I had written PCWorld earlier this year explaining to them that PCs were no longer relevant and what we needed for the new Smartphone world. I was heartened to see some articles on TVs, Smartphones and tablets a few months ago. I had even renewed my subscription for the magazine. Then the November issue shows up at my house (in October) and they demonstrate that they still just don't get it.

A look at their major articles this month paints the picture clearly.

November cover - Windows 8. What the writers don't get is nobody cares about Windows 8. Windows 7 volumes are still anemic. Why because? Windows 7 didn't solve any of the probelms Windows has always had. Can I mix different Windows OS's on my network and print? NO (not with PC shared printers). What was needed since XP is universal printer drivers. Did Microsoft ever care about this - NO! Microsoft assumed we would all upgrade all of our PCs to one OS. What I have seen is people downgrading to XP - at least the applications still worked on an all XP network. Finally no thought at all was given to mixed Windows / Mac networks which are common today.

Does Windows 7 still BLUE SCREEN like the prior Windows OS's? YES. This is why no one buys Windows 7 unless they are forced to. They only use it on PCs which came with that OS preloaded on it. The article talks about how Microsoft is making their PC OS into a phone OS! Oh my god - who cares? Why? Because if Microsoft hasn't fixed thier old broken down OS's - why would anyone think a phone OS would suddenly work better than thier core business?

This is typical Microsoft marketing. They make their junk look current and relevant without actually making it current or backward compatible. What's the payoff for those of us who fixed all of those Windows machines while sticking with Microsoft over the last few decades? Absolutely nothing - Bupkus! Windows 7 sucks - so they produce a Windows 8 OS - to generate revenue only - not to help the dwindling Windows population.

I have a year old dead Vista PC which got crushed by Microsoft when it did an automatic OS update. I haven't decided if I will cart it off to the recyling center or reload it. I am leaning towards the recycling center - another PC for the graveyard.

So why would PCWorld think we would care about Windows 8? I honestly have no clue. Then looking at their review for NAS units they wrote a superficial article which has no logic related to Smartphones. I know this to be true as they reviewed my NAS unit and said not one thing the sales brochures don't say online. They review NAS as if PCs are what peeople will be using those units for in future. Give me a break - could they spend more than 10 minutes just copying manufacturer data sheets?! 

Ironically the only thing of interest for me in the entire issue was an advertisement. Think Free Mobile has produced a cloud based productivity suite of Apps for Androids and tablets. One can only hope that after having produced an App with a homescreen for Smartphones, that they will take the next logical step and port it to Google TV and allow us to use their App on our huge flat screen TVs. Truthfully I am uninterested in having anything more than a Smartphone and a TV set anymore. 

I seek utility computing and not more machines to fuss around with. As Google has opened up the APIs for Google TV along with the ability of Smartphones to stream movies to TV's - this should not be that difficult to do. I wonder if any of these companies realize that a productivity App that works on my phone and my ginormous TV - is the killer App.

My fear is that Google's predisposition for engineers and not marketing people has left them blind as to how close they are to wiping all of these legacy PCs from our planet. I am hopeful they see the opportunity directly underneath of their nose and act on filling the missing piece even if no company installs this App on Google TV.