The real threat to the PC isn’t death. It’s losing control

A couple of months ago, I floated the idea of renting a PC. Specifically a Valve Steam Machine, in the hopes of getting the concept to take. I wanted it to live. But the problem with thought exercises is they can end up disconnected from the world.

Recent rulings and settlements dumped ice-cold reality on me. Not just the fact that companies are not our friends, which has always been clear; the Ticketmaster lawsuit drives that point home, as does the NZXT settlement for PC rentals that never made financial sense.