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So Apple's plan is to do what Ubuntu and Windows are already heading in the direction of? Except when Apple do it is new and revolutionary. Why would any enter

So Apple's plan is to do what Ubuntu and Windows are already heading in the direction of? Except when Apple do it is new and revolutionary. Why would any enterprise IT department choose the iOS device, which is going to be more expensive, less open, and probably play less well with all the Microsoft back end products they have? I cant see a single advantage Apple have in this space over Google and Microsoft, other than a lot of senior management tend to like the shiny Apple product.

chavesn 13y ago
Ubuntu? Where's the hardware? Where's the full experience? Regardless, innovative isn't just trying it first. It's making it work first. Microsoft has made a good try but there's something missing if it's just not seeing adoption. I don't think it's easy to say what that is or it would be fixed already. But I do think Cringely is right that someone will get there, Apple or not.
- rednukleus 13y ago
  Nobody has done it fully yet, including Apple. But again, Cringely doesn't give a single reason why Apple would succeed in this space over Google or Microsoft, or something like Ubuntu. Enterprise is probably going to want to stick to mostly one OS if everything has to be ported over and all their accessories need to be compatible, and iOS is very very unlikely to be first choice of most IT departments for obvious reasons. So the idea of convergence isn't new, and the idea that iOS would win at the convergence game in the Enterprise is implausible - I don't know what he was smoking when he wrote this article.
  - chavesn 13y ago
    Enterprise is going to be a slow-adopting beast, no matter what, but that doesn't mean that iOS (or some future evolution of it) is out of the running. Come on, you're not really saying that office work can't ever fundamentally change again, now that PCs are here -- are you?
    - rednukleus 13y ago
      Firstly, iOS as it stands is very very poor compared with a desktop OS for office work. At an absolute minimum people need to be able to have two documents up on screen at once, maybe one spreadsheet and one PowerPoint doc. Secondly, im willing to entertain the idea that iOS could evolve into something that could become useful as a desktop replacement, but i am yet to see a single reason why it would have an advantage over competitors, and there are many reasons, such as cost, that they are at a disadvantage.
      - nicholassmith 13y ago
        From my experience of working in an office with admin teams, the very large majority worked with apps open on the full screen and tabbed between them. Very rarely would they have more than app visible at once, even when they knew they could they wouldn't.
        rednukleus 13y ago
        That has not been my experience with office workers. They often work with one maximized app, but they often work with more than one document at a time. For admin teams in particular they often have a small chat client open either for work reasons, or more commonly to chat with coworkers.
- jypepin 13y ago
  The Ubuntu Edge, but I'm not sure of the status of that since it did not get funded http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge
- Svip 13y ago
  Didn't Ubuntu do 'Ubuntu on Android', which basically meant that when you plugged your Android telephone into a computer, you had a full desktop Ubuntu on it? I am pretty sure Ubuntu Touch would have the same functionality.
  - droidist2 13y ago
    I've been waiting for Ubuntu on Android but it seems to never come. Their site still says "Get in touch" at the bottom trying to get other companies to get involved with it. I want it to say "Download" or at least "Where to get it" damn it! http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android
pratyushag 13y ago
I don't know how much credit the post deserves, but something to think about: A lot of very strong companies had already started capturing the smartphone market before Apple came out with the iPhone. I think it's clear that people care about marketing and branding and are obviously willing to pay for that (hint: car companies).
- rednukleus 13y ago
  In the enterprise people care about price. A lot. They might be happy to buy a few iPhones for management, but a wide scale iOS deployment as a desktop replacement to everyone in the company would be crazy, in the same way that very few companies give everyone a Mac.
  - chavesn 13y ago
    I think if we're painting with really broad brushes, in the end companies care about ease of use. The cost of people is far greater than equipment. Of course, they don't evaluate hardware the same way that individuals do, so it looks like the price matters the most, because most companies already have established IT conventions and those qualify the highest for "ease of use" (they already know what they are doing). So it will certainly take time, and it will take smaller, riskier companies demonstrating that some futuristic new platform is soooo much easier, but if that really was the case, it really wouldn't be that crazy to see large enterprises starting to shift this way. Of course this is all based on the assumption that "it's going to be so much better and easier to use that it's obvious to the market as a whole." I'm not saying Apple will achieve that goal, but I think a lot of people who wouldn't traditionally have been "Apple fanboys" are rooting for Apple, simply because we've all seen them make transformative changes with the iPod and iPhone, and we like progress.
    - rednukleus 13y ago
      > I think if we're painting with really broad brushes, in the end companies care about ease of use. The cost of people is far greater than equipment. Sounds like you have never worked in an enterprise. Ease of use for the staff is definitely not at the top of the list of concerns. They care about price, will it continue to run their legacy apps for another 10 years, how easy is it to administer etc. Regarding your second point, I have not heard anyone who is not firmly an "Apple fanboy" cheering for iOS to supplant Windows in the enterprise. Linux, yes, iOS no.

chavesn 13y ago

Ubuntu? Where's the hardware? Where's the full experience? Regardless, innovative isn't just trying it first. It's making it work first. Microsoft has made a good try but there's something missing if it's just not seeing adoption. I don't think it's easy to say what that is or it would be fixed already. But I do think Cringely is right that someone will get there, Apple or not.

rednukleus 13y ago
Nobody has done it fully yet, including Apple. But again, Cringely doesn't give a single reason why Apple would succeed in this space over Google or Microsoft, or something like Ubuntu. Enterprise is probably going to want to stick to mostly one OS if everything has to be ported over and all their accessories need to be compatible, and iOS is very very unlikely to be first choice of most IT departments for obvious reasons. So the idea of convergence isn't new, and the idea that iOS would win at the convergence game in the Enterprise is implausible - I don't know what he was smoking when he wrote this article.
- chavesn 13y ago
  Enterprise is going to be a slow-adopting beast, no matter what, but that doesn't mean that iOS (or some future evolution of it) is out of the running. Come on, you're not really saying that office work can't ever fundamentally change again, now that PCs are here -- are you?
  - rednukleus 13y ago
    Firstly, iOS as it stands is very very poor compared with a desktop OS for office work. At an absolute minimum people need to be able to have two documents up on screen at once, maybe one spreadsheet and one PowerPoint doc. Secondly, im willing to entertain the idea that iOS could evolve into something that could become useful as a desktop replacement, but i am yet to see a single reason why it would have an advantage over competitors, and there are many reasons, such as cost, that they are at a disadvantage.
    - nicholassmith 13y ago
      From my experience of working in an office with admin teams, the very large majority worked with apps open on the full screen and tabbed between them. Very rarely would they have more than app visible at once, even when they knew they could they wouldn't.
      - rednukleus 13y ago
        That has not been my experience with office workers. They often work with one maximized app, but they often work with more than one document at a time. For admin teams in particular they often have a small chat client open either for work reasons, or more commonly to chat with coworkers.
jypepin 13y ago
The Ubuntu Edge, but I'm not sure of the status of that since it did not get funded http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge
Svip 13y ago
Didn't Ubuntu do 'Ubuntu on Android', which basically meant that when you plugged your Android telephone into a computer, you had a full desktop Ubuntu on it? I am pretty sure Ubuntu Touch would have the same functionality.
- droidist2 13y ago
  I've been waiting for Ubuntu on Android but it seems to never come. Their site still says "Get in touch" at the bottom trying to get other companies to get involved with it. I want it to say "Download" or at least "Where to get it" damn it! http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android

pratyushag 13y ago

I don't know how much credit the post deserves, but something to think about: A lot of very strong companies had already started capturing the smartphone market before Apple came out with the iPhone. I think it's clear that people care about marketing and branding and are obviously willing to pay for that (hint: car companies).

rednukleus 13y ago
In the enterprise people care about price. A lot. They might be happy to buy a few iPhones for management, but a wide scale iOS deployment as a desktop replacement to everyone in the company would be crazy, in the same way that very few companies give everyone a Mac.
- chavesn 13y ago
  I think if we're painting with really broad brushes, in the end companies care about ease of use. The cost of people is far greater than equipment. Of course, they don't evaluate hardware the same way that individuals do, so it looks like the price matters the most, because most companies already have established IT conventions and those qualify the highest for "ease of use" (they already know what they are doing). So it will certainly take time, and it will take smaller, riskier companies demonstrating that some futuristic new platform is soooo much easier, but if that really was the case, it really wouldn't be that crazy to see large enterprises starting to shift this way. Of course this is all based on the assumption that "it's going to be so much better and easier to use that it's obvious to the market as a whole." I'm not saying Apple will achieve that goal, but I think a lot of people who wouldn't traditionally have been "Apple fanboys" are rooting for Apple, simply because we've all seen them make transformative changes with the iPod and iPhone, and we like progress.
  - rednukleus 13y ago
    > I think if we're painting with really broad brushes, in the end companies care about ease of use. The cost of people is far greater than equipment. Sounds like you have never worked in an enterprise. Ease of use for the staff is definitely not at the top of the list of concerns. They care about price, will it continue to run their legacy apps for another 10 years, how easy is it to administer etc. Regarding your second point, I have not heard anyone who is not firmly an "Apple fanboy" cheering for iOS to supplant Windows in the enterprise. Linux, yes, iOS no.