When #tech makes it easy peasy lemon squeezy

If you're immersed in technology as many of us are, with smartphones, smart TVs, smart meters, tablets, laptops, desktops, fitness bracelets and ubiquitous connectivity, you probably have days when none of it seems to work as it should. The effort required to get it to work as you need it to seems like a very poor investment. You just want to through it all in the street and drive over it repeatedly with your pickup truck.

On the other hand, there are days when all of this works harmoniously in a symphony of orchestrated people, processes and technologies to accomplish tasks large and small. The other evening I was finishing a client presentation and printed a few paper copies to bring to the meeting the next day. From my laptop somewhere downstairs, I sent the job to my printer somewhere upstairs. While the printer was doing what printers do, it sent an alert to my laptop that the yellow ink was low - not empty, just low. It even sent me a link to the manufacturer's web site where I could order more yellow ink. I followed the link and checked the price. Then, with a quick copy and paste of the part number, I checked the price for the same item on Amazon.com where it was offered for about 10% less. Thanks to my Amazon Prime membership, two-day shipping was free. I hit the "Buy Now with 1-click" button and that was that, in less than a minute.

Two days later, my yellow ink cartridge arrived at the front door. That's how all of this stuff is supposed to work. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

What Lies Beneath Microsoft's Surface?

Microsoft made a big splash in the muddy waters of tablets and personal computing devices yesterday with the announcement of its new Windows 8 tablet called Surface. Surface will come in two models, "RT" and "Pro". So far, most of the reaction among the technopundits is about the hardware and the competition for the consumer infotainment dollar. How good is the screen? Is the external keyboard any good?  Is it really a threat to the iPad? What about Android?

The most important part of this news, obscured by all of the chatter about the gadget itself, is the operating system, Windows 8. When we talk about Surface, we have to talk about what makes it run.  We have to talk about Surface and Windows 8 at the same time, as though they were one product.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer answered the most important question that corporate IT people should be asking. Will it run my corporate applications? In broad terms, the answer appears to be yes. The introduction of Surface and Windows 8 appears to be exactly what a lot of business technology people have been waiting for - the ability to run things like the SAP GUI thick client or other Windows-based business applications on a truly full-featured, portable device. Imagine being able to scan bar codes, take pictures of damaged goods, work directly in the Windows-based ERP application, make a VOIP call, send and receive corporate email, edit Office documents, access web apps, and whatever else you do, all on one device, with a familiar operating system. Imagine not having to use three devices and a pocket full of flash drives to get through the day. You won't have to email files to yourself and wait until you get back to your PC in another building, or another city, to finish that important report. Imagine administrators managing these devices with all of the familiar tools in their existing Windows infrastructure. This could be the technological convergence that IT Directors have been waiting for.  It could be a game changer.

What might prevent the the few sample machines and a lot of hype from becoming widely deployed reality?  If Windows 8 and this hardware cannot truly support most legacy Windows applications, the game will not change. But if Microsoft gets this right, the game will change. People will stop sneering when they hear "PC", because Microsoft will have delivered everything that a truly personal computer can be.

If the first devices and first release of Windows 8 come are delivered in Microsoft's usual style, they won't be perfect.  They'll be pretty good, with enormous potential. Look for Service Pack 1 (SP1) within six months of the initial release of Windows 8 and Surface 2 hardware before 2015. Look for a constant stream of patches for Windows 8. At the same time, look for Surface & Windows 8 to eat a lot of the Android tablet market share. Android is just not sufficiently established in the enterprise environment to stand up to a well-executed tablet and OS from Microsoft.  Also look for Surface / Win 8 to take a few bites out of the Apple too. People want one computing experience for work and play. For many, Surface / Win 8 has the potential to give them what they want. All of this is possible if Microsoft gets it right and what's lies beneath the Surface rises above the hype.