Tech 4 Professionals

We have lived under the shadow of Mircosoft for the last two decades so we always think of Windows as the default operating system for all personal computer, laptops etc. Barring a very select few who work in the technology alleys like Bangalore, Los Angeles, Boston etc. have tasted other operating systems. We have also got used to all the nuances which windows has taught us that it takes time for the computer to boot up, there are viruses to be managed, each application has to be started and most importantly once in a while the system can crash and reboot. Well imagine a world where your computer does not need a operating system. How would the applications run?, how would we create docs or send emails?, etc. Well that is very close to possibility with the possibility of Google Chrome Operating system. As far as a user is concerned he will not see any OS. What he/she will experience is a Google Chrome browser. So if you press the on button on your computer your browser should pop up instantly for you to surf the net.

Why is this significant? Here is what is happening:

In the 6 years of my web development I have never faced any challenge on programming web applications but most of problems come in supporting cross browser compatibility as we are using old, unsupported browsers. One such browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6 (a.k.a IE6) which lacks support for modern web standards (such as CSS3 and HTML5). We spend a lot of extra time on getting websites to properly work on IE6. This time spent on workarounds leads to loss of revenue and no new innovation.

.net magazine’s Calling Time on IE6 piece got a massive response the community at large.

Here are some points which should motivate you to switch form IE6:

1. Security - A loophole in Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), the default web browser on most computers, allows criminals to commandeer victims’ PCs by tricking them into visiting unsafe websites.
2. IE6 is over 8 years old now - It doesn’t support latest technologies and plugins
3. IE6 follows it’s own web standards. It throws out all logic while rendering pages and sometimes that can be a big issue. More often than not, if a website displays incorrectly on your browser and you’re using IE6, it’s not a design flaw. The way Style Sheets (CSS) is interpreted by IE6 is just absurd
4. It is a nightmare for us (developers and designers) to code for IE6
5. IE6 is slower

Using IE6 browser you are contributing to slow down for innovation of the Web. Support ie6 no more campaign at http://www.ie6nomore.com/

Related links:

http://secunia.com/advisories/product/11/?task=statistics_2009

Ironically Apple computers which popularized the mouse interface to the personal computers is the one killing it. Steve Jobs by launching the new iPAD has provided a new human interface to the computer, “The touch interface“. As one of the analyst after the launch put it; “you can now touch the internet”. With an iPAD the user while browsing the internet clicks the hyperlinks to various webpages with their fingers. Yes, that is a huge change from what we have been doing till date i.e. clicking the hyperlinks using the mouse pointer. Will this spell end of the interface which we have learnt to call as mouse? Only time will tell, meanwhile here is what is happening.

Internet <- Mouse <- Human hand

Now replaced by

Internet <- Human hand

Thus the removal of one intermediate device to access the internet will change the speed and the ease of accessing the internet. This means that with computers you no longer need to be sitting and working as there is no need for a separate mouse surface. Now you can relax in any position and directly communicate with a touch sensitive screen.

Touch sensitive screens are not new but the older versions very not suitable for a human finger. Remember the older PDA (Palm) and smartphone (Ercicsson P800) required a pointer interface called a “pen” for pressing against the screen and activating links. This also meant that the screens did not last longer and had to be replaced. I have used Palm earlier and now using Apple iphone and the difference is huge. With iphone you can work much faster and with the additional pinch and flip features you can zoom and scroll very easily & quickly. Finger interface is more natural in experiencing the internet than the mouse. Just like how you are used to flipping pages of a paperback novel, now you can get the same flip experience reading a electronic book stored on iPAD, browsing pictures or surfing the internet.

So after killing the mouse Steve Jobs and team should see how eliminate the keyboard by give us a natural writing interface!

Other interesting related Blogs:

The Best Mouse models you have ever clicked on.
The Mouse Turns 40
IPAD: Your Grandpa can also use it!

If you are a startup or a small firm looking to seek the benefits of cloud based applications then read on. The fear of unknown is always there, but the benefits provided by today’s cloud based applications cannot be put down. The following list of must have applications is based on my experience of starting up Injoos and how we leveraged these applications to cut down cost and increase productivity (See “New Way to work” Video)

Business Email: You still cannot do away with the email yet. Using the new social applications you may stop sending emails altogether to your team members, but then you have external customers and vendors to communicate with. Why Google email (Google Apps)? It is the best email provider and can be configured to your business domain and most importantly is Free (The basic version is more than sufficient for a small team). It is based in the cloud and can be configured to any email reader like outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird.

Read the Blog “How to configure google email for my business”.

Team Collaboration Application: This is the second must have application and it combines all the tools you need to keep working with your team. Online File store, Blogs, Wikis, Web Conferencing, Micro Blogs, Calendaring, etc;, all in under one umbrella. Think of this as a social intranet for your small business living in the cloud. No more hassles of file access when you travel. Mostly importantly easily capture all your team knowledge in one place. Believe me you will need it! There are no leaders in this space and you can try out Injoos which provides the most comprehensive solution.

CRM: I am not so much of a fan of CRM apps, but if your business already is using one then look at switching to a SAAS provider. SalesForce.com is a leader in this space with Zoho the closest challenger.

Project Management: Again I believe in simple task tracking which we do with Injoos, but if you have to produce detailed Project plans and Gantt charts then Basecamp is what you should be looking at.

Internet Telephone: There is no need to spend on expensive dollars calling your colleagues and customers especially if it is a international call. With Skype you can have a online telephonic chat or video chat depending on your bandwidth. Alternate to Skype is Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger, but I feel Skype has the best voice clarity.

Here is nice video which simplifies the cloud jargons