Are things like customization and interchangeability dying?

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88keys

Golden Member
Aug 24, 2012
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Looking back, there has been an obvious trend away from any kind of customization on the user's part. It seems that the vast majority of OEMs now make devices that offer little to no upgrade ability. One the biggest benefits of an Android phone was interchangeable batteries and expandable storage and that's becoming a thing of the past. Rooting your device seems to get more complicated and life is often difficult for those who choose to do so. Most devices won't even take an OS other than the OS that it was shipped with.

There has been an obvious effort to make life more difficult for those who like to tinker, upgrade and customize and there are a variety of reasons for this but the biggest one is obviously security, and the best way to keep devices secure is restricting or making it very difficult for you to do things that could compromise it. Windows 10 is overall a good OS and it has made many things easier, but things like disabling UAC or installing unsigned drivers is an even bigger pain in the ass than it has ever been.
And security in these regards is going become even more complicated in the future.

Now I'm not one of those people who think the Desktop is dead. It will be around in the future in some form or another, but I have a feeling that the desktop PC as we know it may not be around that much longer. As it stands right now, Tablets, game consoles, smartphones and now streaming devices have all been hacking away at marketshare that desktop PCs once occupied. Pretty soon, I think it will reach a point to where the only reason to even own or use a desktop will be the same reasons people would have about 30 years ago; which would be PC games or work that requires the power that only is available on a Desktop. It has pretty much reached this point me once I got my first tablet and I find myself wanting to use my PC less and less and doubt that I'm the only one.

As we know, corporate sales make up the vast majority of PC sales, and desktop/laptop PCs which ensures their survival, But I wonder how long before they begin to switch to tablets or some lightweight device that would be much less expensive to purchase and maintain. And to be honest, I'm not even sure if I have seen an IT person actually do physical repair on a computer like replace a hard drive. If something goes wrong, they just re-image the system. If a device fails, it gets fixed under warranty. Corporations don't even take advantage of upgrade ability. They just buy entirely new systems when that time comes. Using tablets or a similar kind of device wouldn't change any of these practices. Ironically however, (and perhaps unfortunately) Apple seems to be making the most headway into the corporate world in regards to mobile devices.

I suppose there will be a desktop and a windows OS for it in some form or equivalent, but I have a strong feeling that what it will be in the near future will be a completely integrated system like a tablet is today, and just like a tablet, the OS it came with is what you'll be stuck with no way to change it.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,511
8,783
126
You get more money if you force the proles in line. Oh, and it's critically important to make things as thin as possible. Saving 1mm is faaaar more important than using a socket with a user replaceable part.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
Us as the buying public has spoken with our wallets that we don't care about those things.
 

blankslate

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2008
8,735
527
126
Most people want things as simple as toasters...

Tech enthusiasts who would appreciate expansion and upgrades are unfortunately in the minority... a recent and prominent example is a large manufacturer of smartphones dropping microSD-card expansion and user changeable batteries in their recent phones.



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poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
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I think it's a little of both.

Yes the tech illiterate who just want Internet appliances finally have them.

No that doesn't stop development on the desktop or laptop segments. In fact we benefit from some parts of mobile like more efficient CPUs, higher resolution screens, and sensors to capture data we never captured before.
 

Rakehellion

Lifer
Jan 15, 2013
12,181
35
91
I'm an advanced computer user and I think this overdone argument is alarmist sensationalism.
 
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