Google Executive says "PC will be irrelevant in 3 years" [Yahoo]
 

Anyone read this article? Opinions?
Google: Desktop PCs to be "irrelevant" in 3 years - Blogs - Yahoo! Canada Tech
I think it's a joke. He's just talking about people who use their pc's for the web.

Well, he certainly didn't account for business use. Business moves slower than the speed of cold molasses.

If he said personal computers at home.. it is a trend for people to go wireless + laptops + mobile media devices. Desktop PCs irrelevant? no, but certainly the trend is moving away from desktop PCs for simple web browsing.

We went from windows 2000 to xp at work, last fall I think it was. No matter how lacking in relevance google thinks the pc is, it ain't happening. Not for a loooong time, at work for sure, and at home, well, they'll need to come up with an actual non-pc OS, not some form of enhanced browser. You hear so many predictions in the tech sector, that this or that will be dead by such and such a year. All that bs just goes to highlight their lack of psychic ability.

Ha ha, BS!. For web browsing and MS Word then sure, I mean you can build a $300 desktop or you can buy a smartphone/netbook for that much and have portability. But I'd like to see the best laptop beat a $2000 Core i7 system at Crysis. This should be in that CE-O-No-He-Didn't! thing I saw somewhere

lolwut, nowai!

Def BS, again just corporate "visionaries" that are all talk and have no real sense of what people/the market will really demand in the future.

I know i sure won't be getting a netbook (if those still exist by then), an iPad, eReader, ubersmartphone or any other underpowered OMGNEWTREND device. And considering that games and apps keep inflating hardware requirements, pretty sure the PC won't be falling out of favour anytime soon.

Actually, isn't the PC gaining market share again? Don't have the link, but I read on ArsTechnica that the laptop boom has slown down and desktops are back in. w00t!

Well they ought to be. I have a P4 system I bought/upgraded for $200 total once. It's got an X850XT and a 2.8GHZ CPU, with 1GB RAM. On a 17" monitor, it plays Halo better than my $800 laptop here with an AMD QL-60, 3.5GB RAM, and ATI HD3200 graphics. Oh and its 15.4"

I believe it's true for the popular masses. However, for business, gaming, servers, htpcs, editing and so much more uses, this won't happen.

I guarantee that the PC will never ever be irrelevant. I also guarantee that we will never rely purely on the cloud as Google and Microsoft seem to believe anytime in my lifetime or even several generations after me.

I will agree that Mobile is becoming ever more capable, more powerful and more relevant to our lives but it will not replace the pc. I could site down with my laptop or my phone and write the report that I am currently writing but I dont, I choose to sit down at my PC and write it at my desk. The PC has a sense of permanency and its in general bigger. Try writing an actual report on your phone, its not possible.

I will say this though, the PC is becoming more of a server, and this is a good thing, I would love to be able to centralize all my files (music, movies, word documents, etc.) on my PC and then access it from anywhere. The cloud should not be a giant thing in Google's or Microsoft's basement, it should be based on our PCs.

I actually think we'll rely completely on cloud sooner than people expect it.

The CEO of Sun Micro systems spoke of "Internet appliances" about 7 years ago while Bill Gates was saying people would never give up the power of having a PC. I have always remembered these speeches years later and in recent years it looks like "Internet appliances" are coming of age.

Gaming ... if things keep going in the present direction, will only be available on gaming consoles.

Business ... look at what you can do with a blackberry these days.