Why are PC sales declining ? (Skybuck thoughts on it too)

Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I wondered
and thought this is a good question for usenet people ! :

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?

Bye,
Skybuck.

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:26 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I wondered
and thought this is a good question for usenet people ! :

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?

Bye,
Skybuck.


5)

Most people don't need a computer, because they don't compute. A tablet does
email, twitter, facebook, browsing, and games. It's quiet, portable, reliable,
and doesn't have a tangle of cables, monitors, power strips, all that junk under
your desk. The decline is probably long-term. HP, Microsoft, Dell, maybe Oracle
are dinosaurs.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

On 04/18/2013 09:45 AM, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:26 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I wondered
and thought this is a good question for usenet people ! :

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?

Bye,
Skybuck.


5)

5 + 3 = 8

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/10/business-computers-shipments-tablets-smartphones.html

On 18/04/2013 17:45, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:26 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I wondered
and thought this is a good question for usenet people ! :

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?

Bye,
Skybuck.

5)

Most people don't need a computer, because they don't compute. A tablet does
email, twitter, facebook, browsing, and games. It's quiet, portable, reliable,
and doesn't have a tangle of cables, monitors, power strips, all that junk under
your desk. The decline is probably long-term. HP, Microsoft, Dell, maybe Oracle
are dinosaurs.

I am with you on this. Tablets are rapidly taking over at home.
Given you can get an Android tablet for under $100 they are going to
make a very large dent in the sales of new PCs and low end laptops.

Apart from video editing and gaming there is precious little that a home
user these days needs the full power of a desktop PC for.

Windows8 naffness has perhaps accelerated the decline but the main
problem is that PCs are now good enough to do anything that a home user
is ever likely to want to do and quickly too. There are no more killer
applications that require a massive new hardware upgrade any more.

Time was when just to run the newest OS you needed yet another memory
upgrade - those days are long gone despite the tendency to bloatware.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 18/04/2013 15:09, Skybuck Flying wrote:
Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I
wondered and thought this is a good question for usenet people !
:

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not) 2. Lack of good games ?
(maybe) 3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as
alternative) 4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe...
I am surely sick of it ) 5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe
that... PC/laptop still better for many tasks... though some decline
is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?


A decade ago, the rate of improvement in computing speed was such that
you had to buy a new PCs every year to keep up.

In the past few years I haven't seen quite the same change. One
consequence it is now worth investing in a good PC which might
realistically maintain its market position for a few years rather than
months!

--
Mike Perkins
Video Solutions Ltd
www.videosolutions.ltd.uk

Bulkhead wrote:
On 04/18/2013 09:45 AM, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:26 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I
wondered
and thought this is a good question for usenet people ! :

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely
sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still
better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?

Bye,
Skybuck.


5)

5 + 3 = 8

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/10/business-computers-shipments-tablets-smartphones.html


Yup. I believe abandoning XP was a major mistake.

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/lice...id=SEeKwchI-MO
https://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...indows_7_Vista

Quote "Not surprisingly, users may not downgrade to the
still-used-but-slated-for-retirement Windows XP".

Big mistake.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"Skybuck Flying" writes:
Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

...
What are your thoughts on the decline ?


Unlike in the past, where a 3-4 year old computer was rapidly
outclassed by new hardware, and the new OSes drove upgrade cycles, the
latest OS refresh cycle from Microsoft actually requires less resources,
and the computing power of even a 5 year old computer is perfectly
adequate for most users. Swap out the older hard drive with a new one,
or even a hybrid or SSD, and a 5 year old computer will feel as fast
as the newest ones on the shelf. At least the average (ie. 90%) of
customers would be unable to tell.

Plus #5 on your list. Many users are getting by for their needs off
their tablet/smartphone, and having to turn on a computer just to
check email and take 5 minutes booting whereas you can use your
smartphone to get email in seconds is a bonus.

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:27:55 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

Bulkhead wrote:
On 04/18/2013 09:45 AM, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:26 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I
wondered
and thought this is a good question for usenet people ! :

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely
sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still
better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?

Bye,
Skybuck.


5)

5 + 3 = 8

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/10/business-computers-shipments-tablets-smartphones.html


Yup. I believe abandoning XP was a major mistake.

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/lice...id=SEeKwchI-MO
https://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...indows_7_Vista

Quote "Not surprisingly, users may not downgrade to the
still-used-but-slated-for-retirement Windows XP".

Big mistake.

Perhaps, but allowing downgrading to Win7-64 means there's a chance I
might buy a Win8 computer in the next year or two. Otherwise, there is
approximately zero chance.

Spehro Pefhany wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:27:55 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

Bulkhead wrote:
On 04/18/2013 09:45 AM, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:26 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

Hello,

I was just on the Sega/Company of Heroes Beta feedback forum and I
wondered
and thought this is a good question for usenet people ! :

Question is: why are PC sales declining ?:

1. Lack of demanding games ? (probably not)
2. Lack of good games ? (maybe)
3. Windows 8 sucks ? (bad reason, can use windows 7 as alternative)
4. Sick of overheat and associated problems ? (maybe... I am surely
sick of
it )
5. Mobile/phones/tablets (I dont believe that... PC/laptop still
better for
many tasks... though some decline is to be expected)

Me thinks: Perhaps 2 and 4 is cause of decline.

What are your thoughts on the decline ?

Bye,
Skybuck.

5)
5 + 3 = 8

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/10/business-computers-shipments-tablets-smartphones.html

Yup. I believe abandoning XP was a major mistake.

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/lice...id=SEeKwchI-MO
https://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...indows_7_Vista

Quote "Not surprisingly, users may not downgrade to the
still-used-but-slated-for-retirement Windows XP".

Big mistake.

Perhaps, but allowing downgrading to Win7-64 means there's a chance I
might buy a Win8 computer in the next year or two. Otherwise, there is
approximately zero chance.


I was tempted a few times to buy a new one because I can get roughly 2x
the simulation speed with more cores. But right now I cannot risk a
major interruption because some OS-incompatibility precludes me from
running SW or connected hardware that I really need. With some SW I was
explicitly told that there's issues with Win-7.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:14:45 +0100, Mike Perkins
wrote:

A decade ago, the rate of improvement in computing speed was such that
you had to buy a new PCs every year to keep up.

That's because every improvement in hardware performance has been
negated by software bloat, software speed, and software complexity. In
effect, overall usability has been stable since about 2002. Sure, the
new software looks more artistic, and probably has some improvements,
but neither art nor obscure features get my attention.

Software also tends to grow faster than the bugs get fixed. That's
because features and functions sell upgrades, while bug fixes are
expected to be free. Eventually, the software grows bloated and is
still full of bugs.

Sign in the window of a local computer sto
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/drivel/slides/Win7-downgrade.html

In the past few years I haven't seen quite the same change. One
consequence it is now worth investing in a good PC which might
realistically maintain its market position for a few years rather than
months!

I have never considered a PC an investment, and don't believe that it
ever will become one. The price attrition on PC's is just too
radical. In general, for the money I save by purchasing a used PC, I
can later use to purchase it's replacement. A decent high end laptop
is about $1000, but a 5 year old dual core used laptop does for about
$350. In addition, there are changes on the horizon, such as bigger
better and faster SSD drives.

Incidentally, most of my working machines run XP. My various weather
stations run Windoze 2000 and Linux. My customers run Windoze 7 and
8, but I don't have any of those to fight with.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558