Category: User Experience

Palm Takeover: Mobile Computing Consolidation Continues

Grandad has a relax on a bridge over the A590The news of yesterday seems to be that Palm is in takeover talks with a number of people including Nokia. Motorola is also looking on to see if a strategic bid, to keep Nokia out, is worthwhile.

This announcement follows on from a long list of consolidation purchases made by Nokia, Motorola and to a lesser extent Microsoft in the mobile arena. Consolidation is always a sign that a market is maturing and moving into the mainstream. So if you are struggling to keep up, here are some of the purchases:

  • Symbol goes to Motorola giving the a huge breadth of industrial strength mobile devices.
  • Good Technologies go to Motorola giving them reliable e-mail connectivity.
  • IntelliSync goes to Nokia giving them reliable e-mail connectivity.
  • Palm goes to…
  • RIM Blackberry continues to grow…

So what is driving this consolidation?

Is it because Nokia and Motorola are afraid of the rise of RIM? I don’t think so.

Is it because they Nokia and Motorola see an existing market that they want a portion of? No. It’s because the market is growing and broadening. And the growth in the market is being driven by two forces – network performance and device performance.

Network performance and availability is driving down the cost of data networks so that the always connected dream is becoming more of a reality.

Device performance and capacity has reached the point where the devices can actually do something useful.

This means that we are only just seeing the beginning of the explosion of connected mobile devices.

Cisco take on WebEx

Jimmy inspects a cave (Rabbit Hole)The big news of the day seems to be that Cisco is to purchase WebEx. There is a good deal of commentary already available (here, here, here) most of which focuses on the Cisco and Microsoft relationship.

Does this change the relationship between Cisco and Microsoft, I doubt it. The motivations are different. Microsoft is interested in web conferencing to sell Windows software, Cisco is interested in web conferencing to sell network equipment. Neither of them see these capabilities as core to who they are. If I were a WebEx employee I would be worried about that.

You could say that this is Cisco broadening its portfolio into services, but it’s not going to do that at the expense of it’s core business – network equipment. Cisco’s relationship with Microsoft also helps them to sell network equipment so they aren’t going to jeopardise that either.

The interesting thing for me is what this does to Cisco’s MeetingPlace software and all of the TelePresence work they have been doing. There are some significant technology overlaps here, though probably not too many market overlaps. Bringing these markets and capabilities into the existing WebEx customer base would make for a very compelling suite of capabilities.

 

Technorati tags: , ,

Where will my data be in 5 years time? (Part 3)

Jimmy and Grandad have a problemWhy bother thinking about the data?

Why not think about the applications you will be using?

The reason I want to consider the data is that the data is the important part, I’ll explain why.

An application is a representation of data. Different applications reflect different things about the data. Different applications also allow the data to be manipulated in different ways. This, of course, requires the data to be available to the applications, but also to be stored in a format that the application can understand.

My primary example of this is the humble JPG image file. I have a digital camera the creates JPG files. Once I’ve created the image on the camera I copy it to one of the PC’s in the house. having got it to a place where it is available to the applications I use a whole array of applications to do things with the data:

  • If I want to send it to someone I use Outlook, compose an e-mail, and attach the picture. At the point Outlook asks me if I want to send the image in any one of an array of sizes. I don’t have to use one application to resize it and another to send it. I can do it all in one.
  • If I want to view the images in a slideshow I seem to have lots of choices. My preference is to use the capabilities that are included within the software that Canon make available with the camera.
  • If I want to manipulate the picture I have another set of choices.
  • I can also add the picture to other documents.
  • I might also post it to flickr where they will present it in a number of sizes.

In other words, the data is not dependent upon the application for it’s existence, but the application is dependent upon the data.

What most of these applications have in common is that they are expecting the data to be available on a file service, and they are expecting it to be a specific format.

The one application that is different is flickr. Flickr doesn’t expect the data to be on a file service. It expects the data to be copied to it’s data store before it can be used by that application. Once available within the flickr data store the flickr platform does a reasonable job of making it available to other web applications, but these are all extension to the flickr application.

If I wanted to use a different application to flickr (that did a similar thing) I would need to reload the data. The new application might provide some form of migration or move capability, but I’ve not seen any examples of it yet.

So what’s the result? the result is that I keep a copy of all of my pictures on local hard disks so that if I wanted to shut of flickr I still have my data. I’m not yet in a position where I am happy having any of my data locked into an online service. It’s fine as an application which has its own copy of the data, but it’s not going to become the owner of my data.

And that is one of the problems with Web 2.0 applications.

 

Technorati tags: , ,

Where will my data be in 5 years time? (Part 1)

Public FootpathI’ve written a few times about the future of the shared file server (here, here, here). This has got me thinking about the future of data. Where will it be in 5 years time? Where will it be in 10 years time?

I’ve been around long enough to remember discussions over the excesses of 20MB hard disks (and yes I do mean Mega Bytes). I’m currently sitting here with:

  • A smartphone which has a 2GB memory card in it.
  • A tablet PC with a 40GB hard disk.
  • A desktop PC with 360GB of disk storage.
  • Downstairs there is another desktop PC with 100GB of disk space
  • Jonathan carries around a laptop with a 60GB hard disk in it.

I also have a load of online data:

  • This blog is actually only about 20MB but that’s because:
  • My flickr site has 1200 photos stored.

I have hundreds of CD’s and DVD’s. I have hundreds of books and papers too.

And that’s just Graham Chastney the consumer, there’s another laptop with a 20GB hard disk in it on which I do my work.

There are some things about this configuration that I love, and some that worry me.

But will this still be the case in 5 or 10 years time?

What would make me change? Is there a compelling reason to change? Would I ever give all of this data over to Google, or Microsoft, or anyone else? What would they have to give me to make that happen? Would I be willing to pay for it?

Vodafone 1605 (HTC TyTN) Pocket PC Phone

I’ve been given a Vodafone 1605 to evaluate for the next month. This phone is the HTC TyTN rebadged.

So here’s my experience from the start, and some observations along the way.

My current normal phone is an i-mate SP5, so that’s what I’m comparing with as I go along. Both of these phones are Windows Mobile 5 phones.   

The packaging is the usual cardboard container filled with all manner of plastic wrapped cables and plugs. This packaging seems to have become the standard way that things get delivered. One of these days I will understand why we have replaced plastic containers with cardboard containers only to wrap everything in plastic bags instead. Is this really better for the environment..

The two devices are different to each other in the primary role that they are trying to accommodate. The blend between phone role and communications role is different. The i-Mate is primarily a phone, the 1605 (TyTN) is primarily a communication device. To make the 1605 (TyTN) better for communications HTC have provided a bigger screen which is also touch sensitive and given us a push-away keyboard. The i-Mate is quite limited in the number of “feature buttons” the 1605 (TyTN) has loads of them. Even things that you don’t expect to be buttons are buttons.

The 1605 (TyTN) is bigger than the SP5 in every dimension. It’s longer, it’s wider and it’s deeper, but only a few millimetres in each direction. It’s surprising though, how much difference a few millimetres make, this phone feels much bigger and much heavier. I normally carry the Sp5 in my trouser pocket, but I think the TyTN will have to be in its pouch on my waistband.

One of the things that is noticeably bigger is the battery. Considering all of the similarities between these devices, the main drain on the power has to be the larger screen. I’ll only know after a few days whether power is a problem or not.

One of the things that you notice as you unwrap all of the items in cardboard container is that they all use the USB interface; the charger is USB and the headphones are USB. The device itself only has a single USB interface. This leads to a practical problem – you can’t use the headphones while you are charging the device and the first thing you have to do is charge the device.

Having a touch screen the 1605 (TyTN) also comes with a stylus. The stylus is tucked away in the bottom right-hand corner of the device. As a left-handed person who holds his phone in his right-hand this is probably the worst place for the stylus to be stored. This is the corner of the phone that is embedded into the palm of my right-hand. A few times already I have pressed “feature buttons” on the side of the phone while turning it around in my fingers trying to get to the stylus. While we are on the stylus, you have to give it a good tug to get it out. I don’t think there is much chance of it falling out.

My left-handedness means that the thumb wheel on the 1605 (TyTN), which the SP5 doesn’t have, is also on the wrong side, but I suppose I’ll get used to that.

The switching of orientation between landscape keyboard working and normal closed use is really slick. It even switches the orientation of the joystick which I wasn’t expecting, but is logical.

Having a keyboard for messages is fabulous and I’m already much faster (not surprisingly) that I ever was with predictive text on a numeric pad.

I’m not sure what the standard screen colour scheme is for the HTC TyTN when it ships, the Vodafone branded one I have is using grey and it’s really, well, grey.

The SP5 uses mini-SD, the TyTN uses micro-SD memory, so they’ve saved themselves some space there. The other advantage with the TyTN is that the memory is accessible on the outside so you can swap it without turning the phone off. On the SP5 you have to turn the phone off so you can take the back off it before you can change the memory. Unfortunately I don’t have a really large micro-SD card to I won’t be able to test out some of the media capabilities.

The verdict at the end of day – I’m not sure I’ve seen enough benefit yet to make me happy with the extra size and weight that comes with the TyTN. It’s early days (day actually) so I’m sure I’ll come across other things that will add to or detract from my impressions of the TyTN .

If you want a more detailed review there are a few:

Technorati tags: , , , ,

America?

This one made me chuckle today:

According to my copy of Sametime 7.5 “America” is not a real word? “American” is, but not “America” .

Word of the Day: Real words and pseudo-words

DovedaleEvery now and then I create a post title “Word of the Day”. Most of the time it’s because I’ve come across some new word (or pseudo-word) in something I’ve read.

Sometimes these are real words that I’ve never come across.

More often they are pseudo-words, they look like real words but actually they are something that someone has invented.

Every now and then we I come across a word that I am sure is a pseudo-word only to find out it’s a real word, “burglarized” was my favourite example of this.

Dilbert summarised this phenomenon wonderfully this weekend:

 

Speaking as someone who is paid to think about how people collaborate I think there are many reasons why we see the use of pseudo-words.

I’m sure for some people they are an attempt to assert their thinking into a situation or organisation. It’s a demonstration of your influence within an organisation if you can invent a word, spit it out, and hove others using it. I once had a manager who invented a new phrase every week, he would use it for a week and see how long it took before it was said back to him. He would also see how obscure he could make it and see whether anyone had the balls to ask what the phrase meant.

I suspect for others that the issue is actually laziness. Rather than trying to construct a proper sentence they try to create a word for it. By creating a short-hand the concept becomes easier to communicate. The most recent example of this would be the pseudo-word “de-portalize“. Everyone within the IT architecture community knows exactly what it means, but it’s not a real word. It’s short-hand for something that those who need to understand will understand.

Once upon a time..ah no I won’t say that I’ll leave it for the 5 things that Stuart has tagged me for.

Is the Shared File Server Dead? (Part 2)

Mum evicts the cat from the sofaIn the dim and distant past of 2006 I wrote an article on the death of the shared file server, Steve responded.

It seems I was ahead of my time and I’ve seen a few articles on the subject recently.

Yesterday the Microsoft SharePoint Team pitched in. They seem quite upbeat about the level of penetration that they are going to be able to achieve. As with all of our posts they are realistic about the places where file storage is going to carry on being used. Their list:

  • Product Distribution (Product packages like Office)
  • SMS distribution point (desktop patches and hot fixes)
  • NT Backups, Backup Servers and Desktop Backups (backups)
  • Database Storage (.mdb, .ldf, ndf, .pst, .ost)
  • Large Audio/Video and Streaming Media and other large archive read only media such as DVDs, CDs storage (.iso, .wmv, .ram, .vhd)
  • Developer Source Control 
  • Batch, Command Scripts, Executables (.exe, .vbs, .cmd, .bat)
  • Application Server… Client Application Storage Linked Files and File Dependencies –  (.lnk, .lck)
  • Archives and Dumps (.arj, .rar, .zip, .dmp, .bak)

The challenge here is highlighted in their summary:

Collaborative file shares can be replaced with SharePoint deployments.  Product distribution and database storage will continue to persist as valid scenarios.  End users will need training to understand where to save their files.  With most file sharing scenarios for the most common file sizes SharePoint lists will be the Microsoft recommended way of sending files inside the corporation and with collaborative SharePoint site extranet deployments, it’s the way to share with partners.  Most non technical end users scenarios such as the most common HR, Sales, and Marketing teams can say goodbye to using file shares for file sharing.  Some groups and divisions like IT SMS/Product Distribution, Data Warehousing (SQL), Media, and Development groups won’t be saying good bye to file servers in Windows 2003 and in code name “Longhorn” with key scenarios leveraging cheap NTFS file storage.

Analyzing your current file servers by server or share or folder may allow you to group them by purpose.  Here are some examples of common classifications: Collaborative File Sharing, Historical Archive, Media Server, Dump/Desktop Backup, Source Control Servers/Databases, Personal Storage, Product Distribution, and Application Servers.

(Highlighting mine)

The challenge for most enterprises is this:

  • It’s incredibly difficult to change end-users working process.
  • It’s incredibly expensive to get a good understanding of the data that already exists.

While replacement of shared file storage with SharePoint requires these things it will happen very slowly.

 

Gadgets Impact on the Family

Jimmy brings the dog foodIf you are addicted to your Blackberry, or any other gadget that you use outside the office you should really read this:

BlackBerry Orphans – Wall Street Journal

The refusal of parents to follow a few simple rules is pushing some children to the brink. They are fearful that parents will be distracted by emails while driving, concerned about Mom and Dad’s shortening attention spans and exasperated by their parents’ obsession with their gadgets. Bob Ledbetter III, a third-grader in Rome, Ga., says he tries to tell his father to put the BlackBerry down, but can’t even get his attention. “Sometimes I think he’s deaf,” says the 9-year-old.

These things all have one really important button – “Off”.

I haven’t fallen into complete addiction, yet, but I know what these kids are talking about. The other day I found myself at the dinner table with friends searching for something on my phone. Sue pointed out in very clear terms how rude this was, and she was 100% right. I won’t be doing that again.

Technorati tags: ,

Windows Live Search for mobile beta

Our Beach (as it became known) La PaludOver the last few days Microsoft have made a Beta available of Windows Live Search for mobile (download). There has been loads of comments on how good it is, so I thought I would give it a go – I’m almost amazed.

It’s one thing being able to see down to minute detail from a PC, being able to do the same thing from a mobile device opens up a whole new set of possibilities. As an example I searched for my church and it returned a whole load of really useful details, great. Clicking on the “map” bar then showed a remarkable combined map and aerial view. I then asked for directions to my house, which were faultless (as you’d expect these days) what I found particularly nice, though, was the ability to click another button and get a map and aerial view of the next turn. It’s not GPS, but it’s still fabulous.

The category searches don’t seem to work for my area, but the beta is only advertised as being a US based beta so I’m not surprised.

I was going to try both Google and Live, but at the Gizmodo review said that it was a clear win for Microsoft so I haven’t bother with the Google offering.

All of my testing (playing) has been done over a WiFi network from an iMate SP5 which I have. I’ve not tried it on GPRS because the person paying the bill is a bit twitchy about data charges. I suspect that it’s not quite as impressive over GPRS because of the bandwidth limitations.

 

Technorati tags: , , , ,

ITIL Foundation Course

TramwayI’ve been out for a few days training – ITIL Foundation.

I haven’t done any classroom training for year and I’d forgotten how enjoyable and frustrating an experience it was.

It’s very enjoyable to have the time to interact with others and to learn from each other. The people dynamics can be frustrating too.

I did the ITIL Foundation exam straight after the course and passed (92%, swat).

I can now confidently say that I understand the difference between an “incident” and a “problem”.

Technorati tags: ,

User Experience Nightmare – In Hospital

Oceanapolis, Brest, FranceYesterday I went into hospital as a day case, when the nurses who were doing all of the pre-operation checks knew what my job was they decided to show me the software that they were using.

It was very interesting.

The software was very complex and the nurses had to know some amazing tricks to get it to do what it was supposed to do. At my initial check-in asked me a number of basic questions, when it came to the pre-operation checks they asked me the same questions again. Both times they asked the basic questions they asked me my height and weight, both times the software was supposed to convert the number that I gave them. I deliberately gave the same answer both times just to see, and both times it failed even though the two nurses entered the details differently.

The lack of intelligence in the questions being asked by the system were mostly masked by the nurses. Every now and then they would skip over a load of question when I asked them what the questions were they said that they were all questions that were only pertinent to a woman, or a person under 16 etc.

I was also struck by how impersonal it was that myself and the nurses were both pointing towards the computer to answer personal questions. If it was me, I would implement the use of tablets for this one reason. Using tablets would definitely let the nurse face the patient, in the same way as paper used to do.

Clearly no-one had thought about the user experience here.