Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?
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I think computing in general is much more widely available now that many people don't think of the things they're using as computers, but it's a phone or tablet less if a computing device just because it doesn't sit on a desk? @scottalanmiller, you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore. I know you used Treo phones back in the day, did any of us early adopters not see this day coming?
TLDNR: Nobody wants a computer when a phone or tablet is all they need.
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@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
I think computing in general is much more widely available now that many people don't think of the things they're using as computers, but it's a phone or tablet less if a computing device just because it doesn't sit on a desk?
I think so, quite dramatically. Tablets and phones are content "consuming" devices. Whereas traditional computers are built around content creation or interaction. While it's the same CPU and RAM under the hood, more or less, the human interface and resulting interactions are dramatically different.
No different than say video game consoles and general purpose computers. Sure, both are computers. But we know that having an XBOX doesn't really help kids with science homework, or parents with doing financial reporting.
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@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
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@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
I agree. Normal use can all totally be done on phones and tablets, primarily phones now.
That is what makes up the majority.
Those doing coding and content creation are STILL using laptops, that's not what changed. What changed is the "normal" majority, which is now no longer each person having a laptop or desktop, but a phone, and next a tablet.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
Heck I have the Phone, the tablet, the laptop a computer literally in every room and I still do stuff on my phone more often than not.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
Because they no longer need a spreadsheet to track their finances. It is all done by the bank website or by mint.
Also, tools such as Google Apps and Microsoft Office Online provide this functionality.
So, many people no longer need to do it because apps handle it for them. Then a lot more can do it all from their device without needing a computer.
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@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
Because they no longer need a spreadsheet to track their finances. It is all done by the bank website or by mint.
This.
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Any real spreadsheet work is just crap on a small screen. I have Office for Android, and I never use it because it's just a pain in the ass on a small screen. I also don't have a reason to work in spreadsheets on my phone.
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@tim_g said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
Any real spreadsheet work is just crap on a small screen. I have Office for Android, and I never use it because it's just a pain in the ass on a small screen. I also don't have a reason to work in spreadsheets on my phone.
I have no problems doing it on my tablet though.
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@minion-queen said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
Heck I have the Phone, the tablet, the laptop a computer literally in every room and I still do stuff on my phone more often than not.
That doesn't really change that stuff is being done, though. We use devices more, today, and the "extra" is often consumption. So ratios are misleading.
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@tim_g said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
I agree. Normal use can all totally be done on phones and tablets, primarily phones now.
That is what makes up the majority.
Those doing coding and content creation are STILL using laptops, that's not what changed. What changed is the "normal" majority, which is now no longer each person having a laptop or desktop, but a phone, and next a tablet.
I think the big piece here is that there was an era when we grew up with keyboards and rapid input devices. Even if we didn't do it often, it was plausible to easily do complicated things. Most people didn't do much content creation, but they could.
Here is a huge example.... we used to teach coding in school to everyone, it was just something in the 1980s that people learned. Today, more and more kids aren't even getting close to a keyboard.
Not only do people often not have content creation platforms at home, their experience in using them is, I think, dwindling. If you are a kid today, and you just take the "normal" route, you have less and less, rather than more and more, exposure to systems that would encourage you to heavily interact with computing devices rather than simply use them as a consumption platform.
Example.... everyone I knew who had a computer (which admittedly wasn't everyone like today) had word processing apps and keyboards and were able to type papers easily. Today, most kids I know don't have the easy access to keyboard input, and much less exposure to things like word processors, than before.
Now word processors have changed, I'd estimate that WordPress is the biggest one. But even pretty simple things like making a web page, writing a report, or whatever that were universally trivial and accessible to everyone when I started college, are actually pretty challenging to do for a lot of people today - not from a skill standpoint, from a device one.
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There is no question, the consumption of digital media is through the roof. But it's key to see that things like cable TV has become Netflix. Board games have become video games. Computers have shifted from being primarily work or "work like" devices to being primarily entertainment devices. This, of course, comes with a large uptick in the overall purchasing of computers.
But there is a reason that office work is rarely shifting to new form factors, they simply aren't conducive to "getting things done." They are great as notification devices that things are needed. But poor for inputting data.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
Here is a huge example.... we used to teach coding in school to everyone, it was just something in the 1980s that people learned.
WTF? Not even.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
Not only do people often not have content creation platforms at home, their experience in using them is, I think, dwindling. If you are a kid today, and you just take the "normal" route, you have less and less, rather than more and more, exposure to systems that would encourage you to heavily interact with computing devices rather than simply use them as a consumption platform.
These were expensive in the 80's less so in the 90's, and cheap in the 00's. So the cheapness and the onslaught of content means people had them for consuming content, not for any other reason.
By the 10's they are falling off again because the content consumption has moved to other devices, that is all.To me, it does not seem any more or less per captia for people using computing devices for content creation (youtubers and twitch like excluded).
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I believe this is why the CEO of Gitlab is adamant about being able to code from tablets. Kids these days don't have a computer accessible to them, but they need to be given the ability to create.
I think we are seeing a shift from mobile devices just being consuming devices to actually using them for work. Businesses are now trying to integrate tablets into their workflow and there is a push for LoB applications to start supporting mobile devices.
There are high school graduates entering the workforce today who don't know how to navigate a file system. There is now a gap between what businesses are using for computing to what is taught in school.
The future is further abstractions so that we can work and create from phones and tablets, but we're not there yet, even though we already need to be.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
But there is a reason that office work is rarely shifting to new form factors, they simply aren't conducive to "getting things done." They are great as notification devices that things are needed. But poor for inputting data.
Only because the application developers are still stuck in the mindset of desktop applications being the way it has to work.
This goes along the lines of our Telegram conversation the other evening. Once things are rewrote with an interactive web platform as the design from the ground up, this will change.
Once this work is truly web based, people will begin to work on office work on new devices as well.
Right now, doing invoicing in random LOB applicaiton 01 simply cannot happen because the system is not designed for other devices to be used.
