Linked by the_randymon on Mon 21st Jan 2013 19:27 UTC
"The first computers were gigantic, filling rooms and requiring constant care and maintenance. [...] The computer stayed on the desk until the laptop computer, a smaller, more portable, but just as powerful machine, made it nearly obsolete. And then, the iPhone was released, followed shortly after by Android and the Palm WebOS, and the next step in computing was clear. What we did not immediately understand was if mobile computing was an accessory, or a replacement, for the traditional desktop machines." Jon-Buys at Ostatic believes the phone-becomes-computer paradigm is the next step.
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RE: not for a long time
by Bill Shooter of Bul on Mon 21st Jan 2013 19:55
in reply to "not for a long time"
Member since:2006-07-14
Read the story.
Imagine this scenario: you arrive at work in the morning, sit down at your desk, and drop your phone into the dock. Your monitor lights up with your normal desktop environment and you work in it throughout the day. At the end of the day, you pull your phone out of the dock, put it in your pocket and head home. On the train, you think of something else to add to your project, so you take out your phone and use the touch screen interface to add to your work. No need for syncing or cloud resources, everything you need you carry with you on the phone. When you get home, you drop the phone in the dock in the kitchen to watch a show while you are cooking dinner. Fast forward a few more years, and maybe you don’t even need the dock anymore. You arrive at work and the proximity sensor in your phone detects where you are and automatically connects to your monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
What makes your desktop a desktop? If its anything other than the size of the box holding the cpu, then you can't have much of an objection to this concept.
RE[2]: not for a long time
by Shkaba on Mon 21st Jan 2013 20:48
in reply to "RE: not for a long time"
Member since:2006-06-22
Imagine this scenario: you arrive at work in the morning, sit down at your desk, and drop your phone into the dock. Your monitor lights up with your normal desktop environment and you work in it throughout the day.
I have a slightly different vision:
Imagine you walk in the office, place you phone on a charger/dock and ... built in projector lights up the wall (or a projecting canvas) and a laser traces a virtual keyboard on your desk ...
RE[2]: not for a long time
by WereCatf on Mon 21st Jan 2013 23:20
in reply to "RE: not for a long time"
Member since:2006-02-15
What makes your desktop a desktop? If its anything other than the size of the box holding the cpu, then you can't have much of an objection to this concept.
I would say first and foremost connectivity: a real desktop can connect to a dozen different devices simultaneously. Secondly, performance. To a lesser extent customizability. Fourth, a desktop-oriented OS.
Only the third one is really something that a smartphone can't do and won't be able to do, the other two mostly just come down to time -- ie. technological advancements in CPU/GPU - tech -- and to making a dock with lots of connectors. Whip up an OS that can transition from mobile-oriented interface to a desktop-oriented interface when needed, fashion a good, proper dock, and make it all work together completely seamlessly and you'll have no problems substituting a smartphone for a desktop in most areas of life.
RE[2]: not for a long time
by the_randymon on Tue 22nd Jan 2013 10:13
in reply to "RE: not for a long time"
Member since:2005-07-06
Why should you even need the phone? Imagine you carry a smartcard in your wallet, something with nothing more than basic credentials, like a cypher key. You go wherever you want, plug it into the card reader at the local dumb-terminal, and you are instantly back at your desktop.
If this is the reality you want, all you need is a server account somewhere, and a thin client/dumb terminal. Because all your stuff is on the server, you get the benefits of amazingly powerful hardware (out there on the server) and no risk/expense of loss (lose your card? Get a new one for $1. How much is your super-phone worth?) Furthermore, because all your stuff is out there on the server (sorry, it's called a cloud now, I suppose?) it's available to you wherever you go.
I think we're closer to that reality, and in fact it's not too different from a reality we already had back in the 1970s.
Member since:2005-07-06
OTOH the envisioned scenario reminded me about some past predictions... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_computer#The_Home_Computer_.22Rev...
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2011-08-21
please, desktop/workstations are far from being obsolete. Same goes for laptops. I can't imagine ever getting real work done on a phone, be it Ubuntu or not.