Windows 8. A step too far?

 

One of the most frequent complaints against Microsoft in the past is that they have not been innovative enough and that they tend to follow meekly behind others who have been far more ready to take risks in the past such as Apple. I’ve even been guilty of that accusation myself. But as a user, here’s my take on things for what its worth.

In the past, Microsoft has been the main company serving the corporate technological world. During the years when it was generally only companies and/or institutions who used PC’s, and when most of us ‘none corporate’ users didn’t dream of owning a home computer, Microsoft aimed their sights firmly at the business sector and their usage needs. Word processing, Spread sheets, Databases, and an operating system geared to the running of a business  meant that most of Microsoft’s main focus was squarely aimed at the corporate  user. And rightly so. But in the meantime and certainly since the launch of Windows XP, the user base has slowly shifted from being just the corporate sector usage to the ordinary consumer ‘in the street.’

Microsoft seemed to be oblivious to the shift taking place from the corporate user to the consumer user. It was as if they had their eyes firmly set in only one direction. Others such as Apple and Google were never as focused on the corporate usage side of computers, and therefore they have been quicker to see the demographic shift in needs. There is a huge difference in how an ordinary consumer at home uses technology and their PC to how they are used in the workplace. Consumers tend to prefer to share, photos, short messages, music, etc, and this need has mainly been met  by social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Not only that but most prefer  to do this ‘on the move’ and to not be tied down to a static home PC, hence the rise of laptops, tablets and ‘smart’ mobile phones. The consumer user base has slowly grown since the launch of XP, but meantime most of the corporate sector has not kept pace and most  remain still using Windows XP.

For them, ( I should imagine) its a very big undertaking to move forward to a new operating system as it involves the training of all of your staff in its usage. I was shocked last year to realise that the entire NHS is still using Windows XP whilst I’m now running Windows 8 Consumer Preview!  What I am trying to say here is that whilst corporate usage has not moved on, the consumer usage has grown and grown and has become far more advanced.

Now suddenly its as if Microsoft have glanced around from the direction they have always faced and suddenly noticed that its the consumer who is rapidly becoming the de facto user and their usage of technology needs to be met.  The big question is, are they too late? The tablet market is currently dominated by Apple with the iPad with even Android having difficulty making any dint in that area, and despite the fact that Windows phone is fantastic to use, they have an uphill battle all the way.  Talking of Apple, one of the paths that they have not taken was to try and merge the same operating system on both their iMacs and also the iPhone and IPad.  Now, Microsoft are planning the risky step of doing exactly that, serving both the static PC user (which by definition includes the corporate user) AND also the mobile phone/tablet market. Can it be done? Is it possible to meet every type of users needs with just one OS?

Paul Thurrott sums it all up for me in one of his recent posts on the subject of Windows 8 here at http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-release-preview-rip-aero-20032012-143133  and I agree that in ‘bending over backwards’ to enter the tablet and mobile hardware market, where of course battery life is crucial, are Microsoft going too far and forgetting the static PC user who up until now have been their bread and butter?  Should they instead have one operating system for mobile devices (i.e Metro) and simply keep Windows OS for those users who run a static PC or who want to remain with the Windows environment?

Personally, I am now quite used to using Windows 8 on my static PC with a mouse and keyboard and I really like it, but I have to admit that the Metro interface does look (and work) far better on my phone working with touch input.  Nor am I needing several programs open at once or to do any word-processing or work of any kind, my needs and usage is  far removed from those of the corporate user. And there is the big question mark. If most of the corporate world is still using Windows XP, can I see them rushing to move to Windows 8 anytime soon? To be honest with you, no I can’t. Nor can I envisage users such as the NHS equipping all of their staff with tablets either!

It’s all a very big gamble and one that is sort of surprising in a way coming from Microsoft, a company that most consider to be a ‘dinosaur’ who never innovate or do anything new. Can they pull it off? It’s certainly going to be a very interesting year finding out!

TG

Technorati Tags: microsoft,windows 8,metro,corporate,consumer,tablets,phones,laptops,PC's

Windows 8: One OS to rule them all?

It doesn’t seem all that long ago in time that the only people who used a PC were business users. If you worked in an office environment then you may have had to use one daily, but other people didn’t own a personal computer at home. At that time there really seemed no need to do so, unless of course you were a business owner and perhaps needed to take work home with you. Ordinary users (and in this context, I mean none corporate users) either couldn’t afford one or didn’t feel the need to own one. During the eighties I first encountered using a PC when I decided to update my skills at a training centre to include word processing, spreadsheets, databases etc. and most of my learning took place on an IBM computer. During that training we did not access the internet of course, as the internet was not available at that time as it is today. There was little incentive therefore for the ordinary man or woman in the street to own a PC.

Slowly over the years, the user base of just the corporate user has changed, and with it the needs of users. Whereas corporate usage tends to err on the productive side, the consumer usage tends to be of an entirely different nature. None corporate users aren’t all that interested in using Office programs or in productivity, for them its all about sharing. Sharing thoughts, sharing what they are doing, sharing their day to day lives, their favourite music or photos of their latest exploits or family, or simply keeping in touch and making new friends. Though most corporate users probably tend to think of this usage as ‘flippant’ in contrast to the way that they use computers, it simply can’t be ignored by those who provide the software on PC’s as the none corporate user base has continued  to grow and grow over the years. Combined with this growth in the consumer user base, has also come the need for mobile devices instead of the static none movable PC usually used by businesses. The consumer user prefers their usage of technology and  the internet to be always available as they travel, either on a mobile phone or alternatively a laptop or tablet.  This change of user base and their needs must have created something of a dilemma for Microsoft who have now to try and provide an operating system that can work both on a static desktop PC for their corporate user and at the same time work on a tablet and/or mobile phone.

How can anyone create an operating system that meets both the needs of your corporate user and the entirely different needs of the growing band of consumers? During the growth of this much more personal usage of new technology and the internet by consumers has also come the growth of touch screens and voice control, a much more tactile user interface. This by itself then requires a huge rethink about how your operating system works, it no longer has to sync with the usual keyboard and mouse, but also work with touch screens as well. Others have managed to create their own operating systems to work with these new  tactile interfaces, Google with its Android OS and Apple with its iPhone and iPad iOS. But neither Google nor Apple have attempted to ‘straddle’ both the static desktop PC user interface of keyboard and mouse AND the touch screen interface of portable tablets and phones. Can it work? Is it possible to do?  Can Microsoft achieve what seems to many as a near impossible task, and cater for every user and every user interface currently available at this time? Not only that, how can the apps you offer on your different platforms meet the needs of both your corporate users and at the same time your consumer user base?

A tall order and one that I certainly wouldn’t want to face. One answer would be to simply create another separate operating system for the extremely different usage of the none corporate user on those types of devices that they prefer such as phones and tablets, and keep your desktop operating with perhaps enhanced updates, but leaving its core functionality more or less as it is at this time. After all, Windows 7 is a brilliant OS, easy to use and maintain although despite this, I was amazed to find out this last year just how many corporate users in this country are still using Windows XP!  Whilst this ‘ordinary’ consumer Granny has moved on from Windows XP, to Vista and then finally to Windows 7, it seems that many of our big organisations such as the NHS have not for whatever reason.  It must be a very big undertaking and cost of course to retrain all of your employees to use a new operating system, but still, this fact to me signals that if they haven’t yet moved on to Windows 7, then they are hardly likely to introduce touch screen technology into the workplace no matter how brilliant a new OS that makes full use of it might be to use.  The point I am trying to get across here is that we have now arrived at a state where (in this country at least) the corporate users seem to be lagging way way behind the consumer in their usage of technology and PC’s. They may be using Windows XP on a static desktop PC at work, and then on their way home be making use of  a touch screen device to contact their family and friends! Who would have thought that it would be this way twenty or so years ago? It is now the none corporate consumer user and their usage and needs that is dictating the progress of technology as we know it today.

But Microsoft’s problem is not just about creating an interface which works with both a keyboard and mouse and a touch device, its also about covering all bases for corporate usage and consumer usage. Here we come to the big dilemma of whether or not to include Office. Incorporate it in mobile devices or not? How do we make it completely usable with a touch device? Will consumer users who buy tablets and smart phones require office apps? Do we provide Office only on static desktop PC’s? Do users really want to be able to share their documents, work productivity etc. via a mobile phone or tablet whilst they are on the move? Or do they tend to do that on a laptop PC? Not easy decisions are they?  Microsoft have now stated that a version of Office, Office 15 will be available on their mobile hardware such as tablets, but it isn’t clear at this time if this new version will be free to use. However, including Office on the mobile and touch ARM hardware has also meant the inclusion of the desktop, albeit in a tighter format as only Microsoft will be able to supply desktop programs for this area thereby limiting its use. In fact, I would argue that if including some form of Office on these devices was not necessary in order to keep corporate users happy, then surely it would not have been necessary to include the desktop at all and only the Metro tile interface and associated apps would have been needed. So anyone buying a mobile or touch device will not be able to download and make use of any third party program on the desktop on ARM devices. It will in essence be ‘closed’

Many journalists who follow Microsoft closely have noted how there has been little news available about the new operating system, but I feel that this can partly be explained by how difficult the whole exercise must have been for Microsoft. Apple have not attempted it. Google have not attempted it. It seems to be an exercise fraught with ifs and buts not only because you are trying to cover all bases as far as hardware and user interfaces go, but because you are also trying to keep a very wide user base happy, one who’s needs range from a corporate production environment to sending a quick message to Facebook from the consumer user.

I’ve been trying out the Windows 8 developer preview myself on my Dell desktop using a keyboard and mouse, and it has not been much of a pleasure using the Metro start screen with a mouse. However, using the Metro tile interface on my Windows phone via touch is an absolute joy, but it has prompted me to question just how the corporate user is going to be persuaded to update to Windows 8 or how any Office programs are going to be fully functional with a touch device, but I’m willing to be convinced and so on February 29th I’ll be eagerly downloading Windows 8 Consumer Preview just to find out if Microsoft have managed to do the impossible and created the one OS to rule them all.

TG

Technorati Tags: windows 8,ARM,office 15,OS,mobile,tablets,desktop

What’s in a name? The G+ question.

Though I hate to bring up the pseudonym argument again, this post is about my own personal reasons for wanting to use my pseudonym on Google+ and why I feel that pseudonyms should be allowed. I have thought about the whole argument for a long time, since joining Google+ as a matter of fact. I’ve been on Google+ since the very beginning and I joined as Technogran, my online name and the name that just about everyone knows me by. I have used that name since first buying a computer all those years ago and my reasons for wishing to use a pseudonym are varied and I won’t bore you by going into them in detail here. As far as I’m concerned my reasons for using my pseudonym hinge on the way that Google+ differs in its intended usage as a social network from for example Facebook, which is its closest equivalent.

Facebook began as a means of socialising in college and keeping in touch. I should imagine its first initial remit was usability by students who either knew one another personally or if not, were in fairly close proximity to one another and therefore could in theory meet up at say a coffee house etc. In other words, its aim was a user base of a fairly close nature as its users would all be students. Now of course it has a user base which is world wide, but how do the majority of us tend to use Facebook now? In my case most of those I share with on Facebook are either family or friends who know me personally and who I can meet face to face any day of the week. The same is true for them also. I know where they live and they know where I live. We might not see each other for months at a time or we might see each other every week, but we all know one another personally.  Although I would have loved to also use Technogran on Facebook, I am not so bothered about using my real name on there as the public never see it because my posts on there are for my family and friends only.

Now in contrast, let’s look at how Google+ got off the ground. Google invited lot’s of technically minded and corporate users to the beta of Google+. These people were chosen by Google for a reason. They wanted feedback of course, but I also believe that they did not want or intend that Google+ be a Facebook clone. By selecting a certain type of user such as technology bloggers and journalists, corporate users, professional photographers and those who work in the technology field, they automatically set the tone for how Google + tends to still be used by everyone today, for mainly serious discussion with like minded individuals who share the same interests.  For me as a self confessed geek,  its has been a wonderful and enlightening experience and I  have learned so much from the countless users who are so expert in their own chosen fields of expertise. But, the big question is, do I KNOW any of these people personally?

The chances of me bumping into (for example) Robert Scoble down at my local pub, or seeing Louis Gray in my local Tesco’s and having a friendly chat with either of them is about as likely as this Granny going to Mars. I knew OF them before the birth of Google+ simply because I’m such a Geek and into technology myself. I know of other technology journalists and bloggers as well by name because I read their articles about subjects that interest me.  It’s one of the main reasons why I begged for an invite and once on G+ felt so at home. But I don’t know any of them personally.  I could recognise them if they passed me in the street because I’ve seen photos and watched videos of them on the internet or in other social sites that they are part of. But knowing OF someone is not the same as KNOWING them. They probably also know me. I’ve maybe commented on their blog posts or joined in a discussion on other sites as Technogran in the past.

So THAT is the big difference between Facebook and Google+ and one of my main reasons for wanting to be allowed to use my pseudonym on there. There is also another reason,  the way that Google+ works. If I post and make it public then anyone can read that post and if they are on Google+ they can add me to one of their circles WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.  I am well aware that the simple answer to that is don’t post to Public. But is that how Google really want us to use Google+?  I could also call myself by my real name (which incidentally is not the one I was born with as that changed once I  married) and then only have two circles, one for family and one for personal friends and only post to those two circles. However in doing so,  I would be essentially cloning my Facebook usage and so there would be no real reason that I can think of to be on Google+! Besides which I don’t think for one moment that Vic Gundotra and the Google+ team intend us to use Google+ in the same way as any of us tend to use Facebook. The posts I usually make on Google+ are of little or no interest to my family and friends. I know this because I do sometimes post on there with the odd link or some other interest on Facebook and I never get any response whatsoever whereas those in my Google+ circles are usually very interested. In other words, its a whole different audience on Google+. 

So, its horses for courses as the saying goes, and on Google+ where none of my audience know me personally and never will, and where by the same token I don’t know them either, I prefer NOT to use my real name but to be able to call myself Technogran which is the name I am commonly known by on the internet. Don’t believe me? Just Google it!

TG

Technorati Tags: Google+,Facebook,pseudonym,circles,posts,public

My new Mobile. Using the Nokia Lumia 800 Windows phone.

Last year I finally tried out an iPhone. It was the first time that I had used a so called ‘smart phone’ and I suppose I was late to try one compared to the rest of the world, but I couldn’t quite see how I needed to use one. Was it important for me to be able to take a picture when travelling about and then immediately share it with my social networks? Or let my online friends know where I was at any particular moment in time? All I seemed to be using a mobile for was calls and messages. I have enjoyed using the iPhone, but I didn’t feel the need to download all that many applications to it, nor did I feel that I had to have it constantly by my side all the time.  I didn’t feel the need to use most of its features apart from receiving/making calls or texting my family and friends. At the end of last year, I decided to upgrade to a Nokia Lumia 800 Windows phone and for me, its the best thing I have ever done.

The Trouble with Microsoft.

 

As a purely ordinary PC user, i.e not a corporate or business user, I thought that I would put my views forward as to why Microsoft has missed the boat somewhat and allowed others to pass them by in the ‘keeping up with trends’ race. First of all, I feel that every corporation or manufacturer, in whatever area they are, needs competition. Without competition, you would simply stagnate, there would be no one to ‘keep you on your toes’ to encourage you to be innovative or imaginative. You would tend to sit on your laurels because you would be the only one available to your customers, and they in turn would have no other avenue to compare your products with. There would simply be no incentive to improve.

Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, if you had the market all to yourself, you would have little need to listen to feedback from your customers, what they would like in the way of improvements, the future avenues they would find useful, so feedback would not be as important either, you could just move in any direction that you as a business felt was right or suited you. Which users feedback should you listen to as a huge business anyway? The one’s who make you the most profit? Or have done in the past? In Microsoft’s case, this has tended to be the corporate user simply because they were the ‘cash cows’ as they were the largest PC users, and also needed Microsoft’s Office Suite.

The ‘none corporate’ user were in the minority, not a lot of none corporate users owned their own computer in the past, but now things have changed. Slowly over time, we the ‘ordinary’ none corporate user have grown in number, we own PC’s, laptops, iPads, smart phones, and our needs and wants are no where near the same as the corporate user. We want to share, form communities, make friends online, share stories, photos, communicate, and be able to sync instantly our files and photos across our devices without hassle, as long as we have okayed that sync.

Because Microsoft was listening to the wrong audience, they have allowed themselves to lag behind the likes of Google, Apple and Facebook, who haven’t been as concerned about concentrating their listening to the feedback from their corporate users. Today technology has a different set of users, still growing in number, whilst the corporate user, at least in my neck of the woods, is still stagnating and falling behind by still using Windows XP as their operating system, probably because of the cost of re-training their workforce to use a new version of Windows. In fact, I would imagine that there are more none corporate users who have made the leap to Windows 7, and will do the same with Windows 8. It could also be the same story with MS Office as well, but as I am not party to sales this is only a guess on my part.

So where does all the money come from now? The large corporate user, or the ever growing number of ‘ordinary’ users? If you are only looking and listening in one direction, you miss the ability to listen to the requests from the other direction, and can end up lagging so far behind, that it’s going to be hard going to keep up.

(I’m only a Granny, and this post is my personal view of why I think Microsoft need to take a long hard look at who’s feedback they take notice of.)

TG

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,feedback,users,Google,Apple,iPads,smartphones,PC's,Windows

Review: Flock the Social Browser.

I have made no secret in the past that I love using Flock the social browser. I have used it for a good many years, but in its former incarnation when it used Firefox as its base, it did tend to be rather slow and cumbersome.  Yesterday the latest version of Flock, now based on Chrome, was released. . In this post, I intend to explain why using Flock in order  update all of my social feeds makes my life so much more convenient to be able to not only see all of your twitter/Facebook, RSS feeds, YouTube and Flickr updates in the sidebar, but also be able to instantly access any links, reply or tweet yourself with just one click.

 

Talking about the new Flock Browser.

I am currently testing out the new beta version of Flock which is now using Chromium as its base. I think the Flock team decided to use Chromium in preference to Firefox, which had formed the engine of all the previous versions of Flock, simply because its faster. As Flock has always been far more than a simple browser, with its ability to allow the user to access all of their social feeds from the one ‘My World’ page, then obviously all of that extra data takes more time to load and access, and Flock was tending to become slow and cumbersome.

Using Chromium allows Flock to contain your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, flickr and RSS updates in a handy sidebar to the right of the main webpage window, which are updated ‘on the fly’ whilst still enabling some speed in loading those WebPages you wish to view. However, the new beta version is not quite as comprehensive in its choices of features as the previous version.  For example, the media bar where you used to be able to view your friends latest photos is no longer available across the top, although you can still see and access all of your flickr friends photos from the sidebar by simply clicking on them.

The Flock bods have assured users that most of the missing features such as your Gmail and Yahoo accounts for example, can be added from the Chrome extensions and so are fully available but in a slightly different way, but Flock does seem now to be rather sparse in its features compared to the vast array that were offered previously.

Your favourite pages (or the ones that you tend to access the most) are conveniently listed on your Flock Home page  and you can also add them to the Favourites bar as well if you wish to enable ‘one click’ access.

The social sidebar can be turned off or on by clicking on an icon at the top right hand side of the Flock URL bar. This is where all of your updates from your friends on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, flickr including your RSS feeds are to be found. You can sort all of them into separate categories or ‘Groups’ to suit yourself, and then only view those Groups of updates in the sidebar that you are currently  interested in. You can fully interact with the updates in the sidebar, so you can reply, poke or comment on someone’s wall in Facebook, retweet or direct message someone on Twitter and everyone’s Avatar is also fully displayed.

Sorting your friends and contacts into Groups couldn’t be easier to do. You can create any type of Group that you like such as Family, co-workers etc, then once they are all sorted into your chosen groups, you can simply choose to view only one group of updates in the sidebar or alternatively all friends and feeds. The advantages of having your twitter updates right there in your browser cannot be emphasized enough in my view. Why? Because its often the case that most tweets contain a link of some sort, and therefore you can simply click on the link and view the webpage right there next to the tweet. There is no wait for that link to load in a browser window because you are already in one!

You can also incorporate your own links by clicking on the small icon the the immediate left of the URL/Search bar where Flock will automatically supply you with a shortened URL. It all works really well. (see picture below.)

Of course its early days yet for this beta version, but so far, its fast and provides the user with an excellent way to keep up with their social feeds on Twitter and Facebook plus any  updates from friends on flickr and YouTube using just one program to do so.

Why don’t you give the new Flock a whirl? Its available from http://beta.flock.com/extensions

 

Technorati Tags: flock,beta,sidebar,chromium,twitter,facebook,flickr,YouTube,favourites,groups

 

Talking about Blogger’s new Template Designer.

Recently Blogger introduced a new Template Designer to its blog hosting site that enables its users to create their very own personal templates and themes for their blog and I have been busy trying it all out.  I personally welcome additional features on any blogging site that allows more ‘personalization’.  We aren’t all whizzes at HTML/CSS etc and from my own personal point of view, at my age I think I’m a little too old in the tooth to begin learning it all now. So, how does it work out?  Is it easy to use?  Could it help any user create an attractive looking blog? Let’s take a look shall we?

Firstly you need to enable the Blogger Template Designer by going to http://draft.blogger.com/home and making it your default Blogger  Dashboard.  If you need more information about it take a look at this video below.

Blogger Template Designer

All you do then is click on Layout for your blog, where you will then be able to access the new Template designer feature.

 I found it fairly simple and easy to work my way through all the features on offer. At the moment there are only four separate Templates to choose from, Simple, Picture Window (which features rounded modules) Awesome Inc, and Watermark. You current blog theme is shown below the Blogger Template Designer area so that you can easily see your changes as you make them.

 As I tend to prefer my blogs to look fairly simple and uncluttered I have to confess that I did prefer the Simple one, but I also like rounded corners as well which area available in the Picture Window template. It’s best if you work your way through all four of the current Templates, they are not applied to your blog until you click on Apply to Blog at the top right hand side of the page, so you can’t really spoil anything.

Under the Background choice  you can  choose a ‘colour scheme’ for your chosen template where set colours that look good together are available for you to apply to the Template. You may decide to choose a background picture or texture by clicking on the Background Image. There are lot’s to choose from, but I found some of them to be rather ‘fussy’ and distracting, but that’s just my own personal opinion.

Many of them would of course be useful depending on the content of your blog posts. For example there are some backgrounds for the Arts, for Business, Family, Hobbies and Crafts, Home and Garden etc, and your sure to find at least one that suits your particular content.

Next in the list of choices is Layout, and here you can choose the Body Layout, such as full width, one side column, side column divided into two, left and right side columns. You can also choose the Footer layout and here you could in theory have all your widgets placed below you actual post instead of in a sidebar at the side. Lastly you can adjust the width of your blog, including the total width and the width of any sidebars that you have chosen. When you are in the Layout area, the Blogger Layout page is below where as usual you can ‘drag’ your gadgets around the page and place them where you want them.

Lastly at the bottom of the list is the Advanced feature and its here where you can change details such as fonts, colour of fonts, size, etc. You can adjust these for every element of the whole Blog page. The page text, the Background colours, Link text, Blog Title etc. Its a pretty comprehensive list allowing you to adjust exactly how your blog looks. My only criticism is that there are not a lot of choices of fonts at this time and I hope that a lot more will be added in future.

To summarise,  I like the new Template Designer.  Its fairly easy to get to grips with for newbie's and more capable users alike and allows the user to create their own look for their blogger blog. However, Blogger already has a multitude of blog themes that users can make use of already via sites such as Btemplates and other sites. There are literally thousands to choose from, many  ported from Wordpress.org etc.  Of course this new Template Designer goes some way in allowing users to create something original that they can call their own and  is as near as many of us will get to feeling that we are designing our own webpage.  I look forward to its expansion and to far more choice of  Templates, backgrounds and fonts being made available it the future.  I just wish other blogging sites would take note and offer something similar to their users.

  

Here is my finished result so that you can see just what is achievable with this new Blogger Template Designer. Try it out for yourselves!

TG

Technorati Tags: blogger,templates.designer,background,layout,advanced,fonts