Good riddance: The end of the desktop is near

by Don Reisinger

May 12, 2008 —

Years ago, the desktop could be found everywhere. Whether you were checking your email at work or surfing the Web at home, that ugly beige box was sitting everywhere you went. And although I've longed to write this column for years, I can finally say with confidence that the desktop is on its way out and I couldn't be more excited.

Why such desktop hate? Because desktop computers are one of the last remaining vestiges of the past - an era where usability and space saving was just a pie-in-the-sky idea. In other words, the desktop is supremely outdated and must be replaced as soon as possible.

According to most recent sales figures, it looks like that's finally happening. Research firm IDC reported that worldwide notebook sales are increasing to the detriment of desktops. Bob O'Donnell, vice president of clients and displays at IDC believes the growth in notebooks is due to a changing sales environment. He contends that the market is changing from "one PC per household to one PC per person."

To make matters worse for desktops, by 2011, "IDC expects notebooks to comprise 66 percent of all corporate PCs sold, up from 40 percent in 2006, and 71 percent of all consumer PCs sold, up from 44 percent."

If those figures show nothing else, they suggest that desktop computers are becoming obsolete to everyone but gamers and those that work with video. After all, who really needs a bulky, ugly, waste of space on their desk when a notebook computer with a much smaller footprint can do the same thing?

But perhaps more than anything, the rise in notebook sales represents the changing environment we live in. Instead of maintaining a sedentary life where you can only access computers at work, home or in the library, we're more mobile today and use laptops almost everywhere we go. But because of that, the idea of sharing a computer has been thrown out the window and now, as IDC pointed out, more people require computers for work, school or even vacations.

Suffice it to say that buying desktop computers simply doesn't make much sense anymore. Whenever I see a Dell or HP desktop sitting on a table, I can't help but wonder why it's there. Is it really necessary?

I don't think so.

Desktops may make sense for those that play with video or game with the best of us, but why else would someone need a desktop? With the incredible power of notebooks today, desktops are being pushed out of the market as people are looking for that same sort of power without sacrificing space and mobility.

Luckily, people are starting to wake up and realize that desktops are simply not that practical any more. Did they make sense in the late 1990's? Sure. But why should they still make sense in the late 2000's when innovation should be leading the charge to a new decade?

So long, desktops. I don't think we'll miss you.

ITworld.com