PC World: The Shape of PCs to Come

“At WinHEC, Bill Gates offered Microsoft’s vision of a PC circa
2003. The chic prototype came loaded with a built-in video camera
and microphone for videoconferencing and dictation. This nimble
powerhouse had a rewritable DVD drive and high-bandwidth Universal
Serial Bus 2.0, and snapped to attention in less than ten seconds.
On its tiny LCD “digital dashboard,” you could play music and check
for new e-mail without having to boot up.”

“You’ll find other familiar software on future PCs. Even if the
U.S. Justice Department breaks Microsoft into a bevy of Baby Bills,
88 percent of PCs will still run a flavor of Windows in
2004, essentially the same market share as today, say IDC
researchers.”

“Underdog Linux will be popular with developers and
single-purpose device PCs, but only 6 percent of PCs will run
Linux, according to IDC projections. Apple’s Macintosh OS,
which has a 5 percent market share, and alternatives such as BeOS
will struggle to stay in the race, says Dan Kusnetzky, an IDC
analyst.”

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