a lot of these things could still be run in a headless configuration with no monitor, etc and stuck in a cabinet, and I could RDP in from my laptop.

That could allow me to get rid of an entire computer desk… Guess I'm too scared to take the plunge just yet.
http://www.sharingatwork.com Daniel J. Pritchett

The headless server in the closet is a pretty cool idea. I had a classmate
at Alabama who used his grant money to buy a superpowered server and run
Gentoo on it. It seemed extravagant at first but as the year progressed I
watched him do simulations and team programming projects on it.
I sure do like Remote Desktop. I'm sure you'd be ok using that for a lot of
your programming needs. You might even be able to add a line to your SAP
GUI config to let your work laptop connect to your new BW in addition to the
ones we use at work.
entmike

I might make this my weekend project, if I can win the battle over space vs PC Gaming.
http://www.sharingatwork.com Daniel J. Pritchett

My weekend project was going to be inviting my neighbor Ryan to see the new Bond movie with me. We have an otherwise slow weekend planned at the Pritchett house, let me know if you want a server building buddy… or if you want to see Bond!
http://www.sharingatwork.com Daniel J. Pritchett

The headless server in the closet is a pretty cool idea. I had a classmate
at Alabama who used his grant money to buy a superpowered server and run
Gentoo on it. It seemed extravagant at first but as the year progressed I
watched him do simulations and team programming projects on it.

I sure do like Remote Desktop. I'm sure you'd be ok using that for a lot of
your programming needs. You might even be able to add a line to your SAP
GUI config to let your work laptop connect to your new BW in addition to the
ones we use at work.
entmike

I might make this my weekend project, if I can win the battle over space vs PC Gaming.
http://www.sharingatwork.com Daniel J. Pritchett

My weekend project was going to be inviting my neighbor Ryan to see the new Bond movie with me. We have an otherwise slow weekend planned at the Pritchett house, let me know if you want a server building buddy… or if you want to see Bond!

The Decline and Fall of Tethered Computing

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