Ray Ozzie, the man who succeeded Bill Gates as Microsoft’s tech visionary, believes the world has moved past the personal computer, potentially leaving behind the world’s largest software company.
The PC, which was Microsoft’s foundation and still determines the company’s financial performance, has been nudged aside by powerful phones and tablets running Apple and Google software, the former Microsoft executive said.
“People argue about ‘are we in a post-PC world?’. Why are we arguing? Of course we are in a post-PC world,” Ozzie said at a technology conference run by tech blog GeekWire in Seattle on Wednesday.
In truth. I read the headline and thought in bafflement: ‘What has Ozzie Osborne got to do with computers?’
If the consumer’s need is basically for communication and entertainment, the PC is often not the most attractive tool. If the need is for producing something such as a spreadsheet, a presentation, audio or video editing, graphics creation or a formal document, the PC is a much better choice.
Ozzie’s probably right. I don’t have an iPad yet but theoretically, I can do everything that I do on my work PC on my iPod Touch. Takes longer, of course, but it’s still possible. By the way, Ozzie’s not all that visionary. Scott Adams called this last August:
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-08-03/