The First Post-PC Platform: Windows 8
If I see one more person carrying around an iPad like it’s a business device… Look nothing against the product. It’s slim, turns on immediately, has great battery life and is shiny. It looks great and works great for a lot of things but if you do anything fancy, like actually need to use it for work, we all know it’s limited. Yeah forward me that email that always sends without the damn attachment and then you pull out your Blackberry to re-forward it to me…every time. Or I send you this crazy Excel file and you ask me to turn it into a pdf because your iPad can’t open it. Don’t get me started on opening and editing Word documents on an iPad or organizing files. That $.99 app is great and all, for games, but don’t pretend that you can replace PC apps with these throw-away apps.
I’m sure for lots of people an iPad works just fine but that’s not the answer, just like a smartphone isn’t the only device you’ll rely on. In the end, the PC still rules for sheer power and capabilities (which is easy to say as I sit in front of a 23” 1080p PC with way too many windows open). If you don’t understand that then you’re doing it wrong.
What will replace the current PC? Windows 8. No shit. The notion behind a post-PC device is that you have some form of tablet or super-slim netbook type device that’s instant on, all day battery and can do everything you need it to do without getting all over-complicated. And the simple answer is to just W8 a little bit because it’s almost here. Windows 8 delivers on the longtime promise of Microsoft – you’ll be able to put a full OS (not a slimmed down mobile OS with mobile apps but the real deal with everything you need for work and play) on pretty much any slab and make it through a day. Configuration will be your call and yes, it’s finger friendly and will play Angry Birds, act as an e-reader, stream Netflix, have Skype, Office… You know, do all of those things you can do on a PC plus a full marketplace with lots of shiny new full screen apps and Xbox Live games. And that little cloud thing will be there for you too so you can share and save out there. But then when you go to the office or go home at night you don’t need to put down your portable device and swap it for a PC – it’s one and the same. Just drop that bad boy into a docking station and bam. It’s like the future…but it’s the near future.
Oh and if you say that Windows isn’t finger friendly or that PCs are too complicated I have a fancy hat for you so go sit in the corner until you get it.
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Great article and right on point. Its taken a decade but Microsoft is closing in on the goal. With HP tanking their PC division I wonder if Dell will step up to fill the void or will a company like ASUS who’s already delivering nice tablets make the sweet Windows 8 tablet w/ dock accessory i’ve been craving. I already own 3 ASUS laptops and can’t complain about any of them.
Oh yeah, I hope people don’t forget that possibly the prettiest app on the iPad is the Bing app. That lets me know all I need to get excited about 1st party Windows 8 apps.
For real, this post makes me slober! Oh the anticipation.
This is definitely going to be a game changer!
I use my iPad for business. I don’t have problems forwarding emails with attachments nor do I have problems opening Word or Excel files (I use them all day). Like any other device you need the right apps to be able to work with these programs. Is the iPad limited? You bet. Is it just a fancy game playing machine? Absolutely not!
This term “post-PC” is something that rubs the wrong way, though. I tried to put Visual C# on the netbook, and you know what? The screen’s too effing small! I can’t even wrap my head on doing serious work on a pad.
The netbook is a great portable device and pads are great, well, entertainment devices, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t see either netbooks or tablets replacing PCs.
I always hate to see competition leave the field, and I’m really sorry HP is giving up. I’ve had no problems with the 3 HPs we have in the house.
I certainly hope that Windows 8 is worth the W8 (as you so punnily put it!) and delivers. My dad has had problems w/W7 (although it’s probably the guy who put it on – it was a real sloppy job), but I’ve had no problems whatsoever. Mind you, I had no issues w/Vista either…
@Victor Perez: Yeah, but you posted that comment from a PC running IE 🙂 That’s sort of the point. You don’t spend your day in front of an iPad – that’s just for when you’re on the go.
@Victor Perez:
neither do I, my ipad works perfectly
this $99 touchpad on the other hand… Its barely worth the firesale $99….
The one thing i think people are off about “the tablet will replace the PC” is that it’s more like, the tablet will BECOME the PC.
In the end, no matter how powerful, if you want fast input and easy viewing, you’ll need a bigger screen and additional input deices. Yes, you could dock a tablet and get all that, but at that point, it’s really just a PC that you can also take with you.