they'll have to pry my cold, dead fingers off the keyboard/trigger.......

I don't think a tablet can do what I like to do on a computer. Playing different games offline, playing flash games online, surfing the net with many open tabs, using word and excel.

Actually I am still surprised that Apple's ipad will not play flash. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

As for the future of skinning and Wincustomize how about fixing the site's bugs like slow forums before starting something new?

I love my Desktop PC.  One of the best aspects of owning a Desktop is to easily upgrade/customize the crap out of it.  Everything from adding more memory, a second drive, installing additional PCIe cards or CPU coolers, and even cool bright LED fans and cold cathode lights.  Laptops on the other hand, are much harder to customize (hardware wise) and have VERY limited space.  So no cool LED fans for you.

Smartphones and Tablets?  Virtually no customization.  Lame.  The best you could do is buy a decal from DecalGirl (http://www.decalgirl.com/) or something. (I have a decal for my Nintendo DS [because plain white really sucks], but that's besides the point.)  They do have skins for iPads and various smartphones/tablets, as well as gaming devices.  I guess that's better than nothing.  But most smartphone/tablet users can't upgrade their hardware at will.  Even if they could, the technology is so small and compact, that even accidentally moving a chip in the slightest could render the device useless.  *sigh*.  The only time i'd use a tablet or smartphone for is a boredom buster, like if I was stuck at an airport or something.  Never would I use them for any serious work. 

Sadly, we haven't really seen any significant NEW advancements in PC technology within the past decade or so.  It's just more or less, more CPU cores, or larger hard drives/RAM capacities.  And Solid State Drives are mostly based on already-existing NAND flash technology via USB Flash Drives.  CPU clock speeds haven't hit over 4.0 GHz in mainstream PCs, without overclocking. Is the theoretical limit of clock cycles ~3 GHz?  Why aren't we seeing 20 GHz CPUs today? 

Hard Drive Capacities are becoming so large now that most people (including myself) won't even use half their drive.  I believe that Hard Drives need to die, or at least become secondary storage devices.   Instead of making HUGE capacities that most consumers won't even take up half the space of, why not develop a new "SATA IV, or new interface" drive for faster speeds?  Oh, wait.  That's what Solid State Drives are for.  If the Desktop PC still prevails, then SSDs need to be pre-installed in new PCs.  I can't believe that brick and mortar stores still don't carry SSDs.  What a joke! (I bought my OCZ Vertex 2 from Amazon) BnM stores are WAY behind the times. selling a technology that's been on display for a year, or two, or five.  They're just barely rolling out with USB 3.0 compliant devices.

My word of advice is if you're still a die-hard Desktop fan, buy everything online, or at specialty computer stores.  Stay away from the likes of mainstream discount stores (like Best Buy, OfficeDepot, Wal-Mart, etc.), as they advertise tech that's a year or more old (even if it's "NEW", chances are it's obsolete before ever being manufactured) and have VERY limited options of PC peripherals.  Buy from Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect, or other hardcore gaming/Desktop PC enthusiast sites.

A few sites/publications such as MaximumPC still offer a myriad of information dedicated to hardcore Desktop PC enthusiasts (such as myself).  The publication often times has tutorials on building PCs, reviews PC parts/systems/cases, etc, and it does expand into laptops/smartphones/tablets/other gadgets, but Desktops are it's primary focus.  I'd recommend Maximum PC for anybody who declares themselves as hardcore Desktop PC enthusiasts.  Other publications exist, such as PCWorld.

*sigh*, wow, that's a lot of rambling I just did.  Just stating my points.  Now i'm done.

I find it interesting that very few of the responders really read what I quoted and wrote.

Nowhere did I say "The PC (desktop) is dead" nor did Mr. Dean.

The Cliff notes:

Used to be there were only desktops.  Now there are more platforms available. Mr. Dean moved beyond the desktop. I did as well. Many have.

Decentralization and diversification are occurring. These de-emphasize the desktop as more people need these platforms for work and play.

As more mobile platforms become more powerful, the opportunity presents itself to customize them... I hope Stardock avails itself of this, and diversifies into these growing niches. 

Thou are not thinking about it enough. It is left to marketing insofar as it is left to their ability to create commerials that will make a product desirable or undesirable. So it is left to the ability marketing departments.

I'm not buying what you are selling. 

While I agree that certain mobile tech is coming up fast I dont think the PC/Laptop will be replaced any more than the TV has been replaced. Why?

#1. PC screens are typically much larger and easier to watch movies, etc, on than a pad, Ipod, or cell phone.

#2. A desktop Has advantages even over a laptop/pad/counsole in the gaming dept,  a desktop is customizable to what ever hardware you want to run, and can typically be upgraded as new components, Os's, etc are released, "as a former hardcore gamer I remember the days of grabbing the newest Videocard out and running home to install it so i could  slam my opponents even quicker than before." As long as there is a market where folks can still build their Dream PC and upgrade it as they choose, there will be a place for Desktops in the home.

1 gbs ?  http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/23/zte-breaks-fiber-optic-speed-record-10tbps-over-640km/ i think we can do faster meanwhile

There's a couple of ways to look at this.

Firstly, is the slow but unstoppable march of technology.
Theoretically, once Laptops, Notebooks or 'compact PCs' reach the processing power of the basic desktop PC, the centralised desktop is dead.  However, as basically everyone will know, this level of portable power has already been reached.  And yet the centralised desktop is still very much here.  This is because of Moore's Law.  For as powerful as the portable versions of our computers are, the centralised and non-portable versions will always be significantly more powerful.  This trend won't be reversed until we reach the absolute limits of transistor miniaturisation - which is the atomic level.  We're probably a few decades, if not half a century, away before we break real, practical ground into what will eventually become mainstream nano-computing.  Once that occurs, centralised and portable machines will level out - they'll eventually pack the amount of power.

However, since current portable machines are already more than sufficent for most business applications, we should be seeing the widespread discontinuation of centralised machines.  This is not occuring.  The obvious reason is cost; for no matter how powerful your portable machine is, a comparable centralised machine will always be cheaper.  See my above point.  This means that, for businesses and most homes, centralised processing - such as desktop machines - is simply more cost effective.  Until this situation is reversed - and thanks to companies like Apple, it won't be happening for a very, very long time - centralised processin will always remain the majority stake holder in the processing market.
The not-so-obvious reason is simple useability.  Ask anyone - and I mean anyone - who uses a Laptop, and ask them to describe the ways in which centralised machines - like a PC - are better in terms of sheer useability.  Trackpads anyone?

Until portable machines are the same price, and as comfortable to use, as centralised machines, Desktops will always be the focus of the market.  Portable machines already meet all portable, practical applications.  Word processing, internet, spreadsheets, etc.

The second way to look at this situation is in the other direction: the slow decline of technology.
As technology has become more advanced, it has become more seemless.  All modern cars pack some form of a computer.  Smart phones.  Watches.  Hell, your TV has enough processing power to run even basic applications, like video decoding from a USB device.  Technology is becoming seemlessly intergrated into our lives.  For as wonderful as portable computing is, it's about as seemless as slipping your iPad into your back pocket.  For this reason alone, its the device that allows portable computing to intergrate into our lives seemlessly that will replace centralised computing.  The Windows Phone is a more logical direction than your iPad for the removal of invasive technology.

Streamed computing - or Cloud Computing - provided Augmented Reality-style is the most logical progression of technology.  If you want to get real sci-fi, we'd be talking about information delivered neurologically to the user, rather than via screens.  Pop-up displays that only you can see and hear, with a mere thought driven user interface.  Once we achieve that level of intergration, desktop machines will no longer exist as they'll simply be too invasive.  Like carrying your iPad in your pocket.  Centralised computing, however, will increase ten fold, due to the server-side requirements of the technology.
So, technically speaking, centralised computing will always be at the heart of the industry.

Why not this? http://emol.org/media/vr.html

I never blindly follow everywhere Technology leads--    I actually look forward to using my PC when I get free time and find it relaxing and unwinding for me to chill out at my PC at the end of the day with a nice cup of coffee--     I don't care for travel type gizmos like i-pods,etc., because when I'm out, if im not at work, I'm hiking in nature or shopping- with no time to mess with small gizmos like i-pads,etc.    Heck, i'm even one of those type of people who keep my cellphone constantly turned off until I want to use it- then I turn it right off again.   

When I'm home, I look forward to my stationary PC where I can unwind-- and I love a nice big screen monitor to decorate with awesome wallpapers.  My computer is like an otherwordly portal for me,  so if it goes by the way of the dinasours, I'll be one of them who continues to use it with pleasure.

By the way- speaking of incandescent lightbulbs--  I also refuse to part with my 30 and 40 watt bulbs- especially those 'Reveal" bulbs that give off natural light that resembles the sunlight spectrum. I made sure to stock up on those as I hate the light that the new flourescent bulbs give off-  too cold and stark for my home atmosphere and too depressing a light for light deprived parts of the Country-- such as where I live in the East Coast.   I use the new flourescent bulbs in areas like my basement and attic- not my bedroom , bathroom or living areas.   They will be doing away with the 60 watt and higher bulbs by 2012, and by 2014, they will be discontinuing all of the 30-40 watt bulbs-- so get them now while you  can!      Another alternative I like to the incandescent bulbs are those full spectrum 27 watt flourescent bulbs that also mimic the same spectrum as sunlight.  I hope they won't be discontinuing those.

great bulbs and they make them in fluorescent now a days as well.