Return to the Post data scientist era

When I started in the world of computing in the early eighties it was in the hands of the data scientists.  i.e People that had degrees and ran the mainframes typical of the times.  When Personal computing had appeared it had been natural for them to manage this.

Their approach was the same as the approach they had used previously. To control anyone using computers.  To be fair in those days PCs were very expensive and much more fragile than current PCs.  People were actually afraid of them, concerned that one wrong press of a key would bring the death of the computer and their career in one stroke.  This seems strange to people today, however it allowed the computer centres to remain in control.

Into that arena was injected people like myself,   early "digital natives".  Yes I know there is controversy over this term however I maintain it to be better than millennials or any other generation based term.  Digital natives implies people that are comfortable in the digital domain, and though many more sprouted in the late 90s and onward, some of us were already there by then.  We entered this arena along with Gen and Windows and took to it.  We used its flexibility and our wits to make the computers do what the business needed.  We did this while the computing departments insisted we used text based interfaces and software until they were ready for graphical interfaces.  Eventually we could do almost everything we wanted without the computer centres and they became relegated dis-empowered.

Fast forward to the 2000s and we started to deploy windows in a standardised way, largely because it was somewhat unreliable at that point.  Patching then was only done rarely yet the increasing threat landscape forced something better.  We deployed standard PCs with packaged software in an application repository and we locked them down so that people could do only what we let them.  Often this would take quite some time and the business just had to swallow this and wait.  We fell into this as the only way of working to keep costs down and unwittingly became the very computer centre that we had destroyed years before.

Late 00s saw the rise of cloud computing and of Apple and its iPad.  Apple essentially marketed a device already locked down.  They provided the application repository, turning it into a shop.  They provided the regular updates the devices needed and they made the device simple to use.  Essentially they reset computing.  In the 10s Windows 10 appeared, and it has matured rapidly.  A new major version of it is now released every 6 months, a 10 times increase in speed compared to the past.  Along with this Microsoft's Office 365 environment has matured at similar breakneck speed.  With the release of Windows 10s earlier this year and the functionality to server Win32 applications out of the App store Windows too is moving into that more strongly managed environment.

The techies and the IT departments won't like that, the innocent users however will.  No more will they have to wrestle with where to get software.  No more will they need to trust that the download site they found really did make sure the software is safe for them.  Techies know how to do this, frequently though their parents and friends do not.  If I had asked for a Tenner for every piece of advice thus given I would be a rich man.

Where am I going with this?  Well it seems to me that we are again approaching a time where the rigid control of the computer centre can be broken.  Business departments can buy computers from anywhere assured that they are safe.  They can access and pay for software that they need and can sign up to cloud services that can provide a lot of their functionality.  They need to do this because they are working in a world that is changing faster than their IT department is willing to.  Similarly the suppliers are doing the same, making changes so fast that IT departments cannot keep pace.

At this turning point we have to decide what to do.  Do we dig in our heals and fight back?  Or do we turn and face, help the business find the value.  Make sure they are picking secure and appropriate cloud services.  Negotiate the best deals on licensing and work with MS and others to develop company specific stores.  Rewrite internal applications to be deliverable out of the MS store.  Help people get the best value from the cloud services and computers they have.  I know which I think we should do, I suspect many IT departments are picking the same route as the computer scientists though.  Which route will you pick?

Too many names for a cloud

The other day I met with a friend, and it soon became clear that our views on the use of cloud differed considerably.  For me I think the problem is that the market became muddied when multiple levels of cloud got added into the picture.  I don't see levels,  I see cloud and not cloud and they are very different.  Hybrid Cloud, Private cloud and all these other names are a distraction.  These are what had confused my friend who could only see cloud as another name for outsourcing.

It became clear that this would happen in the early days.  Cloud became the thing to do and vendors of file servers started coming to me trying to sell me a "Private Cloud".  Of course this was really just the same file server, sometimes without even any virtualisation on it.  Later, as it became clear that internet connection speeds could not yet support centralisation of everything, the "Hybrid cloud" appeared.  I.e. the best of both worlds, yet actually just a cloud and a non cloud service.

For me the clear difference between a cloud service and a non cloud service is scalability.  With true cloud services you can add and subtract the number of people using it and the costs for using the service also go up or down in proportion.  Nobody ever tells you that you need to wait while new equipment is acquired or that there is not capacity.  The one caveat is you use the cloud as you find it, you cannot have anything they currently do no supply.  It may come later, but it will not be created for you.

This is not true of "Private cloud" and outsourced services once you reach capacity you will need a significant investment to add the one more person.  You can have it customised to any form of functionality that you require, but this is just the hook that will keep you paying and keep you away from true cloud.

Both Cloud and not cloud are valid, there are commodity services that you will use the cloud for and other services that add key business value or USP and you will keep those in house.  These may even be developed yourself.   The truth is it just isn't necessary to give these vital in house services a "cloud" moniker to keep the CEO happy.

With a more binary view perhaps people would be less confused and get the right value out of both ways of providing services.

Ahead of the announcements expected next week I came across this link to day that suggests that Microsoft has rediscovered the importance of the pen at last.  Cross Platform Linking.  This combined with a surface mini / maxi next week could start to put them back on track.

I have to say the cloud strategy seems to be coming together and some of the things coming out of teched last week were spot on.  It starts to feel a bit like the old Microsoft may be coming back.  I suspect the One Microsoft strategy is what is causing this rather than the new CEO but none the less it is welcome.  I've started to look forward to what is coming rather than dreading it.

Windows 8 finally getting cleaner

For those that use a computer with windows 8 the new update just made Windows Store Apps much more integrated.  It looks to me like Microsoft finally realised that people that use computers work differently to those that use a tablet.  For the first 18 months of its life Windows 8 has had a split personality, now that disorder is showing signs of clearing up.

The update added some simple features but these make using it with a mouse much more simple.  For example if you now open a Windows Store App it will still cover the whole of your screen.  If you move your mouse to the top of the screen though a bar appears at the top of it that has the familiar System, Minimise and close buttons.  This acts to make the WSA feel much more a part of the computing experience.  In addition to this you can also pin the windows store apps to the taskbar so they become more integrated in the desktop experience as a whole.

With the ability to run these apps in a window following along shortly and a rumoured start button that allows access to the combined WSA/Legacy portfolio windows is starting to feel a lot more like windows again.  This has strangely meant that I am using more windows store apps.  Undoubtedly what Microsoft has wanted to achieve, a shame that it took this long to get here but this is now starting to work quite well.  Give it a try if you have been avoiding windows 8.

Windows 8.1 adding value by adding Windows.

After some time with Windows 8 it looks like Microsoft has finally realised that the true value in windows IS windows.  Though tomorrows update1 for Windows 8.1 does not contain it, Microsoft has confessed to a returning start button and windowed modern ui.  In short Microsoft will be putting windows back into windows.

This is really important because though the modern ui is okay for consumption it is pretty rubbish at production.  Try dragging and dropping a mail into your onenote, it just cannot be done.  Finally Microsoft have sussed that PC sales are going down because the power of 5 year old computers is still sufficient for most things that most people do.  We replace when they fail rather than every couple of years.  We also tend to supplement our PCs with a tablet or two, because they are cool and convenient.

That does not mean though that we do any real work on these devices though.  They play movies and games really well but even with the advent of office on iPad I doubt many people will write their novel on it.  A few will buy a keyboard and do that but most won't.  In truth I know people that have a windows tablet like my surface pro 2 that they only use for consumption.  They prefer to use a full PC for their work.  I just connect mine to a couple of monitors and a keyboard :-)

Beneath the Mask

Nowadays I don't use an iPhone, although I maintain my first generation iPod touch that gets me too and from the station in the morning.  Even without that November 2007 reminder of the iPhone legacy I am well aware that almost every aspect of my computing experience in 2014 has been influenced by that device.  From the use of touch day to day to the ubiquitous and escalating app stores that appear on computers, tablets, phones and televisions.

Without the iPhone much of this would not be possible and yet there was much about the PC that was good.  To a certain degree Microsoft seem to have forgotten that with their latest OS.  If you doubt that try dragging and dropping from one modern app to another!  Something so simple in the old world becomes difficult in the new.  This full screen treatment may work on a tablet (and even there I think the jury may be out) but on a computer it feels cumbersome.  Of course that may be because I have been using Windowing software for a long while.  I do however feel that it is because someone missed the clue embedded in the operating systems name.  Perhaps Windows 8.1 should be renamed Window.

 I digress.  I would love to know of anyone that uses a Windows 8.1 device solely in modern UI flavour.  My sense is that everyone that uses windows does so using the desktop.  Indeed the fact that a default to desktop option was introduced for 8.1 suggests that my observation is mirrored in fact.  In 2004 I became a confirmed Microsoft tablet user by using pen only and rejecting the keyboard.  In the same vein I have tried to operate in modern UI mode only and found I could not do it.  I found it frustrating and long winded and definitely not conducive to efficient working practices.  Modern UI is great for media consumption but not for use as a day to day workhorse.  This is exactly what I have said about the iPad on numerous occasions.

My hope is that with new leadership at Microsoft the true super hero beneath the handsome but unsophisticated mask will again come to prominence.  Shedding the Apple bonds and stepping once more to its place as the operating system of choice..

Cries into the dark

Now don't get me wrong.  I love my new surface, but I have to say it seems somewhat less stable than the Series 7 Samsung it replaced.  This blog is not about the somewhat more friendly blue screen of an ailing windows 8.1 computer but about the changing world for support organisations.

When this happened I posted the above picture to my twitter feed @tre4b.  This was more to show these things happen to us all than for any other purpose.  About 30 minutes later though I received a reply from Microsoft.

I presume that they had picked up on my use of Windows 8.1 in the tweet and that had rung a bell.  Someone though had followed the picture in order to realise they could not actually make out the error message.  I thanked them for their interest but the message was a general win32k.sys error and not something they were likely to be able to do too much about.

I have long known in my working environment that people do tweet about issues and often appreciate a reply even if that is not actually solving the problem.  Sometimes when things are bad and you want a rant then just being heard is enough.  When I have some time I will be looking a software to pick up words from twitter.  I'd like to be responding to my users cries into the ether too...