Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

sahillavingia.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 119 posts

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#71

Post by programminggeek »

What is ironic is that this post-PC era is driven largely by open source software Unix,gcc toolchain,webkit,etc.(iOS), Linux,Java,Webkit(Android), with "the cloud" built on top of Linux, Javascript, Ruby, PHP, Python, Java, Apache, Nginx, git, svn, etc....

So many devices might be "closed systems" but they are almost all built on the shoulders of open standards, open tools, and as a creator you have so many more opportunities to do interesting things in both the hardware and software space for next to no investment that it's incredible.

Post-PC might change how end-users consume our software, but it's not going to make the tools to create it less available.

Stop whining about the theoretical future and build something.

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#72

Post by vacri »

GHFigs wrote: post #68
vacri wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if you did, you'd be missing the point. The explosion of computing in the general public over the past 20 years has seen the explosion of innovation - "the internet", as an industry, is really only 15 years old. Not even that. And yet it's innovated and transformed forever our modern societies. That innovation has been driven by the masses being able to create things on their computers. Something that potentially…

That innovation has been driven by the masses being able to create things on their computers. Has it?

Where did everything that's on the internet exist before ~1995?

How did you access it?

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#73

Post by suivix »

gergles wrote: post #62
mechanical_fish wrote: post #48

This guy needs a better metaphor. Imagine a world where Legos didn't exist? But Legos do exist. It has probably never been easier to be a Lego hobbyist. What this guy should do is come up with an actual example of a hobby that has died out because the parts are no longer available. Used Model-T Fords. Urban horse infrastructure. Manual typewriters. Dial telephones. What one realizes is that actual extinct things are…

The point is that the "post-PC era" will make it so that being someone who thinks that you can modify or change the computing experience is relegated to "oddball hobby" status, like it would be if someone today wanted to start playing with vacuum tubes. The current PC ecosystem lets you explore and create and play and learn on the same tools that you use to consume. You can build a lego kit with the instructions, or…

You can always ssh to a server and do development work there. That's what I do at my job anyways. It's advantageous because compiling programs on the server doesn't affect the computer you are using.

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#76

Post by angrycoder »

This doesn't make any sense to me. The presence of post-pc devices doesn't void the existence of the PC.

Today you can go on ebay and for a hundred bucks get a several year old laptop and install a totally free operating system. You'll have access to dozens of free programming languages, complete with free compilers/interpreters, tools, and documentation. You can go on the internet and find tutorials, books, ask questions, and have conversations with actual programmers. Things have never been better for those with curiosity, kids or otherwise.

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#77

Post by vacri »

mcantelon wrote: post #19
rbranson wrote: post #5

The "post-PC era" is a myth. The only thing that's stayed constant about computing is it's growing ubiquity.

Exactly... PCs and mobile devices have existed in parallel for some time. "Post-PC" is a propaganda term.

I think it's more meant to be "bulk of computers people use in general won't be traditional desktops/laptops" and less "desktops/laptops are going to be eradicated"

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#78

Post by wanorris »

joebadmo wrote: post #46
raganwald wrote: post #34

The author does sound like a retro-grouch. As I often say to hipsters on fixies, “For you it’s retro, for me it’s nostalgia.” That being said, the post-PC era does not mean that nobody has a PC, it means that people don’t have to buy PCs to do non-PC things. Imagine if you needed a PC to watch television. It’s the same thing with email, FB, and web browsing. Why do I want to know how to format a hard drive to read Ha…

the post-PC era does not mean that nobody has a PC, it means that people don’t have to buy PCs to do non-PC things. Fewer people needing to buy PCs to do non-PC things means fewer people buying PCs. Fewer people buying PCs means fewer people exposed to the PC things early on. Fewer people who are familiar with the things that you use to make things. Seems reasonably lamentable to me.

Well, suppose all you have is an iPad, and you want to write some code. Sad panda, yes?

Well, not necessarily.

Let's say you go plop down 50 bucks or whatever on a keyboard -- or maybe you don't because you have a bigger tolerance for trying to type code on an onscreen keyboard than I personally do.

Next, you have to locate yourself a web browser. And there's one right there on your iPad already, so you're done.

Next you have to find somewhere on the internet where you can do coding. Here's the first one I found from a quick Google search: http://www.coderun.com/ . It's a browser-based IDE for php or asp.net that allows you build, test, and deploy a website right from the comfort of your own browser. I'm sure there are other options out there, but I didn't look very hard.

So it doesn't seem like you're going to have to work very hard to find a way to learn to write code as long as the web browser doesn't go anywhere. Even on an iPad.

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#79

Post by dextorious »

freshhawk wrote: post #63
ary wrote: post #43

In the presence of each and every person living in an industrialized society are multiple devices running embedded software that is difficult to modify. Those devices are programmed using more flexible systems which to this very second are programmable any way you like. Where is the outrage over the hacker unfriendliness of my refrigerator? The iPad, iPhone, Android, and comparable devices are a hybrid of PC-like and…

Can you explain how open vs closed systems relate to user interface or experience issues? Those are orthogonal to each other, Apple made two choices here, not one. I understand the reasons for the move towards closed systems. A combination of media provider demands, funding coming from advertising and user tracking and the standard walled garden land rush when a new market opens up. > This argument ... is tired ... p…

> Can you explain how open vs closed systems relate to user interface or experience issues? Those are orthogonal to each other

You can have a better UI and experience in a closed system. Multiple reasons:

1) A closed system is more tightly controlled. The user cannot fuck every aspect of it, and so he wont. You cannot assume the average users knows what he is doing or what he is installing on his device. Historically he has been shown unable to do so. This is why even stuff like Nigerian scams (something anybody on HN would laugh off), are successful against the general population.

2) "Design by committee" has not historically produced a good end user experience, and this is not by accident. Good UI design needs people to understand UI design and be able to say "no". And an OSS project is design by committee --it's very difficult to fence the UI from clueless people wanting to add the "kitchen sink", say. It's also difficult to keep it stable enough (hackers need to hack, they get bored easily).

Re: Why I’m scared of the post-PC era.

#80

Post by wanorris »

Vivtek wrote: post #12

Your iPad has a browser. That browser runs HTML5 and JavaScript. That's the quick way to get to something programmable. If you want to get down and dirty, drop thirty bucks on an Arduino. Personally, I think the post-PC era is going to be even more awesome.

Totally agree on the browser.

But as an aside, can you program an Arduino if all you have is an iPad? Or would you have to go buy a general-purpose PC for somewhat more than $30?

Post reply on HN