There are some very rare events in the world. The discovery of a new technology, the bringing of peace to a war torn region, a nice sunny day here in England. If you read the list you eventually get to "A Mac user agreeing with John C. Dvorak". Oddly enough that's what has just happened to me with his latest post entitled The iPhone is No Desktop.

The gist of the article is that it's ridiculous to think the iPhone, or any mobile device for that matter, will replace the desktop. I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment. I own an iMac, a MacBook and an iPod touch and general trends would say that I would be using one of the latter as my main computing device. Funnily enough the iMac is my main machine.

All my serious web browsing, talking with friends, development, media consumption etc. is done on my iMac. My MacBook is there for when I need to use my computer on the go, especially around University where I use it in the labs and in lectures. When I'm at home during a holiday my MacBook generally sits on a shelf under my desk turned off. The same goes for my iPod touch. I use it when I need to quickly look something up online that's easier than pulling out my laptop, such as when I'm walking.

Mobile devices are great for when you're on the go as they give you quick access to the internet in the palm of your hand. The problem is that they're limited. Yes they're great for finding out where the nearest supermarket is or for keeping up with the football scores while you're on the move. They can also make pretty decent gaming devices.

The thing is that they're small, which is both their greatest asset and their biggest weakness. Screen estate is limited, you can't really watch a movie on them, you can't do any serious writing on them. Mobile devices are merely consumption devices for "small" content. They suck for consuming big content such as watching a movie or surfing the web for a long period of time (the lack of "open in new tab" in mobile Safari makes it impossible for me to waste endless hours on Wikipedia, this makes me sad).

They suck even more for any form of creation. You can't create movies on them, nor music, nor images, nor websites, nor applications, nor novels, nor magazines. A kid may use their mobile device to check up on their friends on Facebook, but they'll never use it for doing their homework. Not now, not ever.

Those who claim that the desktop will cede to mobile devices are as delusional as those who claim that the web will replace the desktop. Ironically the web sucks at exactly the same things that mobile devices do, though the reasons are different.

Now some may say that I'm biased because I develop for the desktop, but I believe developing for the desktop gives a unique view of the world of technology, a view that allows you to better see the state of things. You'll never see a desktop developer proclaiming the death of the mobile device or the death of the web. Desktop developers instead see the integration of the desktop and the mobile device and the integration of the desktop and the web. Like with many things in the world, the existence of one thing doesn't need to negate the existence of another when those two things could co-exist and give a much better experience than either one alone ever code.

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