White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
LTSI is important because device makers are doing significant back-porting, bug testing and driver development on their own, which carries substantial cost in terms of time-to-market, as well as development and engineering effort to maintain those custom kernels. Through collaboration in this initiative, these CE vendors are reducing the duplication of effort currently prevalent in the consumer electronics industry. This new paper helps calculate that total cost savings in more definite terms."
Posted Oct 8, 2013 7:10 UTC (Tue)
by patrick_g (subscriber, #44470)
[Link] (25 responses)
Posted Oct 8, 2013 10:46 UTC (Tue)
by Neowin (guest, #93001)
[Link] (20 responses)
Posted Oct 8, 2013 21:33 UTC (Tue)
by dashesy (guest, #74652)
[Link] (18 responses)
Posted Oct 8, 2013 22:22 UTC (Tue)
by dlang (guest, #313)
[Link] (12 responses)
so far all the predictions of the end of the desktop have fallen flat because these conditions just aren't true.
Posted Oct 8, 2013 22:44 UTC (Tue)
by dashesy (guest, #74652)
[Link] (8 responses)
Posted Oct 8, 2013 23:59 UTC (Tue)
by dlang (guest, #313)
[Link] (7 responses)
for some people the convenience is worth the higher price and lower power, but for others (either because they want more power, or because they don't want to pay as much), it's not worth it.
all the people predicting the end of the desktop (either in favour of tablets or in favour of laptops) are forgetting this
the big thing that's causing sales of desktop machines to slump is that the systems are remaining 'good enough' that they aren't being forced to upgrade to keep running, and the weak economy means that they have other things to do with their money.
It's not that there are far fewer desktops in use (although some businesses have switched a lot of people to laptops), it's that they aren't being replaced as frequently, so the sales per year is lower
any market is going to have a slowdown when the market gets saturated, and that's what's happened here.
Posted Oct 9, 2013 5:54 UTC (Wed)
by khim (subscriber, #9252)
[Link] (6 responses)
Sure, but since low-level smartphone is cheaper than low-level desktop second category will leave when low-level smartphone will be “good enough” and as history showed first category is just not large enough (see: RISC workstations). Of course it could be noted that workstations finally died just a couple of years ago thus we can be sure desktop will be with us for decade or may be even slightly more if history is any guide, but eventually it'll die, there are no doubt.
Posted Oct 9, 2013 6:01 UTC (Wed)
by dlang (guest, #313)
[Link] (5 responses)
This is excluding very low-level 'desktop' systems (the raspberry pi level)
the workstation market didn't vanish, it was just replaced by newer systems that outperformed the old ones. High end workstations are still around, they just have x86 chips in them that outperform the RISC based chips that were there before.
Posted Oct 10, 2013 0:24 UTC (Thu)
by khim (subscriber, #9252)
[Link] (2 responses)
Low-level phones are already below $100. They are not very functional, though. Add the fact that you can replace desktop with a phone (if phone is fast enough) but can not replace phone with a desktop… the writings are on the wall. Ah, no worries, then. Desktop will not die, just Windows/X/Wayland/etc will die. We will all use Android-based desktop but it'll be just a replacement of desktops with a newer systems which outperform the old ones. Got that. Makes sense.
Posted Oct 10, 2013 1:48 UTC (Thu)
by dlang (guest, #313)
[Link] (1 responses)
Posted Oct 10, 2013 9:27 UTC (Thu)
by khim (subscriber, #9252)
[Link]
“A current high-end PC” was never supposed to run Linux. It was designed to be used with Windows. Old “RISC workstations” were designed with UNIX in mind. You can as well call XBox360 “a Linux system” because of the existence of Free60. If your point is that people will grab Android devices and try to adopt them for their needs in the future and will even produce something desktop-like, then you are probably correct, but that does not change the equation much: when people talk about “death of something” (be it workstations, steam cars or desktop) they talk about “normal users”. The fact that British Steam Car Challenge set a new record for steam cars in 2009 does not mean steam cars are not dead: of course your can find some enthusiasts who will try to present curious devices of the era which is long gone, but this is totally separate question from the evolution of mainstream.
Posted Oct 11, 2013 20:41 UTC (Fri)
by Wol (subscriber, #4433)
[Link] (1 responses)
That said, I would still keep one humungous PC as a home server. My existing system has been maxed out with 16Gb (4x4Gb) RAM, and two 1Tb disks - I don't (yet) need a disk upgrade ... and 3 cores was a lot a few years ago :-)
Cheers,
Posted Oct 12, 2013 4:32 UTC (Sat)
by dlang (guest, #313)
[Link]
Posted Oct 9, 2013 4:25 UTC (Wed)
by raven667 (subscriber, #5198)
[Link] (2 responses)
Posted Oct 9, 2013 4:36 UTC (Wed)
by dlang (guest, #313)
[Link] (1 responses)
actually, for some things I think it's very clear that they can't be met
you are not going to get a large heatsink and fan on any mobile.
The storage available is always going to be much less (and no, an Internet connection does not replace storage)
and there is always a price premium on being small
you are mistaking turnover for use. the turnover of desktop systems is dropping (and to a lesser degree, turnover of laptop systems). No question there. But that just means that the R&D focus of the hardware vendors isn't going to be in that area, not that the traditional desktop OS is marginal.
if everyone keeps a machine for twice as long, the sales will drop by half, but the number of people using the systems remains the same.
Posted Oct 9, 2013 8:17 UTC (Wed)
by dgm (subscriber, #49227)
[Link]
The new small is watch sized. In a couple of years a tablet or phone is going to be considered medium sized, and laptops just "big". And the desktop (actually deskunder) box I use is going to be considered frigging-super-computer-sized.
Posted Oct 9, 2013 8:48 UTC (Wed)
by job (guest, #670)
[Link] (4 responses)
A surprisingly large part of desktop users wants to scan, print, use 3g modems, projectors, cameras, synthesizers and a number of other peripherals I can't think of. Just enter a regular home electronics shop. They're filled with them.
The reason why cheap phones seems to have such a momentum and work so well is because they don't implement support for any of these peripherals. That also means they will always be a complement to, never take over, desktop computing.
(See also: "Computer desktop war, why Linux never won" in our future history books.)
Phones and their cultural lookalikes are popular right now because there the area has grown so fast. But there will come a day when they too will become stagnant. That's when we will see which of the large players will die from following this distraction.
Posted Oct 9, 2013 10:29 UTC (Wed)
by NAR (subscriber, #1313)
[Link] (1 responses)
I can also print from the very same application. 3G modem and camera is integrated into the phone. I heard that (high end) projectors can be also connected to phones, they find the presentations on the filesystem of the phone. That leaves only synthesizers from your list...
Posted Oct 9, 2013 10:49 UTC (Wed)
by hummassa (subscriber, #307)
[Link]
one "word": iRig :D
Posted Oct 9, 2013 15:54 UTC (Wed)
by dashesy (guest, #74652)
[Link]
Posted Oct 9, 2013 17:47 UTC (Wed)
by Wol (subscriber, #4433)
[Link]
Microsoft can be killed by a downturn, and is not used to a competitive environment.
As others have been pointing out, a LARGE part of a modern off-the-shelf PC is the Windows/Office licences. It only takes something to break the tie-in (which imho is illegal...), and linux will take over the home desktop in months, not years!
Cheers,
Posted Oct 9, 2013 9:39 UTC (Wed)
by ovitters (guest, #27950)
[Link]
Posted Oct 8, 2013 12:28 UTC (Tue)
by torquay (guest, #92428)
[Link] (3 responses)
Perhaps this is a case of "the right tool for the given job". Is there an open source package that is both stable and has equivalent set of functionality?
Posted Oct 8, 2013 12:53 UTC (Tue)
by drag (guest, #31333)
[Link]
http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus
This is a capable desktop publishing solution. More then enough for cranking out the sort of low-grade publishing quality that you see in typical white papers.
Besides that there are a whole host of extremely capable, best-of-bread, tools for editing a wide variety of mark-up languages and the creation and manipulation of PDFs, depending on how nerdy you want to get about it.
Posted Oct 9, 2013 9:40 UTC (Wed)
by ovitters (guest, #27950)
[Link]
Posted Oct 12, 2013 10:37 UTC (Sat)
by lsl (subscriber, #86508)
[Link]
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
I hope those responsible have been sacked (Monty Python style).
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
for some people the convenience is worth the higher price and lower power, but for others (either because they want more power, or because they don't want to pay as much), it's not worth it.
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
a low level desktop can be had for a couple hundred, a phone is about double that, not counting the docking station.
the workstation market didn't vanish, it was just replaced by newer systems that outperformed the old ones. High end workstations are still around, they just have x86 chips in them that outperform the RISC based chips that were there before.
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
Wol
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
Well, those "3g modems, projectors, cameras, synthesizers and a number of other peripherals" were specifically designed to work with desktops. White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
How many new R&D projects or startups do you know who target desktops-first? On the other hand increasingly more and more target mobile-first, and some do not even target desktops, or try to adapt/port their already available mobile solution (am looking at Hybris myself) to desktops. Porting to desktop is considered a nice-to-have, and is usually promoted by developers. IMO, as soon as mobile form factor gets big screens and keyboard, developers too will follow.
The market will adjust itself to lower the cost of mobiles, even at the expense of more expensive niche market desktops.
Why linux never won ...
Wol
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
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White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative
White paper: the economic value of the Long Term Support Initiative