PC Era will End in 18 Months

Scott Catron said:

I still have stuff on 3.5" floppies (and Zip Disks) I need to copy.

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As another data hoarder, I still have stuff on 5 1/4 inch floppy disks (as well as 3.5 inch, ZIP disks, QIC-40 tapes and a lot of old SyQuest EZ135 disks! There's just never enough time to do the data transfers ...

I even have one 8 inch flopy disk - it gets used as a training aid when I am telling people about migrating their archived data to newer data media.

OMG, the 8" floppy!
That was when the operating system, (DOS), (disk operating system), was on floppy, in one drive.
If you were lucky, there was another drive for data.
64kbytes was massive memory!

I think handhelds are rocketing because most of the people that are buying them are supplementing a computer they already have.
I doubt many people are actually replacing desktops and laptops with tablets and smartphones.
Without more business or school related aps I think you'll see the sales flatten out to be on par with computers as people buy both...

But if they really become a viable business and educational tool I can certainly agree with them surpassing computers for good.

I'm planning on buying a new family desktop computer in 2011. An iMac no doubt.

If I looked hard enough, I might find a cassette tape with a program for a Timex-Sinclair on it...

ScottK said:

<snip> I'm planning on buying a new family desktop computer in 2011. An iMac no doubt.

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Apple Product Upgrade Roadmaps: Mac Buyers Guide

ScottK said:

I think handhelds are rocketing because most of the people that are buying them are supplementing a computer they already have.
I doubt many people are actually replacing desktops and laptops with tablets and smartphones.
Without more business or school related aps I think you'll see the sales flatten out to be on par with computers as people buy both...

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I stopped using a laptop for business travel 3 months after the IPhone came out. I gave up my personal desktop and laptop in March of this year. I found that 95%+ of my laptop/computer use outside of the office (even business travel) was for reading and responding to email. The few occasions I need a desk top during travel I've used one at the company I'm visiting or the business center of the hotel I'm staying at. I up load large files to MobileMe and use a document reader app on the IPhone. So far its worked out well and I enjoy not having to carry a laptop when I travel.

If you backup is in the same building as your source data you do not have a real backup.

Backblaze Online Backup
offers $5 a month for unlimited off-site storage.

Cloud Object Storage | Store & Retrieve Data Anywhere | Amazon Simple Storage Service
has cheap hosting rates and high uptime.

Dropbox

is a little more expensive but has a great interface and will work seamlessly with many mobile phones. **Disclaimer** Referral link that gets me free space. By using this link you get an extra 250MB of space as well.**

I use dropbox for all the stuff I want to have fast and easy access to - things like my best family pictures or documents I am working on. On my external hard drive I store copies of everything. I also keep a backup of everything off-site.

If you are worried about storing your files off site due to privacy or security then there is always TruCrypt to keep prying eyes away.

ScottK said:

I'm planning on buying a new family desktop computer in 2011. An iMac no doubt.

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Based on my experience of nearly a year of Macbook Pro, you won't regret it! I'm reminded daily when working on my work pc how seamlessly the Mac does things. No infernal windows popping open at the blink of an eye to ask me things I don't know the answer to or don't care about. It just takes care of everything!

Marc said:

Apple Product Upgrade Roadmaps: Mac Buyers Guide

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I've been using a Mac Mini for most my home computer needs for a couple years now. Wife and kids use a Windows XP machine I have set up in the living room - that's the one I'm switching.

For the iMac I'll wait until the 2011 model comes out and see if the touchscreen thing is real.

e006823 said:

I stopped using a laptop for business travel 3 months after the IPhone came out. I gave up my personal desktop and laptop in March of this year. I found that 95%+ of my laptop/computer use outside of the office (even business travel) was for reading and responding to email. The few occasions I need a desk top during travel I've used one at the company I'm visiting or the business center of the hotel I'm staying at. I up load large files to MobileMe and use a document reader app on the IPhone. So far its worked out well and I enjoy not having to carry a laptop when I travel.

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That's pretty cool you can do that.
But I write documents while I travel or work from home and occasionally have to access our SAP system and files on several servers. So my laptop isn't going away in the next 18 months unless an MS Office iOS version comes out.

On planes I see people with iPads and iPhones playing games and watching movies, people with Blackberries reading and writing email, and people with laptops using MS Office.
That MS office stuff what the tablets really need to address to kill the laptop.