On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 10:01:07AM -0800, Sean McBride wrote: > Sent to you by Sean McBride via Google Reader: Slowly Transitioning to > Online Software via Google Operating System by Ionut Alex Chitu on > 12/17/07
My highly capable software -- GNU/Linux -- has everything I could ever want -- OS, Web, multimedia, office, development, utilities, networking, etc., plus many thousands of specialized programs. It costs absolutely nothing, and occupies about five dollars worth of hard disk space. If I were not able to install it myself, people in Linux user groups all over the world would be happy to do it for me, for free: http://cosmicpenguin.com/linux/ Using it does not require sending my data back and forth to Google or any other distant computer, and thus sharing it with people unknown to me and incurring delays. The response to keys and mouse is instantaneous. The software cannot change without my knowledge and consent. I can get the source code for all of it, and it includes various run-time analyzers, so if I'm curious I can find out everything that it's doing, and even change it. Security and other upgrades are furnished every few days, and take only the press of a button to install (and don't require rebooting). No antivirus program is necessary. Using the standard KDE software I have 20 different desktops, each designated for a different area of work/play -- Mail, Usenet, Music, 9/11, Science, TV, etc. At any moment one of the 20 occupies my screen, and I can run in it whichever programs are appropriate to that area. Those programs disappear from view but remain -- running or quiescent -- when I switch the view to a different desktop and its programs. At the moment I have 191 programs running, but only 49 windows on all the desktops, since some windows contain several programs, and some programs belong to the OS and don't have windows. As to speed, the computer was state-of-the-art around 2001. It would be hard to find one as slow on the market today. But playing DVDs requires only part of the CPU power. Why would I ever want to switch to online software? Mark On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 10:01:07AM -0800, Sean McBride wrote: > Sent to you by Sean McBride via Google Reader: Slowly Transitioning to > Online Software via Google Operating System by Ionut Alex Chitu on > 12/17/07 New York Times has a long article about the differences > between Google and Microsoft in terms of vision. "The growing > confrontation between Google and Microsoft promises to be an epic > business battle. It is likely to shape the prosperity and progress of > both companies, and also inform how consumers and corporations work, > shop, communicate and go about their digital lives. Google sees all of > this happening on remote servers in faraway data centers, accessible > over the Web by an array of wired and wireless devices -- a setup known > as cloud computing. Microsoft sees a Web future as well, but one whose > center of gravity remains firmly tethered to its desktop PC software." > > Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, envisions that 90% of today's computing > tasks can be moved online. "To explain, Mr. Schmidt steps up to a white > board. He draws a rectangle and rattles off a list of things that can > be done in the Web-based cloud, and he notes that this list is > expanding as Internet connection speeds become faster and Internet > software improves. In a sliver of the rectangle, about 10 percent, he > marks off what can't be done in the cloud, like high-end graphics > processing." (my emphasis) > > Google also thinks that people don't use all the features that are > available in many desktop applications. "If you're creating a complex > document like an annual report, you want Word, and if you're making a > sophisticated financial model, you want Excel. That's what the > Microsoft products are great at. But less and less work is like that," > said Google's Dave Girouard. > > And for Google, things are going in the right direction: more people > have access to fast Internet connection, users don't want to keep their > data on a single computer as they found the advantages of sharing and > collaborating online. There's also the advantage of a much lower price > for storage and computing. Google's "vast data centers are designed by > Google engineers for efficiency, speed and low cost, giving the company > an edge in computing firepower and allowing it to add offerings > inexpensively." > > For now, 2.000 companies start to use Google Apps every day (most try > the free version), Google Docs had 1.6 million US users last month > (source:Compete.com), Gmail doubled its US users to 20.1 million in > November (source:comScore). > > Related: > Replacing desktop software with web applications > Things you can do from here: > - Subscribe to Google Operating System using Google Reader > - Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your > favorite sites
