Robin's Hood

Android will supplant Windows. It will become the preeminent OS for phones, netbooks, laptops and desktops.

Google is full of very smart people. They have created a browser and bought an OS company in Android. If they had wanted to take over the desktop then they would have bought Microsoft wouldn't they? So why didn't they? Perhaps they didn't have enough cash. Or perhaps they decided that the future of Operating Systems is not like the current model of Windows, OSX and Linux.

Let me explain why.

Windows 7 will be as small and compact and efficient as Windows Xp so it can run on Atom chip netbooks, the fastest growing segment of the PC industry. Microsoft took a step 'back' because the market has spoken. During the development of Vista the market was going in the opposite direction. Faster chips and Moore's law. Until somebody woke up one morning and said, "I just don't need all this power to run Firefox".

A Dell Mini 9 is completely silent. It has more in common with a mobile phone than a desktop computer.

• The Atom chip does not consumes a lot of power (no more than 2.5Watts)
• it will compete with the ARM chip when Intel start fabricating 32nm.
  

When Asus start making an Android netbook with an Atom chip and 12 hours battery life and the tools to do your job and no license to pay to Microsoft for Windows 7 then you will have something genuinely new. But why stop there. Who said you need more than a browser and a basic office suite to do your job on a desktop?

Android is community lead, with the backing of one of the world's most cash rich companies. This combination will ensure that Android is reliable and easy to use. Google ensures that it will get continual financial support. Who do you think paid for Firefox after all?

If you don't believe me then all you have to do is this. Close your eyes. Remember for a second that Linux powers most of the world's routers. Linux powers most of the world's web sites. KDE and Gnome try and almost succeed to compete with Windows, arguably the world's most ubiquitous piece of software. The battle for the desktop is only a battle in the eyes of Microsoft and Apple. Most people don't care. If Android comes along and does the job for 100 USD less then people will go for it. Firefox will soon become the world's most popular browser if you split IE6 and IE7 apart. Google funded Mozilla for the most part. Google have a track record of staying the distance and they are backing Android. Now open your eyes. See what I mean?

Well I am into my fifth year of blogging kinda. I do all sorts of other things too in the social software space but blogging has been with me since the beginning.

Yes, this is my fifth year of blogging. Wil Wheaton has been blogging for over 9 years. Leo Laporte is in his 8th year. My first blog posting was back in 2005 which puts me into my 5th year (if you include 2005 itself). It is nothing to be proud of particularly but I thought I would mention it anyway :-)

Dubai is emblematic of the risk taking speculation which characterises the philosophy at the heart of the global financial collapse. They may have had very little directly to do with the problems, yet they embody everything on which the crisis was created. Hedonists. Inefficient living. Profligate consumption. Property speculation with no day job.

The higher they climb, the farther they fall. The problem is that they are falling back into the British benefit system, schools, hospitals, police protection, all the things we pay for and all the things they didn't.

I have just read in The London Times that up to twenty cars per day are being abandoned at Dubai's airport by fleeing ex-pats. It is illegal to bounce a cheque punishable by prison under Sharia law and these ex-pats are understandably nervous. Nervous enough to abandon their vehicles at the airport in some sort of guilt trip payback to the Government.

Dubai has no oil. Abu Dhabi does. It has bailed out Dubai's failing banks into a 'state-owned entity'. This act was designed to restore confidence in a failing system. Dubai is in trouble and its wealthy immigrants are leaving it like rats deserting a sinking ship.

Is this Black Monday? Does the collapse of the British banking sector start here? What else is going to happen today?

I grabbed this screen image from Google Finance this afternoon of the top 5 losing stocks today. I was appalled to to see four British banks in this list. Even by the standards of the crazy credit crunch these figures show that today is a dark, dark day.

I am not too worried by this though perhaps I should be. I don't have a lot of cash or stocks so my theory is that I will not suffer too much. However I was planning on having some money at some point in the future so I am taking an interest.

After the 'New Win' in the 'Federal Sector' things went downhill at MPC.....

Awards & Press

November 7, 2008
MPC Corporation Announces Chapter 11 Filling
[more]

October 27, 2008
MPC Corporation Receives Notice of Delisting
[more]

October 9, 2008
MPC Scores New Wins in the Federal Sector
[more]

Visit Our Press Room
[more]

The time is now right for corporations to start using Google Apps. Cut costs and simplify your IT all at the same time.

I read last month that 1.5 Million Australian students are dumping Outlook/Exchange for Gmail. I also saw this week that the venerable British newspaper the Telegraph is swapping Microsoft for Google for its 1400 users. Is this a tipping point? It is a tough business climate out there. As well as server-virtualisation and server-reduction, maybe now is the time for application-virtualisation and application-reduction. Is Microsoft's monopoly coming to an end? I only use 10% of the functionality in Microsoft Office so Google Apps suits me fine. I use it on my corporate website yellowconsulting.co.uk and because I am a knowledge worker, using my knowledge is how I make money. So if I am worrying about whether my infrastructure is up to the job then I am not making money.

Microsoft Office is successful due to its heroin selling model. Low barrier to entry, but once you start using it, it is difficult to stop. It is hard enough for me to persuade my wife to use something else (which I have now done) so I can only imagine how difficult it must be for a company like the Telegraph to do so.

I salute the Australian education board and the Telegraph for their brave move. There will be a lot of corporates watching closely to see how the move goes. I have been a user of Gmail and GCalendar since the first day they came out. I have not been dissappointed and I am sure you will not be either.