Edge of the Mainstream

The Ubuntu Edge asks the question is there a need for another mobile operating system?

Currently the mobile phone market is made up by four players. Firstly iOs, from Apple, then Android, by Google, Windows phone from Microsoft and finally Blackberry. Ubuntu is taking the gamble that they can become a player in the mobile market of the future. In the next ten years another billion people will join the internet. Most of those will undoubtable join via a mobile device, the question is which one. Android is, theoretically, open source to the phone manufactures but after customisation by the phone companies and cell carriers the pure Android experience becomes diluted. iOs, Windows and Blackberry each offer very controlled software and hardware experiences.

Ubuntu wants to offer the mobile market an alternative that is truly open. The Ubuntu Edge is a demonstration of the capabilities that such a model could provide.  As beautiful as the demonstration models and video show the phone to be I wonder if the edge demonstrates that Ubuntu phone is the right software for the future. Yes it demonstrates capabilities that others in the market do not have, but without third party support, it will simply be the fastest phone on the market without any useful software.

Mark Shuttleworth used the analogy of Formula 1 to describe how high end engineering is tested in race cars, to produce innovation in mainstream car production. The Ubuntu Edge therefore is the cutting edge which will push mainstream mobile phones? A wish list of components does not push the mainstream an inclusive software base which encourages contributors to profit from their involvement will.
Mozilla, in contrast, has launched the Firefox operating system with phone partners and is now able to offer an alternative to Android that is free and being tested not by a elite group who can afford the cost of entry but by the mainstream. Linux as I understand it has always been about being open to all not about a gated community who can afford Formula 1 quality hardware.

Open source halo effect

My eldest boy needed a laptop to do homework on, to write reports, surf the web and play some games. He's hooked on Minecraft at the moment, all well and good. I took an old Acer Aspire, running Windows XP Professional, and put Ubuntu 12.04 on it. Children start at school aged four and continue until eleven when they move on to Secondary. In that time they never experience any other operating system other than Microsoft's Windows. To most Primary school children a computer is Windows. I feel this limits both the students and the wider society. 

Creating options can change the course of industries. Apple has succeeded by getting consumers interested in their products at a young age using the iPod. As children become teenagers many become interested in music and today the most widely used portable device is the ipod. The iPod smoothly transitions these young consumers from the basic iPod to the more sophisticated iPod touch. After a number of years of iPod use, the jump as young adults to the iPhone is logical. The iPhone brings with it a halo effect which encourages consumers to try something different rather than stick with Windows.

Perhaps that is what the open source community should try. Rather than trying to mimic the high-end phones of Apple, Ubuntu or Firefox could try a Linux-powered portable music player. A sophisticated touch-based device, which would lead to a phone. By building all the stepping stones, we could create an alternative route for Open source software which has been proven by an industry leader.

Seeing Opportunites.

Steve Jobs stated that "Real Artists Ship", so did Apple ship? This week at WWDC Apple showcased the post-Steve era, and it seems to have divided opinion. Apple is often perceived as an innovator and a leader in the market, but a careful examination of the company's history reveals a different story. Apple has always watched what other companies are doing very carefully and attempted to define where they are going wrong and then create products which answer this problem. The Mac, the iPod and the iPhone were all reactions to products that were already in existence, but were either poorly executed or confusing to consumers. Apple appears to have reacted not to a need in the market but to the market it self. The comments that iOS needs to be more like Android and that Apple is unable to innovate was illustrated by Phil Schiller's  "Can't innovate anymore, my ass"
 As beautiful as the new Mac Pro looks I wonder how practical the form factor that Apple has chosen truly is. I work on a current generation Mac Pro and over time I have increased the ram and expanded the storage to suit my needs. The new Mac Pro will allow you to change the internal hard drive, but not with an off the shelf unit, rather a custom fit which may prove more costly. I have used Apple computers as a designer for twenty years and the small form factor desktop is a recurring theme, one which the industry regularly ignores. Machines which are to be used for office hours tend to need to robust and the small form factor device has always struggled to provide a consistent and reliable experience.

I hope that in the future Apple, returns, to looking to the market to see opportunities and giving it what it needs rather than asking the market what it needs.

Nothing stays the same

More famous bloggers than I, such as Andy Inhatako, have made the leap but this month I retired my faithful iPhone 4 for a HTC One. My whole working life, twenty plus years, has depended on Apple's products and during that time Apple consistently delivered machines and software that got the job done. During my working life there has been a massive change from analogue technology to a complete digital work flow. Throughout all of this Apple has been instrumental in the changes, gradually changing the very nature of the industry I work in. Apple proved by action that change is in the best interest of its users and its self.
Apple's recent focus has been a shift towards mobile, the iPhone, the iPad and the Air format laptops. The desktop, in my opinion, has stagnated. There has been a lack of updates for professional hardware, the Mac Pro line has seen virtually no improvement in three years. The removal of the 30 inch screen, replaced by shiny cinema screens which are useless for colour correction. These are specialised bits of hardware but they are a litmus test to the creative industries that Apple is less committed to industry and is becoming more focused on consumer products.

My decision to leave iOS for Android is based ironically on the fact that the iPhone has not done what consumers wanted, bigger screens and greater choice. If Apple wants to become a consumer led company then they must give consumers what they want. As an industry user, it worries me that they are not giving me what I need to update my set-up become of their consumer orientation. As a consumer user I am frustrated that they failed to provide me with a phone with the features I wanted.

I've said it before in other posts, but I believe that Apple needs to be more open. When you lose an individual like Steve Jobs, who seemed to be in tune with users needs, you need to listen carefully and actually deliver what they want. Hopefully, at WWDC Apple will show that it is focused on Industry and the consumer equally.

Linux in Space

Credit NASA

NASA recently decided to remove the last proprietary piece of software from the International Space Station. Underlining a commitment, and shift in culture, to an open platform.

“We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable – one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust or adapt, we could," said Keith Chuvala of the United Space Alliance, which runs opsLAN for NASA.

Linux could have no better endorsement of its capabilities than becoming an integral part of the infrastructure of the International Space Station.
NASA has embraced open source culture, setting up code.NASA. code.NASA's aim is to improve the software developed and used by NASA, via community peer review. The open movement it is hoped will  provide transparent, participatory and collaborative efforts which will provide NASA with software which is more closely tailored to its needs. At the same time it will encourage a wider participation and interaction with NASA by the public. 
As an organisation that is sponsored by the public, the sense of community action created by open participation in coding programmes can only be beneficial.
NASA may indicate a shift in attitudes towards open source software. That it can not only be trusted in the most demanding of environments it can be trusted by the wider public.