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Three Big Questions On Apple’s Mountain Lion

February 22, 2012

So Apple is going to release its next version of Mac OS X, code-named “Mountain Lion” with the idea of bringing more of the iOS look and feel into its client operating system.

This includes making its iMessage SMS-like messaging system work on the Mac as it now works on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as providing common icons between platforms for notes, Reminders, and more. If Mac OS X Lion last year was Step One in convergence between Apple’s platforms, this will be a big Step Two.

This raises three questions where the answers will undoubtedly have a major impact on the IT industry:

* Will Mountain Lion eat Google Chrome OS for breakfast? If it does, it will be a rather small breakfast. Let’s face it: the rationale for Chrome OS was fairly dubious to begin with, and as of now it doesn’t even register a blip on the OS market share radar. With new MacBooks that are even more seamless with iPhones and iPads on the market, it will become almost impossible for laptops with Chrome OS to get even a look. It will be difficult for Google’s vendor partners like Samsung to continue to spend money on a line that will face such competition.

* How much will Mountain Lion hurt Windows 8? Mac market share has already been growing measurably in the U.S. for some time, so it’s not a question of whether Mountain Lion will hurt Windows 8 but a question of how much. A big selling point for Windows 8 is that, with Metro, it will provide a common look and feel between PC and mobile devices running Windows 8 for phones and tablets. But Apple has already been doing that to a degree with Lion and with two-year service lock-ins for iPhones it will be a big inconvenience to switch to Windows 8 phones right away. Bottom line: Apple already leads Microsoft in the cross-platform integration race (platforms being PCs and mobile devices) and Mountain Lion will serve to strengthen its hand.

* How much control will Apple assert over the ISV channel? You already need Apple’s sign-off to sell your software on its iTunes App Store or Mac App Store, although you can still sell Mac applications separately without the store. Will Apple entertain thoughts of complete ISV control of the Mac OS X platform as it does the iOS platform? Probably not. Backlash would be very severe and it’s not even all that clear that Apple would see an economic or market advantage from it. But it remains an option absent of any Apple declarations to the contrary.

Putting iOS and Mac OS X platforms on a path to a full merger means we may want to stay watchfull over how Apple works with its ISV ecosystem.

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Do We Even Need A Google Drive?

February 21, 2012

Google changed the way we find information, but can it change the way we store it?

That will very likely be an uphill battle. There are finite use patterns for how we store data on individual devices, and the same could be said for enterprise storage. They are all established, and woven into the way many of us do stuff. There’s:

- Heavy-duty (power) computing use, which continues to rely on great processors, efficient software and fast and deep on-board storage;

- Light-and-fast computing use, which can happen on either a laptop or tablet but which requires at least some support from on-board storage for quick retrieval of documents and applications;

- Ultra-mobility, which happens primarily through tablets but also through laptops like the MacBook Air or Samsung Series 9, where SSDs or HDDs are more for supporting fast-boot times than data storage. Here cloud storage has an emerging opportunity;

- Enterprise computing, where IT shops are so cautious at times with the security, management issues and cost risks associated with individual storage that some still refuse to expand employee e-mail capacity beyond 500 MB.

It’s hard to see how any Google cloud storage offering will alter any of these usage patterns. It’s hard to see how Google will offer anything more than a “me too” service. Will it integrate with Google Plus? Docs? Gmail? Android? Even if it does, Google cloud storage will still have the same bandwidth and availability challenges as all of the other services for mobility. And it will still have the same security, manageability and cost-effectiveness challenges as the enterprise cloud storage companies.

And consider these remarks from Guy Cress:

“I talk to a lot of Gartner clients who are looking for an enterprise alternative to Dropbox. If Google Drive is consumer-oriented, Google is missing a huge opportunity.”

(By the way, if you’re in an enterprise and you’re using Dropbox, you could creating a lot of risk. )

The problem is, for Google to reach a meaningful level of enterprise-readiness with Google Drive, we would need to see a level of R&D investment the likes of which we’ve already seen over the years by companies like EMC, HP, Dell, VMware and -- over the course of decades -- IBM. Google has some of the world’s smartest people, and a lot of cash, so that’s indeed possible. But the lion’s share of Google’s revenue comes from Web-based advertising, and client-side computing, so don’t expect a major drive into enterprise cloud storage by Google just yet.

The good news for Google in all of this is that nobody else has grabbed the mantle of cloud-storage frontrunner. Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s Sky Drive, Box.net, Dropbox all are grabbing slivers of the same pie for now. In the enterprise, Rackspace and a variety of others are doing, essentially, the same. There is yet to emerge a Microsoft or Intel of cloud storage.

Do we even need a Google Drive, for individuals or enterprises? Somehow, IT has managed to survive for a couple of decades without it. It could easily survive a couple more.

Unless Google can change the way we do things, it will just be a nice little option along with all the others.

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How Windows 8 Beta Could Underwhelm Us

February 08, 2012

Most of the PC-using corporate world is still in the middle, or even just at the early stages, of migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 and now along comes the Windows 8 beta in the next few weeks.

We’ve had the chance to look at the Windows 8 developer preview for a few months now, and we’ve got even more questions about Microsoft’s next-generation OS than we’ve ever had. As the weeks go by, we’re beginning to get that knot-in-the-stomach sensation that Windows 8 could be more like Windows Vista than Windows 7.

The Windows 8 beta could underwhelm us in three key areas. Because it will be beta software, and not a final release, there will be time for Microsoft to fix them. But depending on what we’ve seen from the developer release, they may not be quick fixes.

First of all, we’ve already been underwhelmed by the dearth of announcements by major Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that they will optimize their applications for the Metro interface that will come with Windows 8.

If you don’t believe new application software for a new platform is a big deal, just call over to HP’sTouchPad marketing department.

Metro has the ability to make desktop and laptop personal computing much more efficient and user-friendly, as well as optimize touch-based displays and use patterns. But let’s see Adobe Photoshop optimized for Metro and touch, or AutoCad.

Heck, let’s see some Microsoft software like Visio go there.

The fact that so few marquis ISVs are talking about their ground-breaking plans for Windows 8 applications is unsettling. Without major ISV buy-in or development for Windows 8 on PCs, the OS will be a tough sell.

Second, we’re not convinced that Windows 8 will offer enough value across hardware platforms to make it worth the disruption of upgrading right away.

Take a look at Apple. The look and feel of its iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion operating systems are distinctly different from each other -- even with the Launchpad added to Lion last year. But that doesn’t matter all that much because the applications leverage the iPhone, iPad and Mac hardware platforms equally well and with consistency. Applications like Facetime, iCal, Contacts, iTunes and Reminders work equally well on the mobile iOS devices as they do on the Mac.

From what we’ve seen in pre-releases of Windows 8 on industry-standard PCs, as well as Windows Phone 7 (which is very similar to Windows 8 Metro), there still appears to be a lack of consistency in how applications will function on different hardware platforms. You’ll still have to make significant adjustments in apps like Outlook and Skype between devices. That adds complexity that rivals like Apple and, to a lesser extent, Google, have been able to remove.

If the Windows 8 beta can’t show progress in breaking down complexity between hardware platforms, it will be a let down.

And, a third area of concern is migration costs. Even with Windows 7, which was a major improvement over Windows Vista, there were still ridiculous barriers to migration from one platform to the next. Early upgrades from Windows XP to Windows Vista gave many solution providers fits. When Windows 7 arrived, Microsoft refused to provide a straight upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7. Instead, it gave us silly, circuitous options like “Windows XP Mode” in Windows 7 and Windows 7 “downgrades” for enterprises that wanted a lot of lead time to make the upgrade.

With the lion's share of enterprise desktops still running Windows XP, who wants to bet that straight XP-to-Windows 8 upgrades will be just as slick? The Windows 8 beta will begin to provide us with some answers.

We’re rooting for Windows 8 because we love when technology gets better and enables us to do more, do it more efficiently, and do it better. But seeing will be believing and we’ll start to see in a few weeks.

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Three New Features For Business We Want In iPad 3

January 30, 2012

Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 have been, and continue to be, game-changers and it’s unclear in what direction the Cupertino, Calif.-will take the tablet when its next version is launched.

But given what we’ve seen from the Android side of the tablet market over the past year, and where Apple may face its toughest competition, we do believe there are some relatively easy adjustments Apple should make in the iPad that would make it an even easier sell for businesses.

Why should Apple focus on improving its platform for business now? For starters, the Android platform has been continuously becoming more business-friendly with PC companies like Samsung, Toshiba and Lenovo each throwing tons of R&D and new hardware features into the market. Microsoft will also begin targeting businesses with forthcoming Windows 8 tablets -- seducing enterprises with desktop application-compatibility.

As we noted, the iPad platform still maintains leadership. But let’s hope that its R&D folks can focus on three, straightforward flourishes that would boost iPad for business:

1. Biometric Security

Apple already provides password-protection and a support for a number of neat encryption apps. But fingerprint- , facial recognition- or retinal-scan features would make iPad an undeniable leader in mobile security. Apple could even call it the “iPad-Secure” version and charge an extra hundred bucks.

2. A metallic-silver finish to match MacBooks

Black and white options for the iPad are just so…black and white. By offering a metallic silver (with the Apple logo) as a design, Apple would provide a consistency to its lineup that makes sense and would be an instant hit. Look-and-feel consistency has been a reason why ThinkPads have traditionally done well in the corporate environment. That could help with Apple’s client devices as well.

3. Siri and business-ready voice recognition

Siri isn’t perfect (it’s actually, technically, still in beta.) But tablets are designed for mobility every bit as much as smart phones, and so iPads should be able to provide the same benefit of the Siri app as iPhones for those on the go or in untethered jobs. In particular, healthcare and legal vertical markets, where voice recognition and transcription are big deals, could see some ready benefits.

It’s now somewhat of a parlor game to try and predict when Apple will launch its next iPad and, when it does, what it will look like. But in the event the R&D folks in Cupertino are still at it, they now have our wish list. It’s not lengthy, but these features would help keep daylight between iPad and Android tablets.

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