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Comment by blooalien | Hacker News Reader

> From the article: "Now, here, in 2022, desktop computers no longer exist and all computing is done via handheld mobile telephone."

They're kidding, right? Nobody in their right mind actually believes that, do they?

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All is hyperbole, since the ergonomics on a laptop are terrible, and there will always be a segment for which that's a showstopper, but it's already true for certain segments of the population. Especially among the less privileged where there may not even be a desktop computer available or only at school/library, mobile phones are increasingly where work is done. Writing essays and emails, and filling out important forms, may not be the most ergonomic, but it beats not being able to.

Look at devices with foldable screens and external keyboards like the Asus Zenbook 17. Without getting lost in arguing semantics of if an iPad (mini/pro/regular) sized tablet counts as a mobile telephone, it's clearly not a desktop, and it's easy enough to imagine that desktop computers will go the way of the mainframe.

I was stunned when I went to a writing circle and saw college students using their phones.

It would be reasonable if they had a Bluetooth keyboard.

I remember when young adults were blazing fast at typing on flip phones. It’s perfectly reasonable to be productive without a keyboard.

Flip phones had keyboards though.

My point is that people will adapt to typing on nearly anything.

> the ergonomics on a laptop are terrible

Agreed. Honestly if I had a way to comfortably write software on my phone I don't think I'd ever use my laptop ever again. Phones are simply too comfortable.

Unfortunately the vast majority of them are consumer devices: unlike real computers they don't come with the tools used to program them. I can't make a new app on my phone and run it.

I took that as either [kidding] overstatement (to bypass discussion of why) or short for desktop computers no longer exist [for my market purposes].

To your general question, I've heard a professor lament a student stating that all CAD applications should work on phones.

I've heard a professor lament a student stating that all CAD applications should work on phones.

And why is that such a lamentable idea? Modern phones have the processing power these days. Walking around a factory, building sites or a muddy field with a phone in your hand is a lot easier than walking around with a laptop. Plus modern phones have LiDAR and multiple cameras opening up for all kinds of interesting options. Frankly any CAD platform which doesn’t embrace mobile will probably fall out of favour over the next few years.

You are probably right to the extent of multimodal for some tasks or for sensor input. But redlining a 200 page set of drawings to capture as built info is still different from assembling that set of drawings in the first place. I doubt it will be all or nothing. E.g., supporting field service will require generating particular views, but I don't see engineering review meetings skimping on monitor pixels, at a cost of N laptops per hour just to assemble a meeting.

Indeed, I'm not suggesting that CAD tools go mobile only or even mobile first, just there is a lot of very practical uses for mobiles (and tablets) in the CAD (and BIM) space that shouldn't be ignored.

Of course, he just called it a "handheld mobile telephone", that's tongue-in-cheek.

In terms of number of hours used daily, there is no context. Mobiles are the largest video game market, and the most used computing platforms. So, not quite all computing, but an awful lot of it.

It's hyperbolic truth, acknowledging that the future is now.

Yes, it's tongue in cheek.

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