I am not referring to the US elections where Obama stands at the gateway of history, but the launch of Small, Cheap Computers™ at Computex 2008 - which I believe may have equally a significant impact.
Why? There are three principle reasons.
1. Price; Acer announced that its Aspire One would be £199 (inc VAT). This is for a highly usable computer which will satisfy the needs for 80% of the population who email and surf the internet. Today, the cheapest laptop and desktop available at PC World was £300 and £350 respectively. This will undoubtedly raise the ugly question - why pay more?
2. Form factor; until recently the default recommendation for a computer was a desktop. This was primarily based on cost and an ever increasing demand for great processor power. With the move toward web based applications, the frantic rush for faster processors has diminished. We have now reached the tipping point for laptops: desktops with base units will become a specialist form factor - which Apple has already recognised.
3. Operating systems; for the first time Linux computers are being launched with equal status as Windows based computers - not as a second class citizen or as an after thought for “hardcore unix” programmers. Could this be the point at which Linux becomes a viable alternative for the “great unwashed”?
Credit must be given to the original Asus EEE, of which I was a fan, but the larger screen and other improvements have matured the overall package into something more suitable for the population at large.
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Ian Leader
Jon Bradford
Not only this, the end of IT, as we know, is near.
With a lot of web only computers, or near by, means web host will concentrate all apps, no more local apps to sale only pay per use will survive (like salesforce).
And the best at the end, no more hardware IT technicians, no more, please think… do you know some good technician for repair radios or lcd TVs? je, je… if the cheap computer has gone, no more repairs.
All will be online, only network computers with live OS will survive.
Sorry but bad news to IT professionals.