The evolution of the PC and its impact on work
by Celine Roque
Last week, I read an article on Engadget about the imminent death of the PC, saying that “PCs are simply getting too complex, difficult and expensive for most consumers to master and maintain.” The author never defined what he meant by PC, so let me take Wikipedia’s definition and share my thoughts on the subject.
“A personal computer (PC) is a generic name for a general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.”
Nowadays, the term applies to a myriad of devices. Desktop computers, laptops, and even some smartphones are essentially PCs in various forms. Computers used to be purely office machines that took up a whole room, and now they are small enough to fit in our pockets. I don’t think that PCs as we know them will die out anytime soon (though it’s also unwise to say they’ll go on forever), but they will continue to evolve and diversify in order to better serve our various needs. It’s fascinating to think about how all these changes will affect the way we work in the future.
What will happen when computers shrink to a size small enough that we can carry them on our key chains? What if smartphones become competent enough to also serve as a desktop when paired with a monitor, keyboard and mouse? Is a shift from stationary to mobile platforms for the enterprise feasible? To what extent? And what role can cloud computing play in this? How will software change in response to hardware? And what role will the Internet play in all this when 4G’s speed and coverage comes along?
In thinking about technology as we push it to it’s limits, we should not forget that we, the users, also have ours. There’s only so much detail our eyes can detect no matter how you increase resolution. Keyboards that are too small can become very uncomfortable. A typical office worker doesn’t need the power of a gaming rig just to create spreadsheets.
If you could nudge technology one way or the other, what would you like to see? What would make your work life better?
Thought...
