Will Windows 8 Mark the End of the Post-PC Era?

My Technologizer column over at TIME.com this week was inspired by recent talk of the death—or at least the decline—of the PC, most recently inspired by HP’s decision to consider spinning off or selling its PC division. My take: The PC is actually in great shape, because smartphones and tablets have every right to be called PCs.

I realize this is a minority view. Some people use the term “PC” to refer only to computers that run Windows, a usage that always makes me wince, even though I’m occasionally guilty of employing it myself. (I do try to say “Windows PC.”) Others think a PC can run Linux, Apple’s OS X, or another non-Microsoftian operating system—but even these folks usually have something that looks like a traditional desktop or laptop in mind.

(MORE: The PC Isn’t Dying — It’s Just Evolving)

If nobody agrees about what a PC is, it’s tough to come to any conclusions about the state of the PC’s health, or whether we live in a post-PC era (Apple’s opinion) or a PC plus one (Microsoft’s view), or whether, as I think, we’re still very much in the PC era. But I’m hoping we might soon get some help from a source that certainly has some skin in the game: Microsoft.

The company is just now beginning to talk (and blog) about Windows 8, the next version of its operating system. We still don’t know that much about it. But we do know that it’s going to offer two user interfaces: one that looks pretty much like the familiar one that’s evolved over the past quarter century, and one that’s a variant of the simpler, touch-friendly “Metro” look and feel of the Windows Phone platform. It’s going to be part PC, part post-PC.

(VIDEO: Microsoft’s First Official ‘Windows 8′ Interface Demo)

At the moment, the distinction between a PC and a post-PC device such an iPad is sharp, at least if you’re a literal-minded type. But with Windows 8, it’s going to be possible to build machines that run Windows and look much like iPads. We don’t know yet whether they’ll be any good, but at least they’re going to change the status quo. Will they be PCs? Will they be post-PCs? Something else? How will research companies such as IDC and Gartner classify them?

I’m hoping that however they do, they’ll tend to end the PC/post-PC/PC plus debate. More thoughts soon: In a couple of weeks, Microsoft is holding its BUILD conference, where it should have much, much more to say about Windows 8.

1 / 14 backnext View All GADGETS CES: 12 Unique Ultrabooks and Tablets You Should Know About

Windows-based Macbook Air alternatives were plentiful at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, while tablet makers had more conservative lineups. These two computing classes may soon merge, so enjoy the best of them both in one handy slideshow.

Up Close with Nikiski, Intel’s Concept Laptop of Tomorrow

Although Intel doesn’t build laptops, the chip maker showed off a bit of design flare at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with Nikiski, a concept notebook that folds up into a touchscreen virtual assistant.

Nikiski uses a dual-sided touch panel that comes into play when the laptop is both open and closed. In the open position, it acts like an ultra-wide track pad and knows to ignore palms when they’re resting on the laptop to type. When closed, a slice of Nikiski’s display shows through from the other side of the touch screen, with e-mails, calendar appointments and RSS feeds that the user can interact with.

“When you close your PC and you’re running to another meeting … now you need to get your iPhone or your Android phone in order to get an immediate response,” Mooly Eden, Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s PC Client Group, said in an interview. “I say, why can’t we deliver it on the same device?”

Intel tried to develop a similar concept four years ago, but it was too complicated and expensive, Eden said. Now, Intel has the computing power and technology, and Eden thinks device makers could execute on the concept in a year to a year and a half. “There’s nothing over here, like transparent touch screens, that cannot be implemented in the near future,” he said.

Despite the Metro-style look of the secondary display, Intel didn’t work with Microsoft on the concept. Eden said Intel is working with Microsoft on ways to innovate with Windows 8, but not specifically on Nikiski.

No surprises here, but Intel has no plans to monetize the Nikiski concept or sell it as an Intel PC, Eden said. Instead, Intel’s hoping to inspire the companies who manufacture Intel-based laptops. “Many of them will innovate on top of it,” Eden said, “and at the end of the day they’ll deliver something to the market that is very jazzy, very interesting.”

SMARTPHONES Looking Forward to 2012: Apple TV, iPhone 5 and Goodnight PCs

Onward, tablets, smartphones and post-PC (yet still just as much “personal computing”) devices — call them whatever you like, 2012 will see a glut of me-too mobiles designed to untether us from stodgy office desktops and augment our everyday, ordinary activities by slipping into our everyday, ordinary surroundings. With that in mind, here’s my list of up-and-coming 2012 tech picks:

Apple TV, the Next Generation

The trouble my 37-inch, four-year-old LG 1080p LCD TV has squeezing inside my mammoth mission-style entertainment center aside, I’ve been eyeballing a new TV all year. I already have an Apple TV, but we’re talking the tiny black box, not a full-blown TV set. So when I say I’m eyeballing an Apple TV, let there be no confusion — I’m speaking of the rumored 32- and 37-inch Apple television sets due sometime this summer, not the device I only use to stream my music library to the living room.

Apple’s challenge, assuming these things are real, is twofold: Leapfrogging the current black box Apple TV’s features, and pricing its televisions competitively (assuming it wants to sell these things mainstream, anyway). Feature-wise, Apple needs to do more than offer access to a few third-party services and stream iTunes media from an Apple computer (it needs to be more than just an Apple TV inside an Apple-branded television, in other words) so here’s my wish list: An Apple TV that could sync wirelessly with iOS devices, allowing video, photos and even apps or games to appear (magically!) on the TV without cables, and a Siri-like voice command feature, making an appearance alongside a motion-control interface similar to (but ideally miles better than) Microsoft’s Kinect. Bring it on, Apple!

(MORE: Looking Forward to 2012: The End of Media Ownership)

iPhone 5 or Android Whatever

The iPhone 4 I picked up last February — my first iPhone, if it matters — has been a mostly up experience. It’s quick, dependable, swarming with apps that cover all my bases and not a total disaster when texting so long as I use just one finger (in lieu of two thumbs). My only complaints: The screen is too small, the phone’s too breakable (all glass, front and back) and I’m still not sold on finger-gaming, especially first-person stuff where I’m fighting just to see around my thumbs (would someone please release a thumbstick snap-around like the 3DS’s add-on already?). I have mixed feelings about most Android phones, but after playing with a friend’s Galaxy Nexus, I’ve sort of done a one-eighty: Unless the iPhone 5 is thinner and has an edge-to-edge 4.65-inch or larger display, I may just pick up a Galaxy Nexus to go hand-in-glove with a new Windows-based, gaming-angled ultrabook.

Goodbye forever, desktop PCs — hello ultrabooks and tablets!

I ditched my tricked-out Windows desktop PC a few weeks ago — good night, good luck (and, with all due respect, good riddance). I barely touched the thing in 2011, and I’ve jettisoned any nostalgic sentiments I once had for screwing around with soldering circuits or tweaking liquid cooling kits. My work machine’s now an 11-inch MacBook Air, though it might as well be a Windows-based ultrabook. I love OS X, but I’m almost as fond of Windows 7, and since I’ve kept my personal and work data agnostic, organized and easy to migrate, I’ll be happy to switch if the right hardware comes along (hello Razer Blade!). The desktop PC is a dinosaur, and Moore’s Law ceased to matter years ago (just because computing power doubles in a given period doesn’t mean app requirements or consumer needs do), so bring on the souped-up ultraportables and 2012′s enhanced tablets (be they Android or iOS based), and may the space beneath (or beside) our desks, chairs and tables remain case- and cable-free forever.