Does SOFTware Make Things Hard?

Windows has announced they are thinking about launching and introducing Windows 8 in 2012. It seems as though Windows has come out with a new update every two years or so like clockwork.

When I bought my laptop a little over three years ago, it came with Windows Vista. Since then, they have come out with Windows 7 and now they are thinking about Windows 8. I had just bought the computer after XP was considered outdated. So within four years, there has been four software updates and operating system changes to the PC community.

This is an example of things becoming harder because of technology. People will now have to devote more time to learning a new operating system rather than keep using their old system they are familiar with. I am positive that the new system will have upgrades and make certain tasks easier, but I don't think the new system will make drastic changes that will totally affect the operations. I think staying with a consistent method of work would allow people to stay more efficient and also allow for more information transfer since others would be using different systems.

There could be a situation where there are four different people working on something with four different operating systems and software systems. This could lead to lost information, changed information or other miscommunication.

I think this is an example of technology changing too fast and not bringing with it necessary upgrades to encourage change.

Apple Continues Growth

In this article that talks about things we have learned from Apple in the past year, it shows many trends that I find interesting. It speaks of Apple thinking about buying and merging with a lot of different entities such as something like facebook. It doesn’t say specifically, but something like that would be huge for Apple. The other thing the article mentions is that the iPad is gaining ground in the enterprise and the market they are targeting. The third learning point is that the iPhone is in a race with the android. And finally, we see that Mac sales are increasing.

If Apple merges or buys a bigger company, then that will be a huge event in the media world. Apple already has a leading edge on technology, now if they can buy the company that serves another purpose such as social networking or other information lookup, then they can be the leader in information services and technology services. That would make their product untouchable. They would be the leader in updates and improvements.

The fact that the iPad is gaining sales means that people are moving more and more to mobile computing and the iPhone is not covering their needs. The iPad offers such a better display and such that is attractive to consumers. If the iPad offers more capabilities in terms of software, then sales could skyrocket even more. This leads to the next point of the iPhone sales being in a battle with the Android. This does not mean, in my opinion, that the iPhone is losing its advantage, it just means that there are more options out there, and the people that may have bought an iPhone are now buying an iPad, or changing technologies based on other factors like service or price of cell-phone carriers.

The increase in Mac sales shows me that consumers are worried about having a centralization between the things they do. They don’t want a PC and an iPhone and have to worry about compatibility issues. Having an iPad or an iPhone and then a Mac computer on top of that would make the work from home rather seamless and make workers more efficient.

http://www.cio.com/article/623274/7_Innovation_Secrets_of_Steve_Jobs_

Computer On The Go Phone Coming Out

Windows and AT&T have teamed up and have announced a windows 7 phone that is coming out in the next few days.

While the phone may have to compete with the iphone, it is still very important and exciting to me. I feel as though this is another big step to having an even smarter smart phone. Iphones and droids have so much ability and potential to be a stand-alone device rather than a supplementary device.

Iphones still do not use flash or other software programs that are not installed on the phone itself. Having a windows 7 phone may encourage the iphone to create more of a computer operating software on it so they can access all of the computer programs that a regular computer can. If phones add another device like this and can have a system that is the same as the computers people use, this would be a huge step in making work easier and the transfer of data from one place to another more seamless.

I can't wait to see what impact this has on Iphone and other smart phone sales, but also what it does to the next generation of Iphones.