Microsoft says “PC isn’t even middle aged yet”? We agree!

Microsoft Corporate VP of Communications, Frank Shaw, recently blogged his disagreement with the term ‘post PC’, and thinks ‘it’s far more accurate to say that the 30-year-old PC isn’t even middle aged yet, and about to take up snowboarding.’ He points out that when it comes to technology, ‘new objects enhance and complement the things we’ve already got. They don’t replace them.’ We couldn’t agree more!

He goes on to say that “this is especially true when the new product is more specialized than the existing product and most importantly, the existing product isn’t standing still.” Desktop PC performance continues to make huge strides in GPU, CPU and storage capabilities, not to mention the desktop’s emerging role as the center of the personal/home cloud with it’s ever increasing capacity for storage and mobile device charging via USB ports. I’ve just completed a multi-city tour around Asia and Africa talking about this concept, and was surprised at how well this message was received – especially in developing regions where broadband Internet is hardly ubiquitous, so a personal cloud is more practical than traditional cloud computing! Our message is essentially that GIGABYTE motherboards equipped with On/Off Charge and 3x USB Power enable desktop PCs that better create, share and store content for consumption on tablets, phones and media centers. So the usage scenario is that you charge your mobile device (at the same/similar speeds as from a wall socket)  while you sync your content and backup your Apps.

eReaders, Tablets, Smartphones, Set top boxes, and the myriad of other new devices out there, tend to be highly specialized in their application, and after initially using them for a while, people realize where they are useful, but also discover where their trusty desktop PC still rules. A quick personal example: I used to read The Economist online or in print, but now prefer reading it on my tablet because I have it with me almost all of the time, it’s more current (the online edition is available before the print edition), and I can even have it read to me while I shave in the mornings (via The Economist’s audio edition). On the other hand, if I’m comparing spreadsheets or creating PowerPoint presentations, nothing compares to my work desktop system that has two 22” monitors and a 3TB HDD for storing high-def videos and product images that I use for product seminars and online social media marketing. Naturally, I use my tablet (again) to show those presentations and promotional videos to our customers in the computer markets of Bangalore or Johannesburg when I travel.

So here’s the gist of it: as a leading desktop PC motherboard vendor, we’re not afraid of tablets and smart phones; in fact, we embrace them by innovating to accommodate better interaction between fixed and mobile computers! And as long as the desktop PC can recharge the battery of an ultra mobile device, the latter will continue to be a bigger threat to notebooks (that can’t charge via USB) than to our beloved desktop market!

Read this blog entry in Chinese (中文版) here.