What Qualifies As A PC?

from the changes,-changes dept

Well, now that we've finally reached the point where computer companies are realizing it helps to add some style to PCs, Business Week comes along to suggest that we need to stop thinking of the PC as a PC and realize that we're moving towards a world of specialized devices. My first reaction to this was to disagree. Specialized devices, by themselves, make increasingly less sense based on how people use computers these days. You want to provide as open a system as possible, and let the users figure out what can be done with it, rather than forcing them into a narrow usage pattern. However, in reading the details in the article, the point they make actually does make sense. It's not that the PC itself goes away. It still will be sitting on your desk. However, everything else around it will also qualify as a PC in some way, whether it's your TiVo or your iPod. This is, of course, already happening. Both already have hard drives and can connect to current computers. This trend is likely to continue, though, as the article points out, Microsoft may have a more difficult time taking over this market. Since many of these "connected" devices will have customized operating systems, it's going to be a lot easier to use something like Linux than to stick with the Microsoft alternative.