Linked by David Adams on Thu 18th Aug 2011 19:13 UTC
Hewlett-Packard Co. , the world's largest computer maker, is in talks to buy [database search software vendor] Autonomy Corp. for about $10 billion and plans to spin off its personal-computer business, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Is this an indicator of the Post PC Era?
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RE: Indicator of the future
by Flatland_Spider on Thu 18th Aug 2011 23:10
in reply to "Indicator of the future"
Member since:2006-09-01
This is pretty much spot on, except you're discounting the design expertise Apple brings to the table. The other manufacturers settle for good enough, and they probably would have arrived at the same spot they are now.
For a counter-point, the standardization on a third-party OS enabled PCs to be come cheaper since software vendors only had to program for one OS, and the third-party OS allowed portability between hardware vendors, which also contributed. Standardization was bound to happen with Windows or something else; there were just too many hardware vendors for it to now happen.
RE[2]: Indicator of the future
by zima on Tue 23rd Aug 2011 21:06
in reply to "RE: Indicator of the future"
Member since:2005-07-06
the design expertise Apple brings to the table. The other manufacturers settle for good enough
Can we really say that after a long series which starts with Apple III (the one with completely inadequate cooling, Apple advising to drop the units from time to time to reseat the components), via similarly overlooking cooling and obvious user practices G4 Cube, the puck, numerous problems over recent years with cracking or discolouration of materials...
...up to the recent antennagate, an almost one year delay of introducing a white design of iPhone4, and the fiasco of button-less Shuffle?
RE: Indicator of the future
by Dr.Mabuse on Fri 19th Aug 2011 00:35
in reply to "Indicator of the future"
Member since:2009-05-19
When has it ever been different? People who have been around long enough know that the PC hardware business has always been a ruthless cut-throat game.
IMHO, eventually all the hype about Apple is going to eventually subdue (I was going to say "come to a griding halt", but that is perhaps a bit strong for the immediate future.) The market for tablet and smart phone users is becoming saturated with upteen different variations. What then for Apple's much vaunted "business model" ? They know this too ... Hence the ever more ridiculous legal battles on multiple fronts.
Interestingly enough, my prediction is that there will always be a personal computer. There will be no post PC era. I believe there will however be a consolidation of all PC manufacturers and they will merge under Microsoft's brand and will mimic Apple's business model of controlling the whole platform. The two remaining players will be Microsoft and Apple but the disparity in market share will be dramatically different by that time. I think it will be much more equal then.
Perhaps ... Maybe the big players will decide this is the way to go. As you say: We'll see.
But, what about all the commodity PC gear manufacturers? (e.g. Gigabyte, ASUS - the upteen different Taiwanese and Chinese companies) Do they just pack up shop under this grand vision?
Where does this leave non-Microsoft operating systems? Particularly the one that now contributes greatly to the back-end business of everything from mom-and-pop operations to Fortune 500 companies, Supercomputers, smart-phones and so forth?
I guess in a nutshell, I can't help but think that there is still a LOT of room in the market place for computer equipment that allow people to get real work done. Software Engineering, 3D CAD & Mechanical Design, etc. I don't think Apple can ever dominate there.
Edited 2011-08-19 00:38 UTC
RE: Indicator of the future
by zima on Tue 23rd Aug 2011 21:13
in reply to "Indicator of the future"
Member since:2005-07-06
And then comes a disruption, and the "winner" collapses almost like a house of cards.
I believe there will however be a consolidation of all PC manufacturers and they will merge under Microsoft's brand and will mimic Apple's business model of controlling the whole platform. The two remaining players will be Microsoft and Apple
Not a chance, if only because China values technological independence from some time now, and will have influence beyond their borders, on what the world uses. PC division of IBM didn't strictly get out of PC business, they essentially moved to China; where they are healthy and growing.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
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2011-08-18
We've all talked about a 0 sum game were winner takes all. Nobody ever thought it would happen within our relative life times however it would seem that the economy is spurring things on a little faster than we imagined.
While there are several companies in the personal computer business that are profitable it can definitely be said that each one of them... well all but one is seeing drastically dwindling profits as a result of the PC market place catering to the lowest common denominator... price.
That one exception of course is Apple.
The differentiation by price business methodology is a recipe for disaster. And though every PC fan boy in the 90s thru early 2000s declared Apple's decision to own or control the whole platform a bad business decision it now looks as if Apple was right and is vindicated.
All the previous big time players saw the writing on the wall with the iPod, iPhone, iPad and eventually also the Mac that more and more of them realized their lack of business savvy and tried to buy up other platforms in an effort to copy the obviously (in retrospect) superior business model.
HP was notorious for this... buying Amiga, BeOS and Palm.
When IBM got out of the PC business, I personally saw the writing on the wall while most of the people on this site and others saw it as a failing of IBM. When Compaq merged it with HP, it only furthered this way of thinking. The same people on this site and elsewhere never even considered it as an indicator of things to come.
Apple's rapid growth in every market it competed within sealed the deal in my opinion but the others had their head in the sand. Only now as HP exits the PC business are people even beginning to contemplate that this is an indicator of the 0 sum game argument playing itself out.
Interestingly enough, my prediction is that there will always be a personal computer. There will be no post PC era. I believe there will however be a consolidation of all PC manufacturers and they will merge under Microsoft's brand and will mimic Apple's business model of controlling the whole platform. The two remaining players will be Microsoft and Apple but the disparity in market share will be dramatically different by that time. I think it will be much more equal then.
We'll see.
Edited 2011-08-18 21:06 UTC