Big Swing in PC Shipments in Malaysia at Robert Pogson

“According to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker, third quarter 2012 shipments of PCs in Malaysia dropped sharply compared to the second quarter – down to 634,000 units which is a decline of 29%. Despite support and end user incentives from principal multinational corporations, channels were still stuck with high levels of ageing inventory due to continuously sluggish demand by end users.”

see PC Shipments Stunted Ahead of Windows 8 Launch while Consumers Remain Distracted by Alternative Devices.

“Distracted”? Uh, no. Consumers have little need of a over-powered/huge/clumsy/expensive big box PC or a burdensome notebook either. They can do it all with a smart phone running */Linux. The fall of 29% includes the end of a government procurement (of notebooks running “7″). This is not just a shift to less Wintel but a shift to more GNU/Linux and more Android/Linux. It puts the lie to the saying that folks “choose” Wintel when that’s all that was on retail shelves. There’s more choice on retail shelves today and more real choices are being made. This is not a blip but the new way of IT. Get used to it.

The government of Malaysia is actively promoting GNU/Linux. Whatever came over them to order “7″ is beyond me. There is no upside for students or governments with “7″. No doubt, if a lot of the money went to M$, less went to the manufacturers of the hardware…

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.

1 Response to “Big Swing in PC Shipments in Malaysia”

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1 George Hostler Nov 25th, 2012 at 9:47 am

Robert, this is understandable. With the economy in dire straits in US, people and companies are conserving their constrained dollars. Components that most often fail or wear out such as hard disks, keyboards, mice, monitors are relatively cheap parts. It makes more sense to continue to wring out IT equipment that still meets needs, than to go through the entire upgrade cycle including both new software requiring new hardware, along with any server software upgrades that may be required. To come through a department and replace keyboards and mice with new ones add a new lease to life, boosting morale, leaving employees with new clean interfaces to work from.

Talking with friends, there is only a tolerance for the incumbent “market leader” operating systems with their continued problem of malware, slow booting, the occasional application crashes along with OS hiccups. News of the multitude anti-trust lawsuits have created distrust among the informed.

So, I think this paves way for a new paradigm to continue to flourish as it gains strength, Linux and its derivatives Android, etc.