[clug] The end of the personal computer age is nigh !

[Eyal Lebedinsky]

First, one should not piggyback on another discussion, as the item below looks to be.

On 14/02/15 12:09, George at Clug wrote:
>      Hi,
>
> Call me slow if you want, but I am trying to come to terms with the
> understanding that we are seeing "the end of the personal computer
> age", and a new age of "Internet computing" is emerging.
>
> I enjoyed the Personal Computer age, with Personal Computers I was
> able to edit my photos and videos, write my files, my own programs,
> etc, and only share that which I wanted to share, and even then only
> with those who I wanted to share with.
>
> I do not want to share my personal identity with large corporations
> who will then on sell my personal identity with many other commercial
> companies.  Nor do I want that which is personal to me, the photos of
> my holidays, my family, my interests, my hobbies to be shared with
> everyone in the Internet, e.g. with my friends, and the friends of my
> friends, and the friends of the friends of my friends, etc.  I do not
> want my tax papers, my plans for my new home, by purchasing habits to
> be general information to anyone or any company that now has access to
> them via the Internet.
>
> I want a Computing device that is Personal. I don't mind connecting to
> the Internet to get email, upload something when I want share it, or
> download information that I want to learn. But I want most of my life
> (90% ?) to be private.
>
> I do not expect that Apple will provide me with a "personal computer"
> for long, they are already into iCloud, and iPads.
>
> Google Chrome books are already, all about online storage and
> computing.
>
> If you have not realised, Microsoft is moving from local data and apps
> to internet based data and apps, at least that is how I see it.
>
> I had hoped that Linux might provide me a Personal Computer OS, but I
> have concerns and doubts.  Ubuntu are trying to introduce a "Cloud
> Store", and when I installed CentOS 7 server it had a Tablet touch
> screen swipe screen before the logon screen.  From what I can see,
> the "Cloud" and "Internet" infection has invaded Linux users and
> developers as well.
>
> The end is definitely neigh.

It sure is. One should remember that us, the users, are not even at the
discussion table for these issues. Most users do not even notice the
crossing of a line
	I am in control -> others are in control
	I own -> I do not own

I do not have root access on my phone.
I cannot control permissions on my phone.
Heck, I cannot even back it up (dd ...).
It is clearly not *my* phone, I am just the phone's user.

And soon, my PC will be nothing more that a KVM to a remote computer I
have no control over and no knowledge of who has access to it.

I guess that when they say my privacy is in the cloud, it is like
"when you die you go to heaven in the clouds". My privacy has died...

At some point people may notice, when it hurts them enough. There seems
to be *some* interest in legislating some "private information rights"
but I am not holding my breath.

BTW, this is *not* about recent government intrusions that make
exciting news. This is about commercial entities (usually monopolies)
that abuse their power. After you see how Android works you must ask
if google really does no harm.

But "the end" is not really a final "end". There will always be enough
concerned people that will maintain a "personal computer" which stays
offline unless requested to go online.

BTW 2: I *do* want to publish some photos, conduct some discussions
in public, and such. I just do not want to live my life online.

> Anyone want to make comment, or catch up with me and have a good chat
> about where personal computing is heading?  Is everyone happy with
> the idea of moving all your photos, files, likes, behaviours, ideas,
> etc, into the cloud where it is no longer going to be personal?
>
> http://www.technologyreview.com/news/426222/the-personal-computer-is-dead/
>
> When the iPhone came out in 2007, its design was far more restrictive.
> No outside code at all was allowed on the phone; all the software on
> it was Apple’s. What made this unremarkable—and
> unobjectionable—was that it was a phone, not a computer, and most
> competing phones were equally locked down. We counted on computers to
> be open platforms—hard to think of them any other way—and
> understood phones as appliances, more akin to radios, TVs, and coffee
> machines.
>
> http://readwrite.com/2011/09/12/tablets_smartphones_killing_pcs_2015
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil

-- 
Eyal Lebedinsky (eyal at eyal.emu.id.au)