Post-PC is a phrase on the tip of every IT analyst’s tongue and on the keys of every tech writer’s keyboard. However, there is quite a bit of debate on whether it’s a real trend or just the next phrase in always continuing technology hype cycle. If it is hype, lots of technology companies like Apple certainly believe in it and a significant amount of data seems to support the theories that the age of PC dominance is over.

PC sales are down for companies like Dell and you can’t look left or right without seeing humans of all ages, shapes and sizes with their eyes transfixed on some mobile device. The number of cloud-based storage services like DropBox are exploding, and businesses are struggling to keep up with the wave of consumerization sweeping into their doors. However, this week Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Turner, denied that we are now in a post-PC existence at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner conference. According to Turner, this is not a post-PC era; it is the PC-plus period that Bill Gates predicted back in 1999. Turner continued saying,

“We actually believe Windows 8 is the new era for the PC plus. We believe with a single push of a button you can move seamlessly in and out of both worlds. We believe you can have touch, a pen, a mouse and a keyboard.”

Many PC makers are betting that Windows 8 and ultra books will boost their sales, but hedging by launching PC alternatives like smart phones and tablets, but Microsoft might be on to something. First, there are lots of personal computers in homes and businesses of all types. It is unlikely they will be discarded anytime soon. Have you ever attempted to edit a complex spreadsheet on a tablet or write anything beyond a few sentences on a smart phone? Not fun. Of course you can add external keyboards and apply other tricks, but for now PCs will continue to play a major role in the computing habits of most users. PC may disappear one day, but that day is not today.

In addition to this very tactical reason that PCs are destined to be with us for the foreseeable future,  there is a more ephemeral reason. PC isn’t a precise term. Initially meant desktops, and then it was extended to include laptops. So, why can’t the term PC also include smart phones, tablets and other device since they are also used personal computing? It can. These devices represent the evolution of computing.

The computing market is evolving, but that’s always true. That does not mean mobile adoption is not increasing. It doesn’t mean that new forms of computing won’t emerge and grow in popularity. Post-PC might be a handy and attention grabbing phrase, but it isn’t quite time to consider PCs as a thing of our past.