Ball and Chain

   

   
      New York Times columnist Maggie Jackson has long been concerned about the direction our mobile society is taking. Now that we are reachable 24/7 does it give our employer total domination over our lives?
     People are tethered by smartphones and so insipid is this that most are unaware that it is even happening to them.
     People bought into the idea of 24 hour access when it looked like it would allow them to be free of a brick and mortar office. What happened was that those people now work more hours than ever.
     Maggie talks about three generations of a Baltimore family that owned a hardware store.Although most people would think that it would be a good thing to live a few steps from where they work, like the first generation of owners did, in reality they could not wait to move to the suburbs to put a little distance between them and the store. The hardware business overshadowed their lives.
     Two generations later, the cell  phone toting grandson blamed the portability of his work for his recent divorce.
      People are losing the balance between work and a life outside of work. Many employees admit to keeping a cellphone within reach when they go to bed. Some say they check it several times during the night.
     
      In her blog Maggie Jackson writes, "In courting the always-on livelihood, we're turning our backs on rich moments of full focus and absorption, in favor of darting restlessly back and forth between two or more complex streams of life. The integrity of a moment is lost when we unthinkingly blend different parts of our life."

     The question that can be asked is are we any more productive buying into this way of life or does it just seem like we are busier because we now have more ways to be distracted?

    You can read this article and others by visiting Maggie Jackson's blog     http://maggie-jackson.com/    

Behind the 8 Ball

    

This Friday, October 26th Microsoft will begin sales of it's new Windows 8 operating system. This version will differ from past versions of the product in that it does not have a "START" button. Instead there are multiple tiles on the screen similar to a smartphone screen.
     This is not the only departure in Windows 8. Windows 8 is optimized to be used with a touch screen. Depending on how well the public embraces this new OS it could mean the beginning of the end of mouse and keyboard based computing.
      This is a big gamble on Microsoft's part. since the new OS has a different look and feel over previous versions of Windows, there will be a steep learning curve involved. Add to that a touch screen and we could be looking at a pretty big investment in hardware.
     When Windows rolled out the Windows Vista operating system many businesses balked at adopting it. They cited additional expenditures in hardware since many older computers would only run the new OS very slowly. At minimum a memory upgrade was required and possibly a high end video card to leverage Vista's new desktop display.
     When polled, many businesses did not see a big upgrade in productivity with the new OS and Microsoft's new licensing scheme required a law degree to decipher. Many businesses opted to stick with Windows XP. In fact when Microsoft threatened to end support for XP many businesses banded together and deluged Microsoft with signed petitions. Microsoft relented and provided support for an additional two years.
     It will be interesting to see if Windows 8 users will report greater ease of use and functionality that would translate into greater productivity. Early reviews have said that it loads much faster than older versions of Windows. That is a big positive. It also has better search capabilities and for people who are already well versed with the iPhone or Android operating systems the learning curve may not be as steep as it has been said.
     As far as software is concerned, Microsoft will have a Windows Store similar to iTunes that will sell a collection of apps. The new software will not run on previous versions of Windows and will be redesigned for a touch screen environment.
     How this will play out in industry remains to be seen. More ergonomically correct workstations will be developed and a whole new line of products will have to be developed for the new operating system.
     If industry does support this product then perhaps the touch screen revolution will begin.

Apple Corps.

 

        Last Friday (October 5) marks the first anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs.

     It is unnecessary to write about how he shaped not only the home computer market but also the comsumer electronics market as well.

     What is noteworthy however is that at the time of his death, Apple stock was trading at 389 a share and Fridays close saw it at 638. It had closed at over 700 dollars less than a month ago.

     Jobs left Apple with a stable full of innovative products. Not only the iMAC and iBOOK personal computers but also the iPAD, iPOD and iPHONE. It appears that the company can still get some more milage out of these products.

    It will be interesting to see what the future will bring for the world's most valuable company. Will there be another product in the pipeline that will capture the imaginations of people around the world or will the Apple mystique die with it's creator?