The latest reports from Gartner and IDC show another reduction in PC sales globally – 10.9 percent for Q2 2013 vs. Q2 2012.

This drop has been blamed on everything from a lack of interest in Windows 8, collapse of the netbook market, to the general life span of individual PCs growing beyond three to five years. Alarmists are acting like tablets will take over what we used to call Personal Computing (PC, I like the sound of that), but am I worried? Nah.

Let me preface this by saying that the total shipments of PCs don’t affect me monetarily. PCMag employees are forbidden from owning individual stocks in any of the PC makers, including Apple, nor do I have any ownership in Microsoft or any of the other OS makers, aside from the general mutual funds that most of my fellow workers own in their retirement accounts. 

A tablet as a primary Internet device for many people makes sense. Why tote a 4-pound laptop when a 1.5-pound tablet will get you on to Facebook, Twitter, play Angry Birds, and let you check you email? In 2009, people bought $400 desktops and netbooks for the basic task of getting on the Internet. Now the same job can be done with a $299-$500 tablet, whether it’s running Android, iOS, Windows RT, or Windows 8.

Windows XP will officially reach end of life on April 8, 2014. This is the point that PC makers, software developers, and device makers stop supporting that venerable operating system. Conservatively speaking, that means the death of XP-powered business systems is already upon us. If your business hasn’t upgraded its new systems to Windows 7, they will shortly. 

I’ve often said that to do real work you need the keyboard and large screen on a PC. I’ve also likened desktop PCs and PCs in general to the trucks that do all the real work in the U.S. and around the world. Naysayers love to point out that not all people need trucks to get around. The thing is, while everyone needs simple transportation, workers hauling grain, gravel, building materials, or livestock will always need trucks.

By the same token, if you’re an office worker, (so far) an iOS or Android tablet isn’t yet ready to replace your notebook or desktop PC for spreadsheets, presentations, and typed documents. Sure, email, electronic forms, and info lookup can shift entirely to the tablet form factor. Writing more than 200 words in an academic or business environment, not so much. Until we have a silent, wireless brain stem interface, you’re always going to need a keyboard and possibly a pointing device for graphic work, long document creation, and high-powered number crunching. As I’ve said for years, PCs are needed for business, writing papers, and development work for programs from geothermal energy plant projects to building the case for the tablet you bring with you every day. 

PCs aren’t anywhere near their deathbed. They may evolve into tablets with docks for keyboards or something else entirely over the next decade, but as long as individuals need to produce things and disseminate ideas, you’ll find a PC at their fingertips.