The Evolution of PCs and Tablets

With tablets continuing to grow in the marketplace, there is much prognostication about the future of computing and in particular the future of PCs. Laptops or notebooks seem to dominate at present, when it comes to serious computing, but for really heavy duty computing, you still nee a desktop or higher.We often forget that many of the apps we see on tablets and smartphones depend on banks of very powerful servers and networks. Many of Google's offerings are examples of this. So predictions of the demise of PCs and their replacement by Tablets, such as this article, are somewhat premature and likely off base. It may be that for personal use computing,, smartphones and tablet-like devices will gradually replace the laptops we carry around, but that's only a part of the computer technology scene.

It is interesting to speculate on the future of computing, particularly on the business implications of computer technology trends. Clearly we have already reached a world where mobility is a major factor. There is also a good deal of evidence that people are not completely happy with the size of the tablet, which is why Apple is coming out with a smaller one. Also, a lot of people still carry around three devices - a smartphone, a tablet and a laptop. This is not an optimum situation.

For personal use computing, a logical evolution is one where the smartphones and tablets are combined into a single device of current smartphone size, so it can be slipped into a shirt pocket. That does not resolve the problems of screen size, but that can be handled through virtual technology, in which screens are created virtually when needed at any size that might be needed at the time. So people doing presentations shouldn't have to worry about having a projector. They just go to the podium with their smartphone type device, create a large virtual screen that anyone can see, create a large keyboard or other input device for ease of use, and start their presentation. This is the logical direction of our technology development. The famous Corning video A Day Made of Glass, captures the spirit of all this, if not the exact technology.