Things I’m Thinking About – Jan 2010
Major changes occurring in data center networking and storage. Networking in the virtualization arena .
Unified Communications, particularly mobility. SIP, Phone Proxy and more and more video conferencing.
Internal business collaboration, fostering ideas and innovations, getting ideas out from and to everyone and allowing others to feel they are truly contributing and appreciated as well as credited. Too often things have to filter up through layers of mgmt and red tape, anywhere along the way one manager could simply not have the vision or foresight and have a great idea come to a stand still. Or how often are great ideas actually credited to those who came up with them?
Slate Computers. Yes I like and have adopted the term for that form factor of computer. Slates are going to have a huge impact I think. iPhone started the touch revolution IMHO because they got it right. To this day, nearly 3 years now, there has not been one touch device that comes close to the accuracy and responsiveness of the iPhones screen.
For most people these days our PC needs are pretty simple. Web and email are primary. Most of what people are doing is social media stuff which is all web based. Actual applications are becoming a thing of the past for many.
Laptops got people away from the desk and fixed locations. People want information at their finger tips right? Started sitting at Starbucks or on their couch with laptops, often looking up information as it strikes them. Thoughts that pop up, news they read, conversations they over heard, something on TV, all of these things made people want that ability to Google or Wiki something anytime from anyplace.
Phones / Smartphones started helping us satisfy that need. But none of them were as good as we hoped or wanted. Needed something between a Laptop and Smartphone. Thus emerges the netbook.
Netbooks have been a huge hit. Great for the coffee shop or couch. Cheap.
eReaders came along for many reasons I’m sure. Print world is hurting, particularly news papers and mags. Desire by some to make the print world head in the direction of the music world after finally recognizing how digital music is changing things. iTunes showed the world what was possible for music, so its easy to see how Amazon could want to apply that same model to the book and print world.
I suspect the “Green” iniative also helped the eReader world. The form factor of most eReaders is great and handles book very well. eInk is easier on the eyes and form factor is smaller than the Netbooks but larger than say the iPhone.
However we find we are getting ourselves back into a problem that I think many of us hoped would be solves one day and thought was solved recently by the iPhone. Gadget creep. Too many specific devices are being needed again to solve specific needs.
I can remember almost 10 years ago sitting down with a good friend and boss in Denver for lunch one day and having to place gadget after gadget on the table so I could sit comfortably. Pager, PDA, Cell and MP3 player. I recall the conversation we had about hoping that in the near future we would have one device that did it all.
The iPhone did solve the gadget problem in my life for the last few years. However I find myself really want an eReader these days for all the PDF’s I go through constantly. There have also been moments I wished the iPhone was bigger when doing some web browsing and thought about getting a Netbook.
So yes I have my eyes on Slates. I think they might be able to help replace the netbooks / ereaders in the very near future.
PC’s and Gaming. There has been some debate lately about the future of PC gaming and well 5 years ago I would have considered anyone questioning the future of PC gaming as one who probably needs a pysch eval. Today however I think PC gaming is dying. Yup I said it.
What the Xbox360 and PS3 are capable of and still pushing out today despite being a few years old now is amazing. I know the quality on the PC for most games is superior due to the resolutions. However with todays large HDTV’s and the constant improvement in consoles I really think PC gaming is dying. I use to hate consoles. The weird controllers and small TV’s just didn’t cut it for me. However, I broke down and bought a 360 after getting an HDTV a few years ago and have been thrilled. Funny thing is it’s not for any reason I have mentioned so far. My main reason for enjoying consoles now is that I never have to wonder if my console can handle this new game. No more upgrading a home PC to play a game. And this is from the guy who lived for doing PC upgrades early on. Now I just want to have fun with as little hassle as possible. Time is valuable.
Finally, yes I am still thinking a lot about the service provider industry and particularly that of the cable industry. I have seen some positive articles and things lately that at least tells me others are concerned with and thinking about some of the same things. I still think something major has to happen soon within the industry and there needs to be an expedited shift or transition from what the industry was to what it could and should become. I still read and see too much discussion on transitioning old to new and talk of improvements to older technology. To much energy, money and talent is being focused in the wrong areas in my personal opinion. Time to rip that bandaid off and start over. Otherwise the same thing is going to happen to the cable industry that happened to the phone industry.
Sure there is more I would love to say but will have to try getting to it later.
