PCs are so 90s

If you read this blog, it's very likely you like Free/Libre software. If so, it's also very likely you find a certain big software company annoying, because they keep trying to hinder the development of free software, which they do because they want everyone who owns a computer to buy their software. Probably just like you, I have nothing personal against that company (well, their software ate my files a few times, but that's my own fault: shouldn't have used it...), but I would like to get rid of that pesky whale sized gnat. How do we do that?

Kill the PC.

It's hard to get rid of a monopolist, but it could be easier to get rid of the thing it has a monopoly on. Then what is capable of killing the PC? Let's have a look at some devices that are somewhat similar to PCs...

• PDAs become more and more powerful, and there isn't as much of an operating system monopoly on those as there is on PCs. Some are Linux-based.
• Mobile phones learn new tricks with every new model. For a while already, they have at least the potential of doing the same task as a PC with a webcam. There are more people who own a mobile phone than there are people who own a PC. There is no monopoly at all. Some run Linux.
• Portable music players also learn new tricks with every new model. Some now also have okay image viewing software. Their interoperability is very nice: most pretend to be USB storage when connected to a PC, meaning you can use them with any PC OS and also with some devices that aren't PCs at all. Again, there is no monopoly in sight.
• Web based replacements for desktop apps are also promising. Most of these run on Free UNIX-like operating systems. This is the market in which we already won.

So, it seems reasonable to assume it's possible to replace the PC market with the mobile phone market, using a phone that is also a portable music player and a powerful PDA that can browse the web... if only it had the ease of use of a PC: a big screen, keyboard and mouse.

Of course nobody wants a "mobile" phone with a big screen, keyboard and mouse. How do we make those available when they are needed? Here's my solution: PCs running you-know-what-OS are everywhere. Let the phone pretend to be USB storage with autorun information on it that starts cygwin's X server connecting to the phone. Let the autorun software also provide the internet connection of the PC to the phone. There you go: a screen, keyboard, mouse and even a wired internet connection!

What about connecting to a PC running a free operating system? Well, those already have what is needed to connect to our phone: usbnet and Xnest.

I bet you're confused now: how can we kill the PC if the device with which we want to do that depends on PCs for non-mobile (home and office) use? Easier than you would think. We have moved all the computing tasks away from the PC, either to the phone, or to web based apps. The PC has become just a terminal. Does it need all the computing power current PCs have? Nope. Could it be replaced by a cheap unconfigurable docking station that does nothing more than providing a screen, keyboard, mouse and internet connection to a phone? Of course! It could even contain some special-purpose hardware for image/sound/video processing.

So why buy a new PC if you can get a nice beautiful small quiet energy saving thing that does exactly the same when combined with your phone? PCs are so 90s!