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Personal Computing’s
Reincarnation
The personal computer (pc) is not dead, but desperately needs to
be overhauled. The bastion of personal productivity in business,
this uniform computing model (the same utilitarian desktop
profile for every user) is generationally obsolete. End-user
emphasis on personalization is a prominent driving factor for
this. Examples of this include:
• Connected and Collaborative: The advent of multiple wired and wireless
broadband options transformed the PC from being an isolated environment
with narrow means of collaboration (e.g., store-and-forward email) to being
part of multiple communal systems and cloud services. As such, the PC
experience for end users is no longer defined exclusively by applications run
locally, but also by access to remotely hosted applications. Additionally,
software proliferation is on steroids. Stimulated by specialized departmental
needs, open source collaboration, publication of application programming
interfaces (APIs), and the establishment of app stores, an era of end users
personalizing their desktops has been ushered in—frequently with an eye
toward enhancing their information gathering, productivity, and collaboration
capabilities beyond those authorized by their employers.
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