Prediction: In the near future, the PC as we know it will be obsolete

Within the next few years, the personal computer as we know it will be obsolete. A bold statement, perhaps, but ponder these points:

• More and more companies are offering vital business productivity applications as web-based services meaning you don’t have to buy and install software on your hard drive.
• PC security is nearly impossible for the average user; compromised computers that have been joined to huge botnets have made cybercrime a serious threat. Hardened operating systems, running in firmware (Zonbu comes to mind) effectively thwart cyber-criminals.
• Hard drives fail; and, without backups, data is lost.
• On-line data storage is a growing trend, making storage capacity effectively limitless.
• Large solid-state USB drives are becoming commonplace.
• Gigabit (and beyond) broadband is on the horizon.

Some smirked when, in 1984, I predicted a solid-state device, smaller than a pack of cigarettes, that would produce full-fidelity stereo digital music (the iPod Nano was introduced in 2005); I’m sure this prediction will have its critics, too.

Let’s take a look back on, say, New Year’s Eve 2011.

Cheers!
The Geek

Have a question? It can be about anything from cooking to science, whatever you’re interested in: Click here to Ask the Geek! Kenny “The Geek” Harthun has been playing with geeky stuff since 1965. He’s a former research scientist and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer at Connective Computing, Inc. and loves to learn about anything and everything.

TagJag Tags: future, computing, broadband, prediction