Office 365 is going to be the end of my tablet

 I started using this Samsung series 7 tablet in January of 2012, it was the third tablet that I have every used and the first proper non convertible one.  I love this device and it is still as good performance wise for me as it was when I started using it, but recently I've begun to struggle with the 64GB disk.  

It's not applications that have caused this but our upgrade from the wave 14 to wave 15 version of Office 365.  Along with this upgrade came a much expanded and more efficient SkyDrive Pro and our adoption of online Sharepoint has rocketed.  This in turn has meant that I have many more document libraries that are marked to synchronise with my tablet.  This makes accessing documents shared in Sharepoint possible even when working on the train, which is pretty much the only time I get to work solidly for an hour or so!

The problem for my tablet is that I now struggle to fit the documents I want on it.  I now have to juggle whether to take it to pieces and add a larger mSata hard drive or whether to talk sweetly to my boss and mention how much more efficient I would be with a 512GB Surface Pro 2.

Simplify Unix and dominate the world

Today I began musing on the place of Unix within the computing world.  When I first began working in IT it was clear Unix would be a minority operating system for bigger more powerful systems.  A few years latter I began to use a product called Knopix a Unix variant and in the Mid 90's first encountered Linux, but these were command line programs difficult to install and use.  That is difficult if you were not pretty technically competent.

Linux and the other "free" Unixs have developed immeasurably since those days.  Ubuntu is really easy to deploy and use, but even so they remain fairly tightly focused on the technology savvy users list and it takes patience to learn to do all that you would wish to achieve.  The Unix desktop is clearly not going to replace the PC anytime soon or anytime ever, and yet it now pretty much dominates the computing marketplace.

I don't think this would have been foreseen but both IOS and Android have Unix at their core and overall far more computing is now done on these platforms than is done on PC platforms.  Suddenly the world has turned on its head and this has happened because first Apple and then Google realised these OSs had the potential, if you shielded the user from the complexity.  Shielding the user from complexity should be the first thing we do in the IT world because we are about enabling their ability to work but before the iPhone people just missed this obvious point.  Cloud computing plays to this too and the whole thing begins to assemble into a working way for the future.

Fighting complexity should be the first thought of an IT professional especially if they are architects or solutions designers.  Simple systems will result in better usability, smoother more easily managed services and a reduction in cost.  Think about this next time you review a solution, just ask if you think your Mum or your Grandmum could work it.  If she could you may be on to a winner.

The Kraken wakes

Earlier today I read this article in the Guardian. I found it interesting because it reflected a lot of what I have said and talked to people about over the last few years.  Microsoft for me used to be thought leaders and providers of the coolest tech, but now I barely think about their products.

One of the key drivers for the message from Steve Ballmer is the nearly 1 billion pound write off of the Windows RT tablets.  Everyone that I have talked to in the last year or two was well aware this was yet another knee jerk reaction to Apple and most of us knew this would bomb.  A windows PC that did not run windows software was going to fail, in much the same way as the linux netbooks did.  Even now, almost a year after Windows 8 was launched there is still not a native Facebook application for the platform!

The recent release the new XBox One displayed the same arrogant set of we know better hallmarks Microsoft has been famous for recently.  This was followed by a series of rapid turn arounds as they suddenly realised they had just ditched their "hook" from their customers at the same time as delivering serious upset.

Now I read that Microsoft is ditching product groups to go back to a functional organisation structure.  This will be a significant change for them and perhaps shows they have at last realised that we are no longer in thrall to them.  This is really good news for all of us, this could be the giant reawakening and turning to truly face the threat.  Make no mistake that threat is huge, between the Cloud, Apple and Google the space is getting thinner and thinner.  Microsofts key benefits though are still hanging in there, it's not too late for them to realise the true value of windows and stop copying Apple.

I truly love my 18 month old Samsung Series 7 tablet it was great on Windows 7 and okay on Windows 8 but on either is much more of a tablet than an iPad.  Had they just stayed focused on devices like the first ever windows tablet I used in 2003/4 (above picture) then maybe things would have been different.  I really hope that the lesson has been learned, but I fear that it is just more rhetoric.

The last time I found time to post in my blog it was pre the release of Windows 8.  Jump forward nearly 4 months and things have changed greatly.  Windows 8 has been released and earlier in the week it was pointed out that it's adoption rate for the same period is much lower than the Vista version of Windows.  Vista was disliked by many even though I do not believe it deserved its reputation.   We should note that at this time in its adoption its reputation would not have built so it was still a great white hope, much as Windows 8 is today.

At this point every computer in my house is running Windows 8, and still it receives a mixed reception from the family.  Both of my boys returned home for Christmas from University, and both refused the offer of a free upgrade (paid for prenatally) to windows 8.  Their viewpoint was that they wanted their computers to work.

This is not entirely fair as I have found Windows 8 to be very reliable, quick to start and to use.  It is just extremely quirky to use!  Many face book friends have tried to talk me into using a start button replacement product saying it makes it usable.  I see this in the same way as I saw the users of convertible tablets parading their benefits as a laptop they could use as a tablet later.....and never did.  I and my wife soldier on with the standard windows interface, hoping that one day the Windows 8 apps will actually be useful.  Currently the machines are all but unusable unless you frequently resort to "Legacy applications" and this will ensure that these applications remain.

Truth is that on my Samsung Series 7 Slate updating to windows 8 made me less productive.  The ridiculous non re sizable appleesque on screen keyboard pops up over most of the screen making editing on the move almost impossible.  It is particularly frustrating when you are attempting to right click and the keyboard keeps appearing and clearing the menu I am actually trying to access.  In addition where the pen was once a first class citizen in Windows it is now much more of an afterthought, when it should have been a USP, a casualty of a Microsoft that believes that copying Apple will get its mojo back.

If you can survive the quirky ways of working and the almost non existent "windows 8 apps" (really no facebook app still!!!) then windows 8 is not so bad.  Office 13 though is probably not something you want to get me started on.....