March 14, 2013
by sjvn01
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So, will Google call it hybrid Android/Chrome operating system? Will it be Chromezoid? Android OS? ChromeDroid OS? ChromeAndrogeny!?
We still don’t know that Google will be marrying Chrome OS and Android into one operating system. But Sundar Pichai, the head of all things Chrome at Google is replacing Andy Rubin, Android’s founder, as Android’s top dog. I think that says a lot.
Android plus Chrome OS equals Google’s future operating system. More >
March 14, 2013
by sjvn01
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I get why so many people are upset that Google is closing down its RSS Web service, Google Reader. There’s even a “keep Google Reader alive” petition that’s already crossed the 50,000 signers mark. But, you could argue that the decade-plus old RSS technology has already seen its best days. And, besides, there are lots of other RSS readers. Google killing off CalDAV, though, now that’s a real problem.
CalDAV, for those who don’t know it, is an open standard for Web-based calendar services. It’s used in Apple’s iCal, Mozilla’s Calendar Project-based programs, and a host of other calendaring, e-mail, and groupware programs. It’s as close to a lingua franca for calendaring applications as we have, and now Google will only be supporting it for “whitelisted developers, and will be shut down for other developers on September 16, 2013.”
Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don’t kill CalDAV. More >
March 13, 2013
by sjvn01
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In a surprising move, Google CEO Larry Page said that Andy Rubin, founder of Android and Google’s Android chief, has decided it was “time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google. Sundar Pichai will lead Android as well as Chrome.
Google, which acquired Android in 2005, made it the heart of its mobile operating system movement. By May 2010, under Rubin’s direction, Android phones had become the best selling phone operating system in the U.S. Today, according to Gartner, Android dominates the mobile market with almost 70% of global devices.
March 13, 2013
by sjvn01
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Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s parent company, has an ambitious plan with a short time-frame: One operating system for computers, smartphones, tablets and TVs by early 2014. One problem with this is how do you get there fast enough and one answer, rolling releases, has got developers upset. Now, Canonical and Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has a new proposal on how to handle rolling releases.
March 12, 2013
by sjvn01
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Some people are still stuck in the idea that the cloud is just so much vapor. While they’re still sneering at the very idea of a cloud, others have moved on to the next logical step: That cloud-based computing will replace the PC.
As Jason Perlow, Senior Technology Editor at ZDNet and Microsoft Technology Solution Professional, recently put it, “It seems some of you find the cloud … threatening. And that you’ll move to the cloud kicking and screaming, holding your personal computer and your local data with your gritty nails dug into your laptops, external drives, and NAS appliances, tearing at them with whatever last lingering bit of life force you have left in you before you’ll accept the inevitable.”
And what is inevitable?; According to Perlow it’s that “The cloud is coming for you whether you like it or not. The cloud cannot be stopped. Your data and user experience will be
It’s not just Perlow. Gartner predicted last year that the cloud will replace the PC as the center of users’ digital lives by 2014. Certainly the vendors are betting on this.
That was the vision Steve Jobs had in mind for Apple’s iCloud. Google’s Chrome OS, and its associated Chromebooks, is all about making the cloud the center of the computing experience. And even Microsoft is getting into the act with more advanced online services such as Office 365.
So, will most of us be doing our computing on the cloud in 2014? I don’t think so.
March 11, 2013
by sjvn01
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Can the Windows 8 operating system be saved? In all seriousness, Microsoft should be asking itself this question.
The numbers don’t lie. Windows 8’s market acceptance is continuing to fall behind Microsoft’s last desktop operating system failure, Vista. Asus, which had been a big Windows 8 booster, is now reporting poor sales and Samsung has decided not to bother with launching a Windows 8 tablet in the lucrative German market.
Simply chopping prices drastically for Windows 8 and Office 2013 for mini-tablets isn’t going to cut it. Neither Windows 8 nor its close relatives, Windows RT and Windows Phone 8, even appear on NetApplication’s mobile and tablet usage reports for February 2013. Nor, do I think discount prices on Windows 8 for PCs would help much. There are also lots of cheap Windows 8 PCs and they’re not selling well.
So what can Microsoft do to give Windows 8 a shot? Here are my proposals.