Tag: PC

There are a lot good things you can do for your desktop PC: Give it an SSD or a bit more memory, clean up your desktop or install cloud backup for your dearest files. None of which need to be terribly time consuming or expensive.

A simple vacuum cleaning is even better. Turn off the PC, open up the case and clean the filters in front of all the fans. Do the same for the heat sinks on the CPU and the video card, as well as the power supply. Less than 5 minutes work and suddenly it is much more pleasant to sit alongside the machine, because with better airflow through the case comes slower running fans and that means less noise.

I recently cleaned a PC at a relative’s house. It had not been cleaned since 2007 and it sounded like a high-power vacuum cleaner. When I was done, they couldn’t hear it was turned on (the PC got an SSD at the same time and is now ready for many more years of service – no wonder new PCs aren’t selling).

During the Easter holidays, I visited relatives and like many other IT professionals, I had the opportunity to solve a handful of IT challenges, one of which reminded me why the PC manufacturers are at least partially responsible for their own problems with declining cells.

The story beings with a new PC of a well-known brand, with the usual bloatware installed. That includes a trial version of a well-known antivirus software. When the trial expired, a proper license for the antivirus software was purchased, and it was renewed every year thereafter. And so, everything should be good.

Except it wasn’t. My relative was surprised (at first, then annoyed) by the frequent warnings about missing protection popping up when the computer was turned on, given that the license was paid for. However, as I found out, paying the license using the link provided by the trial version is not enough; you also need to replace the trial version of the software with the full version yourself. My relative had not been aware of this, and so had paid for protection for years, without ever being protected. He took it well, better than me.

It may be argued that as a consumer you must pay attention any warning messages that pop up and that it should have been verified that the purchased product was in fact delivered and working as it was supposed to do. On the other hand, this was an opportunity for the manufacturer to care for the customer, by ensuring that the customer got value added by the extra services provided by the manufacturer; as opposed to a false, expensive sense of safety. Both arguments have merits, but one makes it more likely that the customer returns than the other. In good times, returning customers may not have been a priority, but now?

Among the lessons to be learned here is that good times should never be taken for granted. And the manufacturers are themselves not without responsibility for their misery.

A wholly unrelated challenge I got during the visit was retrieval of photos from a Nokia feature phone, from the time before phones could be connected with USB. I was reminded how a blue tooth data connection works and reminded to appreciate current day cloud backup services and standardization of connections.

It has been a while since my last post about Windows 8 and declining PC sales. During this time, the debate first seemed to settle down, probably because everybody was happy that the start button will return in Windows 8.1. Now that the Windows 8.1 release date has been announced, it is reported that PC sales keep declining. I am not surprised, but will be happy to be proved wrong eventually.

As written, hardware improvements can’t keep the sales up. Enthusiasts may buy the latest stuff no matter what, otherwise the performance gained by upgrading to the latest generation of CPU won’t make a big difference when reading mail and browsing the internet.

And what do you get when you buy a PC? A box with a standard Windows installation, perhaps a trial version of antivirus and MS Office, plus a bit of bloatware from the vendor.

It is all very generic. I don’t remember how sales of Apple’s Macs are developing compared to Windows PCs, but if you pick an Apple, you get something special,

And two points in that sentence says it all:

1. It is Apple or Windows, not Apple or Asus or HP or…
2. I believe that Apple is special. I have never owned one and don’t plan to get one, but I am certain that the Apple owners are getting something different and that the difference matters to them.

Compare that with the to the mobile phone market, which has many contenders, some big some small. Here it is not just Apple vs. Android vs. Windows Phone vs. BlackBerry vs. etc. It is Apple vs. Samsung vs. Nokia vs. HTC vs. LG etc.

Why this difference in product perception? Well, consider these three: Hardware, Software and Branding.

Hardware
Buy a desktop PC in a store and you go home with boxes made out of plastic or metal, which is not particularly pretty and it looks the same regardless of the vendor. If you buy a mobile phone, each vendor has a special design that goes across the product line. One reason for buying phone X is that is looks good.

Software
A new PC comes with standard Windows and trial versions of third party software. Additional software provided by the vendor is seldom useful, poorly documented and the user interface reminds you of the wild days of Win 3.1. Buy a smart phone and the vendor will provide special versions of core applications for email and browser, and often bundle a good, free office suite; as well as a number of popular third party apps like Facebook. In fact, the amount of vendor software bundled with Android phones has reached the point where several top models are also being sold in a special Google version for anyone who wants to see the standard Google version.

Branding
The new Samsung Galaxy is not just a smart phone, it is a Life Companion. The HTC One is a Changemaker. With an LG Optimus you Live without Boundaries and Connect & Share Like a Pro. A PC is a PC is a PC…
I don’t believe total PC sales will change a lot if vendors started diversifying like smartphones have, but I do believe that a vendor that provides some special extra will fare better than those that don’t.