Today (I wrote this in 2013) I want to share with you my opinion of technology in its current form, today. As a technician I get to use and experience a multitude of products, software and hardware. As a life long learner I read and watch technology, full of excitement - yes I'm a full time geek, sue me!
I have come to a point where there are so many options than there has been in the past, look at operating systems. At one point in life the majority (over 90%) would use a windows (operating system) based machine and this would probably be the same version for many years. Step in to 2013, we have iOS, Windows (7 or 8), we have Linux operating in the background, Android in our phones and tablets, then we have new devices like he Raspberry Pi. In principal this is fantastic, it means choice, when before we had the might of Micrsoft and that's about it (Linux/OSx been in the background), but the power of this change has brought one serious problem - convoluted. Yes we have choice now, because now we can choose from a different type of device, whether its mobile, tablet, laptop or desktop, but also we have touch screen.
Again you wonder, this sounds everything you've always wanted - but hold on a minute, many options now are non-domain, so in the work environment this causes issues. How easy can you push out settings, software (or apps) to other people/users/computers if you have now central unit in control? It's difficult and impossible sometimes, because devices offer positives and negatives, options no less but can they do all that you need them too? Can you really say you can use your IPAD for everything, I know I cannot, yes its great to have "airplay", book reading is great, not a bad camera etc. But we run on a Windows network, with software designed for Windows, we have people that can't get broadband so this affects their ability offsite. Do touchscreen's offer the same level of ability for you to work, study or play without too many typo's or do they hamper your efficiency and wind you up?
Now look at cost, Android devices vary greatly in price from low cost to iPAD, I've played with a variety of these and look the fact so many useful apps are free. As a person in charge of managing devices they offer me ability to lock them down to restrict use of certain features too, but even one expensive piece of kit crashed and performed slow.
I'm starting to wonder which device offers the most features, since none do all, or the cost becomes an issue, I mean think about it, you can get a decent laptop with a fair bit of memory for the equivalent of an iPAD! Sure a laptop offer you the same experience as you have always had, but you cannot beat the ease of use and speed (boot up etc) of a tablet - for instance i have tried writing blog entries on one but to no avail, i am back on the PC for this. But laptops suffer with short life batteries compared to tablets, yes I realise the processor is very different but its a real issue dependant on your circumstance.
In the last year or so I have witnessed a rise in the hacker community or the maker shed people, which has been down to people using low level devices like Arduino and Raspberry pi's (there are many more). This is a really good thing, it gets us thinking again like back in the 80's, i'm especially excited about this movement and cannot wait to start experimenting. I talk about this because these devices they are still computers, sure they will not replace your standard device but they can be programmed to do more and that's their raison d'etre. They bring their own problems too, for instance the Raspberry Pi uses a Linux operating system that's been hacked to work on ARM processors. This is truly breathtaking, considering its all a voluntary world, people do their bits and adapt programs to work on it (they've done a great job with Apple Airplay), the Pi already can function as a media center out the box. The only issue is the learning curve, Linux takes time to master, you do have to research simple commands - that is not necessarily a bad thing, just drains your schedule if your busy!
So there we have it, I did not intend this to be a in depth look at individual devices, or recommend anything, I just want you to understand just because we have choice it does not mean any device is suitable.
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