Replace my computer with an iPod? I don’t think so…
Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal penned an article the other day about how the Personal Computer era may be ending, to be replaced by … I’m not really sure, I guess he’s saying purpose built devices for particular purposes. Actually, the way I read his article, I think he’s saying that the “component build” model appears to be a poor one to use for things like iPods, but the technology media seems to have picked up on this being someone yet again predicting the end of the personal computer.
I’m pretty sure that Mr. Mossberg didn’t actually intend to predict the end of the personal computer. That’s been done so many times before its almost laughable. Network Computers were hyped and died in the mid ’90s. We’ve had several generations of game consoles that were supposed to kill the personal computer. And now ubiquitous devices like iPods and web browser/camera/music player/pda/cell phones are going will be the death nell that removes that machine from under your desk.
Bill Gates has responded to this kind of thing before, and apparently he’s written a letter to the WSJ for this one (although I’m not a WSJ subscriber, so I can’t read it). To be honest, Bill, you are wasting your time.