Apple has thrown its hat into the cloud “gold rush” ring and all of a sudden, we have started hearing the old but boring cries of the death of Windows. A lot of noise is being made about Steve Jobs’ statement that “We’re going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device – just like an iPad, an iPhone or an iPod Touch. We’re going to move the hub of your digital life to the cloud”
Linux tried it, it did not work, Google has taken its shot, Apple has been at it for decades with no luck. And it actually abandoned that fight. It is 2011 and the world still runs on Microsoft Windows with a dose of UNIX/Linux helpings. The problem here is that people seem too fixated on the result of user access rather than the origin of such access. Yes, we have the cloud, yes, almost everyone has an isomething, but at the end of the day, many of us will still plug our ithingy into our computers to sync or do whatever, and we will still access that “cloud” with a “PC”. And the last time I checked, the “PC” was still overwhelmingly running Windows.
Have you ever tried to sign up for a “free” webinar only to be bombarded with a five-page interrogation sheet that asks you for all kinds of information that you find yourself saying “I just wanted to watch a presentation”? Did you come across a report or whitepaper you wanted to look at only to end up spending two to three minutes taking an exam and then the “report” turns out to be a two-page sales sheet? How about that eBook you saw and thought would be a good read until you were made to fill out a police report on why you are trying to get educated?
This is truly the age of information at your fingertips and most users may not even be aware of the vast array of tools available on the Internet – from tutorials on paper and video to easy to use applications that can do everything, even make coffee.
“Today, we’re announcing our newest opt-in security feature that I’ve worked to build over the past few months: Login Approvals.”
It is amazing how much the world of IT support has changed. Just a few years ago, the tech support folks were the reservoir of knowledge and users always took their advise, suggestions or diagnosis as the words of the wise. That, thankfully, has changed. We have computer users who are so savvy and tuned in to technology now that it will be foolish for an IT support technician to attempt pulling a fast one on them.
That there is a lot of hype in the technology industry about “the cloud” is pretty obvious these days. You will be hard pressed to read an article about technology (this one included) without some reference to the beauty, ease and affordability of cloud services.