Frank Shaw is known for being Communications VP for Microsoft. On the 30th anniversary of IBM's PC, he said the post-PC era is over and he'd rather distinguish it as a “PC-plus era.” There were an average of 400 million PCs to be sold all over the world in 2011, he noted, assuring his audience they would stay in the mainstream with improved hardware and more advanced software. While saying he is open to the possibilities for change, he's professed confidence that Microsoft will still be No. 1 when it comes to technology for the next 30 years. The past doesn’t really predict the future, he said. There is always something it can offer for the coming years. Oh. Microsoft doesn't consider Cloud services as a threat to its future opportunities. Rather it's a new window of opportunity for Microsoft's products to improve and expand. On the other hand, Steve Jobs says it is the post-PC era. He called PCs assimilated trucks, used to carry and remove large pieces of heavy materials. IBM’s Middle East and Africa CTO, Mark Dean, agrees with Jobs. He notes he's been a part of the evolution himself: His main device is a tablet, rather than a PC. He agrees that PCs will survive into the future, but won't be the basis of where technology will go. His analogy: PCs are similar to typewriters, CRTs and vacuum tubes which are already obsolete today. PCs are important when talking about history. But now that artificial intelligence and technology in general continues to develop, tablets are more likely to be used by the authorities that manage it. Source: Electronista