What IS a "PC" Anyway?

I've been thinking about PCs lately (as in "Personal Computers" not "Politically Correct"). When us old timers think of a "PC" we generally think of that first IBM PC or the Apple II - with the glowing green screen, and a hip, cool user interface called DOS.

I bet if you asked my kids what "PC" means - they would say "Politically Correct" (hopefully). To them, there is no concept of a "personal" computer because they grew up in a world where all computers are "personal." In their limited experience these computing devices are the default:

1. A computer (or two) in your house
2. A mobile telephone ("but my phone sucks - I need a smartphone")
3. A tablet
4. An e-reader
5. A XBOX 360 (or Wii)
6. A handheld (non-phone) gaming platform
7. Video screen in the car
8. Streaming custom radio station based on your music preferences (e.g. Pandora, Spotify)

We of the older generation didn't have any of these things growing up. Here's our list:

1. A rock
2. A cardboard box
3. Duct Tape
4. 5 Hot Wheels cars
5. Hammer and nails
6. Firecrackers (or some other equally dangerous explosives)
7. Pong (if you were LUCKY!)
8. 8 track tapes - and then cassettes (if you were a 1%er back then)

When "personal" computers came out - it was a revolutionary concept. "A computer in every home" was such a far-fetched idea that it simply boggled the imagination.

Once the PC came out - there was a "war." The war between operating systems that has raged for 20+ years. Microsoft became the dominant player - because they were first with some business applications that went along with the hardware that IBM was selling into businesses.

Apple was trying (sort of) to do the same thing - but they focused less on business and more on education and the hobbyist. The techie. The artistic nerds.

And so the battle "raged" on (not really - because Apple only had 3% to 5% of the worldwide market, anyway). There are passionate "Windows" guys, and passionate "Mac" aficionados - and even a small sect of Linux lovers.

Then, came the iPhone. The paradigm of what computing "should be" and "could be" changed. Forever. A phone with no buttons. A phone that was a slab of glass. A phone that could surf the web. A phone that could contain "apps" that would amuse/help/inform/guide/save-your-sorry-lost-butt... a phone that would (later) include FaceTime video conferencing (hello, Jetsons!)...

Then, came the Android phone.

Then came the iPad.

Then came the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Then came the end of the "personal computer."

What's coming next?

There's talk of a Facebook phone running a modified version of Android (yes, a Facebook Operating System... *groan* ) so you could obsessively update your status 24/7. There are already 5 variants of tablets coming in the next quarter - and desktop computer sales have fallen off considerably. Mac OS X for non-phone, non-tablet computers has been re-vamped to include features from the iOS version. Microsoft is jonesing to get their Windows 7 Phone platform going with Nokia.

There are free applications for personal music, personal text messaging, group text chat, group video chat. We can Linkedin our Tublr Facebook Twitter stream with our Flickr YouTube Picasa stream to broadcast our lives in realtime.

We have phones with 5-10 megapixel cameras. That also do VIDEO. That we can upload LIVE at the event!

We can buy books, movies, TV shows with a single click from our phone then watch them on our TV at home - or on our laptop on an airplane.

Yes, the term "PC" ("Personal Computing") is as dead as Flash. Information is becoming a a commodity - sharing our pictures, where we are, what we "like" and what we stand for in a live 24 hour per day, 7 day per week stream - now that is personal computing.

How Your Phone Gets Hacked [INFOGRAPHIC]

I was having a conversation with a group of people not too long ago - and I got a lot of questions about port sniffing and vulnerabilities while surfing at your favorite "free" wifi outlet. Here's a handy-dandy infographic to help you figure it out:



source

Credit, Debit or Smartphone?

Lately there's been a lot of noise about NFC - better known as "Near Field Communications" coming to smartphones here in the US. "What is NFC" you ask? It's basically a "contact-less" way to pay for things. There's a little transmitter that will transmit your payment information to a reader so that you don't need to swipe a plastic credit/debit card.

Non MS OSes Gaining Ground

In order to celebrate my 300th blog entry - I decided to revert to one of my favorite topics: slamming Microsoft... and predicting the demise of this (truly) evil empire.

In what is just the latest in a long history of time-sucking, headache-inducing, blood-pressure-raising events - I stupidly set the auto-update of my parent's aging Dell (XP Professional) to on.

When it decided to do an SP3 update - it hosed the boot block of the hard drive. So, I used the recover CD to "repair" the install, issue a DOS "fixboot" and "chkdsk" commands - and go it to book back into windows.

The BAD news is that as soon as one of the profiles is clicked on - the installation script - in its infinite wisdom and desire to "help" - promptly resumed where it left off and proceeded to hose the boot block again.

The end result is that my parents have a useless computer - with outdated backups, and now I need to spend the better part of 2 days doing a full wipe/install/update.

THANKS Microsoft! Awesome QA!

Yes, I know - just because I'm pissed off about having to restore yet ANOTHER install of Windows (I've done it on my own machines countless times) - I'm really at the point of turning Windows into my occasionally-used-for-testing-only operating system.

I'm just sick of it. Sick of the 10 minute boot time, sick of the endless patches, sick of Service Packs that render printers useless, sick of the bloat, just sick of the OS, period.

So, I did a little looking around the Internet - and I'm seeing that there are LOTS more people just as fed up as I am - AND they're voting with their dollars.

People are into "mobile" and anything "small" and "portable."

I mean, really - when was the last time you bought a "desktop" computer? Sure, there are uses for dedicated desktop boxes for things like video-editing, music composing, hard-core software development, etc.

But, in the main, people are buying laptops - and now, netbooks.

Ah, netbooks. Netbooks are the new Model T - but they come in more colors than just black. And with more than one choice in processors. And with more than one choice of operating system.

These (usually) sub-$500 machines come with solid state 128MB hard drives, 1-2 GB of RAM, a VGA-out port (ok, ok, so the 1024 x 768 resolution sucks), a battery that lasts between 5 and 9 hours and an operating system that can be Windows XP, Ubuntu, and now - TA DA - Android (for less than $300!).

The combination of the price point, the capabilities and the fact that most people use their computers to surf the web, check email, do some word processing and spreadsheets - oh, and play games - and viola! It's huge hit in the making.

"Sure, sure", you're saying - "but that's just on the consumer side. Everyone knows that consumers will jump at anything that's inexpensive and shiny."

That's true - but these consumers WILL buy and adopt - and that WILL force corporate IT (and web designers, and major company webmasters) to sit up and take notice. Ever hear of the iPhone? Look what a profound change has (is) occurring because of it... sits have dedicated iPhone "versions" of their sites, IT has been forced to make MS Exchange work nice, and IT - at the end of the day - has had to bow to the mighty forces of "cool" and "useful" over their (in some cases) strenuous objections.

"Well, OK" - you concede. "But Windows is more than just a consumer OS - it's what powers more than half of all the back end servers in the world."

Yep - for sure. However, Linux is no slouch with almost 1 in 3 computers using that OS for their back end servers. Linux, in its various distributions and forms, has been battle-tested and has been proven in the real world over time. Linux isn't going away any time soon.

Sure, it won't displace Windows Server in the near term - but I think the adoption rates will flip-flop as more and more consumers get used to non-Windows devices. As consumers drive the adoption of more non-Windows devices and as more IT folks get used to supporting non-Windows devices - it's only logical that IT's adoption of non-Windows devices will increase as well.

Will the "winner" be Android? Or Oracle's Solaris? Or Ubuntu? Or Red Hat? Or some new operating system not invented yet? Dunno... all I know is - the sooner the better!

It's A Cloud, Cloud, Cloud World

I had my iPhone cranked up listening to my "favorites" channel and just let my mind wonder.... and in one of my rare moments of clarity - I was thinking about the future of computing. I come to the decision that the future of computing will not be about hardware, or operating systems, or which applications are "better" than others - it will all come down to a single thing: the screen.

Yep, that's it. The screen.

I think that the computing experience for most people (within the next 10 years) will be based around cloud services that are delivered to whatever device you happen to be using. Those devices could be fixed - like your TV, or to a thin PC, or a laptop-like device (nettop, netbook, laptop), or even your mobile phone.

The days of installing patches and fixes and hot fixes will be a thing of the past - since your operating system will be running in the cloud - there will be some poor IT schmoe someplace that has to deal with all the hassles and compatibility problems - and your system will just always be "up to date."

You'll always have the latest versions of all the software you use - or "subscribe" to - and you'll pay for computing services much the way you do for electricity or phone service. Companies will vie for your business by providing content "channels" that you can subscribe to.

If you like the Apple OS - then subscribe to the Apple Channel. Prefer Vista? Too bad, Microsoft won't have a channel until they see that Apple has dominated the space and then will try to build their entirely own complete service rather than just have a channel that people can subscribe to... but I digress.

These software (and services) "channels" would all co-exist in your main "session" - and would be available (and configurable) as either icons or as services that are already running. You could just switch between channels the way you do now - with Alt+Tab or by clicking an icon.

There would be free channels (like basic cable) - and then premium content (I predict that porn folks will be an early adopter) would be available. Whether you're interested in sports and want to see live video, or have an instance of a browser loaded with links to all your favorite teams - it's all pre-configured in the "ESPN Sports Channel."

Likewise, if you're a news junkie, love cooking, or can't get enough celebrity gossip - the content will be available in a unified manner. Video, websites, applications, premium content - ready to go and able to be delivered on whatever device you're watching where ever you are.

The issue of whether to buy a new Xbox or Playstation will be a thing of the past. You can have both - just subscribe to the channel(s). It will come with some basic games, and you can add others on a rental basis - or as a flat fee (like today). Rather than having 200 game jewel cases lying around - the game provider would collect payment and install the instance of the game on in your session. It would be ready nearly instantly.

What about the more "mundane" tasks of email, presentations, collaboration, word processing and (the dreaded) spreadsheet? Those would all be handled at an "at work" channel. It could be branded by your company - and you can have a "home office" channel as well as a "London office" channel. All your data will be stored just as you left it - files in folders like you have today.

There would be some limited local storage for the rare occasion you're not connected to the network - documents will be stored and forwarded when you connect again. Each channel would make certain applications available offline (although not all apps) - but it really won't be an issue. We'll look at good, reliable access to the Internet like we do electricity and sewer services. It will be everywhere - mostly all the time.

You'll be able to easily move data between channels and have all your documents accessible from all the other channels as well. You can seamlessly share and collaborate with others - with text or video like you can today with instant messaging and video chat.

In other words - your computing experience will be amazingly similar to what it is today, and all you have to buy is a HDTV, mobile phone or other device of your choice - and chances are you already have all the hardware you'll need.

Rather than tossing (or donating) that "old" cell phone or laptop or desktop - you can just pick up a new one at any store, kiosk or outlet - log into your provider and whammo - all your stuff is there. No more local backups (but you can if you want to), no more downloading and installing programs over on the new computer, the hours of setup, the restoration of all your preferences - it will all "just work."

Yes, I think the pendulum is swinging back to the "centralized" computer model. That's why mainframes haven't gone away - they've just been waiting for this next round of "what's old is new." Well, the time is coming.

The virtualization software is getting better and better and cheaper and cheaper. The delivery mechanisms for delivering the specific user sessions and price of mass online storage are nearing the zero mark. There are some technical and infrastructure hurdles, to be sure - but it's all within the realm of what's happening in terms of growing consumer (and business) acceptance of SaaS applications and cheap, commodity hosted virtual systems.

And now - with the Obama White House printing money like it's going out of style for infrastructure upgrades - I'm hopeful that within 5 years I will be able to actually have ONE cell conversation without having one side or the other drop.... but that's another story.

Apple: All Your GUI Are Belong To Us

Some of the biggest complaints about the new Google phone is its lack of multi-t0uch interface. You can thank Apple for that.

Palm is trying now to figure out how to not have the bejezus sued out of itself for having multi-touch capabilities on their soon-to-be-shipped Pre phone. You can also thank Apple for that.

It all stems from Patent No. 7,479,949 (originally filed in September 2007) that covers the multi-touch interface and all its gestures (swipe, pinch, rotation, etc.) that are used on the iPhone.

How heavily is Apple going to protect this new patent? The day after the patent was awarded, Apple COO Tim Cook warned any potential iPhone competitors about Apple's stance: "...[Apple] will not stand for having our (intellectual property) ripped off, and we'll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal."

Whoa, Tim - don't blow a gasket, man! We know you guys came up with the multi-touch interface and that it's THE competitive advantage that sets the iPhone apart from all the other handset makers. Relax!

Yes, we all know Steve is on leave, and you don't want anyone to accuse you of sinking the ship while he's gone - but dude, take a chill.

There's this really cool thing - it's called "licensing." See, here's how it works: you retain ownership of the intellectual property and then you "license" it to other people so they can use it in their handsets as well. This way you make an absolute boatload of money, and the general consumer wins by getting a device that's really useful.... oh. Wait. Now I get it.

You figure that since every other handset maker on EARTH can come up with a much more feature-laden handset at a much lower price... that if you license the multi-touch stuff to them - then no one will ever buy another iPhone again?

Yeah, you got me there.

The good news is that your stock would be able to break 100 and you would have "recurring revenue" (that's where you make money over time rather than on one-off purchases). Hmmmm.... but what about the fact that you're now using that multi-touch stuff in your trackpads on your laptops as well?

This whole "licensing" thing might mean that other companies might come out with a device that would clean your clock, right? Something... oh I don't know... like a netbook with a 10.5 inch screen that would operate as a laptop, phone, tablet, music player, etc.?

Yeah, you got me again.

So, hats off to the foresight to Mr. Jobs again - it looks like it will be a Small Apple World after all.

Turning Your Phone Into A PC

Microsoft is still trying to take over the world. This time, they're after your phone. No, they didn't come out with a new version of their Windows Mobile operating system - instead they've basically patented a device that's a uber docking station.

The thought here is similar to one I voiced back in June 2008 - the coming of "PocketTops." As smart phones get smarter and more powerful - the benefit of the form factor (small enough to fit in your pocket) becomes its biggest liability (you can fit it in your pocket). If you've ever tried to type anything more than a short email on these things - you know what I'm talking about.

Even the iPhone - which is mostly screen - is tedious to view large numbers of sites (not to mention the lack of a way to display Flash stuff), and really doesn't have enough storage on it to replace even a cheap netbook.

What if you were able to take your smart phone and dock it like a laptop? You could then use connected full size keyboard, mouse, monitor and have access to all your peripherals as well. Of course, there would have to be some kind of "glue" to translate phone commands into commands that the connected objects would understand, and of course there would need to be storage for drivers, and some other goodies for managing ports, etc.

Hey! I know! How about a thing called... "a computer"? That would work!

Yep, Microsoft basically just patented the computer. However, they knew they couldn't just patent the computer, that would be too broad... so they applied for and just received a patent for a "Smart Interface System For Mobile Computing Devices."

It's more than just a "cradle" - it slices, it dices, it transcodes video, it send keyboard and mouse streams to the device... and if you act right now - you'll get a free toaster.

On the surface it sounds like a pretty cool idea. When you think about it a bit more - it blows. Why? Do you really want another device that's basically a computer - running some crazy subset of Windows Vista (only "lighter") that has to talk to your phone (Windows Mobile, only - no doubt).

Why not just create a "dumb" dock that will do the same thing via software? Seems to me that it would be a lot easier to keep your nettop or laptop - and have an all-in-one device that is portable and useable, rather than just a dumb computer that can only act like a glorified USB cable.

The idea is OK - it's just the execution that is a bit tedious. I think in the future there will be a computer that you can fit into your pocket (ok, ok - so most smart phones are already more powerful than the 386 clones of yesteryear) - but there's a lot of work that needs to be done on the peripherals side to make it all work.

For example big screens that you can just unroll or unfold, keyboards that can be projected on to any surface (or at least ones that are rollable and small), a wireless USB standard that would do away with the need for wires and cables, etc.

The fact of the matter is - the state of peripherals is getting very close. All of the things I just mentioned are either on the market or are coming this year. The handsets are getting much more powerful - and I predict we'll see our first multi-core model by late 2009 or early 2010. We already have solid state drives coming into the marketplace, 5 megapixel mobile phone cameras, and some projectors that are the size of a pack of cigarettes.

The idea of a PocketTop is coming - but I just hope it's the way it "should" be - rather than the way Microsoft sees it.

Fred Flintstone Tech in White House

I was reading a story in the Washington Post about President Obama's campaign team was met with Flintstone-esque computers and software on their first day in the White House.

It seems that the Mac-loving staffers were greeted by outdated computers running a 6 YEAR old version of Microsoft Word, no cell phones, were forbidden to use outside email addresses, forbidden to use IM, were told they couldn't use Facebook... and were basically cut off from their digital "life lines."

Yeah, that's the kind of welcome you're hoping for after running one of the most tech-savvy campaigns in history.

NOT!

I can only imagine the let down and the general de-motivation they felt (and probably still are). First of all, for a Mac user to be forced to use a PC is bad enough - but a vintage one running vintage software to boot? Oh yeah, on a DESKTOP machine (whatever that is!) - say it ain't so!

Now, I get the need for the White House systems to be secure, and for there to be processes and regulations regarding what can and casn't be done. I'm also aware that all the "official" work has to be saved under the Presidential Records Act. I have no problem there.

But, one would think that one of the technological superpowers of the world - a country in which the computer revolution was invented - a country that touts one of the most innovative hardware and software epicenters (Silicon Valley) - maybe, perhaps, could get a freaking clue.

After the moronic here's-some-money-with-no-strings-attached bank bailout (version 1.0), and the ill-conceived billions more thrown at antiquated, stupid and wasteful car companies - maybe there's no money left to update the hardware to run Vista - that part I can understand.

However, I'm sure that Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, William Amelio, or Mark Hurd could would be more than willing to cough-up some hardware - and probably Mr. Jobs and Mr. Ballmer would trip all over themselves to offer up a few gratis licenses of their current software.

Make a phone call, people! Oh, that's right - you can't. Well, borrow a quarter, drive to a 7-11 and use something called a "pay phone" ( TIP: Call collect and save the taxpayers some dough, while you're at it) - but make the call.

As for security - we have a couple of little-known agencies called the "FBI" and "NSA" and "CIA" (all with secret budgets, by the way) that just MIGHT be able to help you get some secure phones, secure laptops and can PROBABLY work out how to keep the Viagra spammers from getting the launch codes even though you use Gmail and Facebook. Call them, people!

Barak Obama is the President of the United States of America. One of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. He has promised a new era of transparency into the workings of government, into updating our national infrastructure. We're going to spend over 1 TRILLION dollars helping rescue the economy from the effects of corrupt, stupid and greedy business people - and the Chief Executive's staff can't get a laptop and a cell phone?

Yeah, America - at least we have our priorities straight...

Palm's Pre = iPhone Killer?

Yesterday, Palm (you know, the guys that INVENTED the PDA!) - came out hibernation with a new device they're calling the "Pre" (pronounced PREE). Yes, it's yet another handset with yet another operating system. We all need THAT like a hole in the head, I agree... but I digress...

It has most of the features that you would expect if you were designing a new handset from scratch (and take 3+ years to do it!). It has built-in GPS, WiFi (b & g flavors), BlueTooth, IM, MMS, and SMS, built-in Exchange support (in addition to POP and IMAP), 8GB internal storage, micro USB 2.0 connector, removable battery, based on Linux, fast Webkit browser (same underlying engine as Safari), etc.

It's not expected to ship until the end of Q2 and will only be available on the Sprint Network. No pricing or plan details have emerged yet - but somehow I think it will be compatible with the Google G1 phone and (probably) less expensive than the iPhone.

However, there are a couple of pretty interesting things about the Pre that are revolutionary and that I predict will show up in other handset/OS offerings in the future:

Slide-out QWERTY keyboard - AND a touch screen
All apps (including Palm's own built-in apps) are HTML/CSS/JavaScript
Multiple applications run at the same time (and retain their state)
A new wireless "Touchstone" charging system (lay the phone on it - and it charges - when you get a call while charging it automatically answers when you pick it up)

So, is this thing an iPhone killer? Dunno. All I've really seen is some great in-depth coverage by Engadget so it's not really "fair" to compare it to the current iPhone.

BUT... there are some things that are missing in the 1.0 version that I'm not so sure I could do without like no International Roaming (or International version - as yet) and no graphics layer for gaming.

In addition, there were only sketchy details about the SDK and how they are going to distribute 3rd party applications (they will obviously have their own version of an "App Store-like" site). There's also about 1,000,000 more unanswered questions about data storage, built-in SQL databases, how application release management will work, etc., etc.

It's sort of nice to see Palm (what's left of it) come back into the mainstream. Their device looks pretty interesting (more so than the Google G1 Android phone I demoed) - and they have some really good ideas. But, as always - the devil is in the details - and right now there aren't that many of them. Time will tell if this little baby has what it takes to take on the iPhone.

I hope that Apple doesn't drop the ball, and just start pumping out "nano" versions of the iPhone - but I hope they really get their act together and come out with an even cooler, even more innovative product sometime in 2009.

Wireless-Ish

Editor's NOTE: This is a moldie oldie that I pulled from a text dump archive. None of the links will work anymore (or 99% won't) - but the names and companies have NOT changed.

Every consumer magazine, trade magazine, computer magazine, and ezine are hyping wireless "solutions" these days. Today's writers and software vendors are shouting the the new mantra from the mountain tops: "m-commerce" (Mobile Commerce). M-Commerce? Give me a break. I'm having a hard enough time getting a reliable CELL PHONE connection - never mind a secure, e-commerce connection. Seriously, there are parts of the metro Los Angeles area that don't have normal, plain old cellular coverage. And forget it if you're "off the beaten trail", or you're in the mountains, or you're - gasp - actually moving when using your wireless device.

Yes, I know, there are more and more towers going up all the time, and the phone are getting "smarter" and can connect to a wider range of signals (analog and digial) - but it just plain "don't work" too much of the time. Even if you had 100% clean, reliable coverage I'm not conviced that people will try to buy much of anything on phone with a 3 line display. I mean, really, are YOU looking forward to "tapping" your way through entering your name, shipping address, phone number, email, credit card number and expiration date out on a cell phone? Let's see...

22 = B
666 = O
22 = B
0 = space
222 = C
88 = U
7777 = S
444 = I
222 = C
55 = K

25 "taps" for my name. Rrrrriiiight. Homey don't play that. OK, you say, what it might not be practical on a cell phone - but how about a PDA. It's much easier to "type" on one of those. I agree - but no matter how much I love my Palm Vx (and I DO love it!) - and assuming I bought the $300 wireless modem and paid the $35 per month for service - I STILL wouldn't do it that often. Why? Too much work. Instead I'd just wait until I got to a wired public access point (another much-hyped, "didn't really work out" technology of two years ago) and use my computer to connect with a fast, secure connection.

You've gotta' crawl before you can run. Just because you CAN connect to the web on a cell phone or PDA - why would you? A more logical first step first step could be the implementation of BlueTooth and other wireless networking technology infrastructure in places I'm likely to be (airports, hotels, and in the home) - THEN having an alternative INPUT device would be great. But still, even then, people will will have to click, type, tap or scrawl to place an order. This is less than ideal. Generally, people want things to be easy - especially if they're parting with money for goods or services. We really need something as easy to use, as intuitive, as... oh I don't know... a phone.

For "m-commerce" - or anything wireless beyond stock updates - to become truely pervasive we need voice-activation. I mean, my parents (not the most tech-saavy people on the planet) have to be able to use it. I'm not talking about some super-charged voicemail-hell type of application ("...press 1 to order, enter your 16 digit account number followed by the pound sign...") but a true, voice-activiate, intelligent application ("...buy FileMaker Pro Unlimited using my American Express Card and ship to my home address..."). THAT will be the "killer application" of 2002 (?), not "m-commerce" on a cell phone.