Okay, I admit it - I continue to find it difficult to break out of my "legacy thinking" when it comes to the way I get work done. Last week Andy talked about how deploying Chromebooks could simplify IT and received criticism that largely reflected an aversion to an underlying mental model that is access centric.
Isn't that the real problem with all of these cloud-based schemes - they require us to change how we approach information technology? Is that really a bad thing?
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It took me a few months to get used to but now, for my work anyway, I couldn't dream up a better way of managing all my tasks, phone calls, email, texts, CRM, sales and shipping processes, tech support follow ups, documentation etc. Just using my phone I can do anything I would be able to do with my desktop, again for work purposes only.
I still need and use a powerhouse desktop at home for A/V editing, sound engineering etc. But that's MY toy, for work the cloud is simply freakin' amazing!
I still need and use a powerhouse desktop at home for A/V editing, sound engineering etc. But that's MY toy, for work the cloud is simply freakin' amazing!
Where I work, we don't have much need or demand for off-site access, and the existing needs are filled by VPN and OWA. At home, ours is the only house left in Western Civ with a single non-mobile desktop computer; multiple access isn't an issue.
I think there are inherent problems in the model. There are security issues with giving your data to a third party. There are backup issues. Maybe the third party can manage these issues effectively but many companies cannot afford to or are not allowed to make that assumption. And there are connection and bandwidth issues. If the internet connection should fail for any reason, the company may have hundreds or thousands of workers being paid to do nothing until it comes back.
These problems have been around for a long time. Lately it has been marketed as "the cloud" as if is something new and the old problems don't apply. I think that is dishonest. It's not new and the problems still exist.
For small companies without sensitive data I can see it working.
These problems have been around for a long time. Lately it has been marketed as "the cloud" as if is something new and the old problems don't apply. I think that is dishonest. It's not new and the problems still exist.
For small companies without sensitive data I can see it working.
You answered a few questions, well confirmed my earlier thoughts anyway.
I was just looking at Chromebooks myself as MOST of what I do now is cloud and I only need a powerhouse at home.
I ended up going against it though because I still would like some access to standard apps and tasks, the SSD is tiny etc. I already use a Dell notebook (groan) with 128GB SSD for work, which is fine for work but just not enough for my personal use too. For work, everything is cloud based and as our company is a Tier2 network and owned by a a computer engineer, things are as slicker than snot on a ducks lip. I have gone from spending an hour preparing quotes (my last role, different industry) to about 45 seconds. I can process invoices, send paid receipts, schedule shipping and have everything integrate with our cloud based CRM. It's absolutely incredible what they have done here to streamline a salesman's day.
That said, your article confirmed my initial thoughts and, though I think Chrome books have a great niche, it's just a niche and not enough for me.
I was just looking at Chromebooks myself as MOST of what I do now is cloud and I only need a powerhouse at home.
I ended up going against it though because I still would like some access to standard apps and tasks, the SSD is tiny etc. I already use a Dell notebook (groan) with 128GB SSD for work, which is fine for work but just not enough for my personal use too. For work, everything is cloud based and as our company is a Tier2 network and owned by a a computer engineer, things are as slicker than snot on a ducks lip. I have gone from spending an hour preparing quotes (my last role, different industry) to about 45 seconds. I can process invoices, send paid receipts, schedule shipping and have everything integrate with our cloud based CRM. It's absolutely incredible what they have done here to streamline a salesman's day.
That said, your article confirmed my initial thoughts and, though I think Chrome books have a great niche, it's just a niche and not enough for me.
I open word to write a document on my windows box, because word is installed and that's what it's for. On my linux box I open Libre. I don't open Outlook, I fire up the oojah that send emails. I don'e open IE to have a look at what people are doing on TR, I open my browser, which happens to be Chrome...
It would only be Legacy thinking, at the point I come to buy some new kit. I'm used to Office, so I'll buy a windows box. Maybe I'll look at a Chrome box, when my kit finally dies, may be I'll think, well Outlook and word are things I do very rarely, and what I really need is Visual Studio, of the ability to work off line.
What I won't be doing is making that decision, based on a fad, or a fashion or the barking of some sheepledog.
When you look at the OS and applications question from a busines perspective, things become even more problematic.
My advice, you want to sell Chrome? Leave off with the cool, fashionable and trendy arguments, they aren't going to fly with the money men. They aren't thinking legacy, they are thinking bottom line.
It would only be Legacy thinking, at the point I come to buy some new kit. I'm used to Office, so I'll buy a windows box. Maybe I'll look at a Chrome box, when my kit finally dies, may be I'll think, well Outlook and word are things I do very rarely, and what I really need is Visual Studio, of the ability to work off line.
What I won't be doing is making that decision, based on a fad, or a fashion or the barking of some sheepledog.
When you look at the OS and applications question from a busines perspective, things become even more problematic.
My advice, you want to sell Chrome? Leave off with the cool, fashionable and trendy arguments, they aren't going to fly with the money men. They aren't thinking legacy, they are thinking bottom line.
Or succumbing to a marketing ploy to "return to legacy", as in the old dumb terminal
connected via network to a mainframe somewhere, that someone else sets up,
maintains, and bills you for the access, like in the late 1970s til mid 80's. We've
spent some 30 years cutting those strings, now we're told that's all we need.
Anybody have an old Intel terminal, or maybe a Compaq? We used those.
May have been monochromatic, but the underlying principle is the same.
connected via network to a mainframe somewhere, that someone else sets up,
maintains, and bills you for the access, like in the late 1970s til mid 80's. We've
spent some 30 years cutting those strings, now we're told that's all we need.
Anybody have an old Intel terminal, or maybe a Compaq? We used those.
May have been monochromatic, but the underlying principle is the same.
When you look at the legacy systems with dumb terminals we're talking about systems that required hard line and specific locations. Chromebooks rely on internet access, whether it be at home, work or on the road, which is not the same as a dedicated line that was only available to the super majority at their office.
Chromebook set-ups and the "cloud-centric" thinking allow for work to take place for the super majority (in the first world) anywhere. That is the big, big change from legacy.
In addition, while I'll admit that we are talking about limited utility without a connection to the internet, most of the work that the majority of people do in the big four apps is available offline on chromebooks: Email, Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Presentations. Is it every single option available in full blown office suites? No but it is the 95% that is used most often. And it gets better a lot more often than the every other year package that individuals could rarely afford if they paid the full MSRP for businesses.
Chromebook set-ups and the "cloud-centric" thinking allow for work to take place for the super majority (in the first world) anywhere. That is the big, big change from legacy.
In addition, while I'll admit that we are talking about limited utility without a connection to the internet, most of the work that the majority of people do in the big four apps is available offline on chromebooks: Email, Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Presentations. Is it every single option available in full blown office suites? No but it is the 95% that is used most often. And it gets better a lot more often than the every other year package that individuals could rarely afford if they paid the full MSRP for businesses.
Radio connected dumb terminals was easily achcievable back in the day, there was just no need for it.
Cloud is just dumb terminal or thin client rewritten with modern tech. It addresses issues on mobility (not an issue in the dumb terminal era : p ) and addresses exactly none of the the fundamental issues around near all of your data and functionality being held centrally by a third party. Two huge issues that were addressed by the PC, for sound business reasons, not technological ones.
Could the mobility seemingly offered by the cloud outweigh the issues around centralisation for some? Absolutely.
The marketing ploy, is trying to get people to discount them as a non-issue. Fish hook their customers with an investment it would be very difficult for an exec to write off.
So most Cloud boys are pressing the greed button with cost savings, then while the poor gonk is thinking of their upcoming bonus and promotion, trapping their nads in a vice.
You can fool some of the people all of the time...
Cloud is just dumb terminal or thin client rewritten with modern tech. It addresses issues on mobility (not an issue in the dumb terminal era : p ) and addresses exactly none of the the fundamental issues around near all of your data and functionality being held centrally by a third party. Two huge issues that were addressed by the PC, for sound business reasons, not technological ones.
Could the mobility seemingly offered by the cloud outweigh the issues around centralisation for some? Absolutely.
The marketing ploy, is trying to get people to discount them as a non-issue. Fish hook their customers with an investment it would be very difficult for an exec to write off.
So most Cloud boys are pressing the greed button with cost savings, then while the poor gonk is thinking of their upcoming bonus and promotion, trapping their nads in a vice.
You can fool some of the people all of the time...
I think for individuals that find this choose to go with Google Enterprise as a solution for a small busineess this may actually be a better fit, but I can't see many of my customers making this work in a complex IT environment.
As in......... on the device and not in the cloud? how.... supprising.....
There goes the "secure" part the OP was ranting about. At least the "legacy dumb terminals" left the data securely on the server only.
O and by the way the big growth in applications is not in the cloud/web but on devices (locally). Google play installs most apps on the device so it seems Web applications (marketing terms suck) is Legacy from that perspective.
There goes the "secure" part the OP was ranting about. At least the "legacy dumb terminals" left the data securely on the server only.
O and by the way the big growth in applications is not in the cloud/web but on devices (locally). Google play installs most apps on the device so it seems Web applications (marketing terms suck) is Legacy from that perspective.
If you ever had to support "Dumb Terminals" from an IT standpoint, it was certainly easier the dealing with Fat Clients. The Chromebook Architecture takes the best of being nearly stateless and makes managing devices much simpler for IT. Someone else in the thread said it earlier, this article is more about archtecture than Chromebooks.
So the underlying archtecture is similar, but make no mistake, these are not connected to main frames in the cloud and their ability to run cloud apps that are able to compete with fat client installs of MS Office is light years ahead of any dumb terminal.
So the underlying archtecture is similar, but make no mistake, these are not connected to main frames in the cloud and their ability to run cloud apps that are able to compete with fat client installs of MS Office is light years ahead of any dumb terminal.
took me, to identify it and two trained elctricians to rectify.
Some pratt used a 440v power cable for the warehouse neons to support the comms cable on part of the run. Every time the lights got turned on the terminal (in block mode) had a fit.
Thin client might be a better description admittledly. Not sure how it would fair when you induced a cascade of 40 massive spikes in the utp cable though.
Some pratt used a 440v power cable for the warehouse neons to support the comms cable on part of the run. Every time the lights got turned on the terminal (in block mode) had a fit.
Thin client might be a better description admittledly. Not sure how it would fair when you induced a cascade of 40 massive spikes in the utp cable though.
For many of our customers, we provide VDI environments that run in the Chrome browser (or any HTML5 browser) for those that still need MS Office.
It's is not expensive of complex, and provides a transition until all legacy applications and data migrate into cloud services (if ever)
It's is not expensive of complex, and provides a transition until all legacy applications and data migrate into cloud services (if ever)
Considering you need a license for every "device" connecting to your VDI I think it is in fact more expensive.
Apart from price, what other reason do you have to buying Chromebooks?
Everything else in the article can be accomplished with any of the competing products.
Oh, and i am told that because of bulk buying discounts, my high power 19 inch laptop cost less than a Chromebook.
Everything else in the article can be accomplished with any of the competing products.
Oh, and i am told that because of bulk buying discounts, my high power 19 inch laptop cost less than a Chromebook.
The whole idea of cloud computing is providing mobile users with a localized set of tools, which all others can use too. This saves a mobile worker from remote networking to company networks/servers, storing expensive software on each device etc. It's about mobility and ease of use, no local software etc.
A 19" laptop SHOULD cost less than a Chromebook, who the hell wants to lug a 19" laptop, with 500GB+ HD etc around all day? I have a 17" too but it's just left at home, no way I'd lug it around all day.
Most ghetto blasters are cheaper than iPods these days too. While, personally, I would take most portable stereos over an iPod, it's a matter of convenience. People don't want to lug around a boombox when they can have an iPod in a pocket, even when the boombox does more and sounds better.
19" laptop, LOL, they'll be giving them away for cereal box tops soon.
A 19" laptop SHOULD cost less than a Chromebook, who the hell wants to lug a 19" laptop, with 500GB+ HD etc around all day? I have a 17" too but it's just left at home, no way I'd lug it around all day.
Most ghetto blasters are cheaper than iPods these days too. While, personally, I would take most portable stereos over an iPod, it's a matter of convenience. People don't want to lug around a boombox when they can have an iPod in a pocket, even when the boombox does more and sounds better.
19" laptop, LOL, they'll be giving them away for cereal box tops soon.
This is the idea of "network" computing, using the cloud (other peoples infrastructure) has nothing to do with that.
It's about using a cloud ecosystem vs. traditional client-server networks. The Google-Amazon-Evernote-Microsoft-Apple-etc. cloud is where the competition for the future is happening, but the hardware can be traditional laptops and desktops, phones, tablets, and devices yet to be imagined.
I don't see myself using this paradigm (gods, did I actually use that word?) any time soon. Still, I question writing consecutive articles that focus on a specific brand when the concept applies to other platforms.
...would i spend anything on a limited tech device locked to Google? I can find a laptop as hardware capable and even better than a Chromebook that doesn't lock me into the "cloud".
At work EVERYTHING I do is cloud based from my desktop. When I'm on the road at customer sites, EVERYTHING I do is cloud based from my notebook, tethered to my phone. In such cases, as the author has also described, cloud computing usually offers everything you need. Document sharing (Pricing, brochures, quotes and invoices), web browsing, access to company 'cloud based' CRM, cloud printing etc.
If you need a personal notebook, for running your own software choices locally, editing graphics, video, audio, playing games, storing a lot of files and data etc. A Chromebook is not designed for your needs at all and doesn't claim to be.
For work I run a Dell (blech), it has a tiny SSD (128GB) but is rocket fast for work computing needs. Intended use is exactly the same as a Chromebook and it certainly lives up to cloud based work needs.
If you need a personal notebook, for running your own software choices locally, editing graphics, video, audio, playing games, storing a lot of files and data etc. A Chromebook is not designed for your needs at all and doesn't claim to be.
For work I run a Dell (blech), it has a tiny SSD (128GB) but is rocket fast for work computing needs. Intended use is exactly the same as a Chromebook and it certainly lives up to cloud based work needs.
Like me you find yourself prefering apps like Lucid Charts over Visio because of the abilities offered via the cloud. Sharing files for example. We all know you can share and access Google Doc's files much easier then with MS Office. But what about workflow documents? Sharing a Visio document has never been easy. You either have to have a full version of Visio installed on every users machine that needs to be able to edit it (and then good luck keeping all the updates in sync) or you export the visio file to a spreadsheet or PDF or something that can't be edited.
With cloud enabled apps like Lucid, you can share a workflow diagram with anyone, and give them access to edit it. You can embed it in a website easily.
So, if you find yourself working in the cloud because you find cloud based apps to be more effective for your work than fat client installs, you may just wind up deciding that a chromebook is right for you.
I'm using Lucid as an example here, but typically for me the top reasons for looking at cloud based apps are Sharing and Publishing abilities.
With cloud enabled apps like Lucid, you can share a workflow diagram with anyone, and give them access to edit it. You can embed it in a website easily.
So, if you find yourself working in the cloud because you find cloud based apps to be more effective for your work than fat client installs, you may just wind up deciding that a chromebook is right for you.
I'm using Lucid as an example here, but typically for me the top reasons for looking at cloud based apps are Sharing and Publishing abilities.
All of this is great when you have access to the cloud. The world is not so simple. WiFi is not always available or overloaded with too many users. Tethering to 3G / 4G etc is not so cheap in Canada.
Also you are working with company files, customer lists, etc. They are now in the cloud. You have not discussed on the fly encryption. There have been tooooo many companies that have had lost / stolen data, customer records, etc on legacy systems and now you want to put that in the cloud and make it easier to get to.
Now with all your data in the cloud Google, or any other provider, can hand over any/all of that data on a whim to anyone who flashes a letter that includes a gag order.
Like all the previous "must haves" that have come and gone (like many CIOs) make your decisions carefully. Just because Andy thinks that this is the next best thing to sliced bread doesn't mean that the peanut butter will stick.
Also you are working with company files, customer lists, etc. They are now in the cloud. You have not discussed on the fly encryption. There have been tooooo many companies that have had lost / stolen data, customer records, etc on legacy systems and now you want to put that in the cloud and make it easier to get to.
Now with all your data in the cloud Google, or any other provider, can hand over any/all of that data on a whim to anyone who flashes a letter that includes a gag order.
Like all the previous "must haves" that have come and gone (like many CIOs) make your decisions carefully. Just because Andy thinks that this is the next best thing to sliced bread doesn't mean that the peanut butter will stick.
It doesn't fit mine either. In the early paragraphs and again at the end, Andy points out that just because it works for him doesn't mean it will for others. Like any tool, some will find this useful across the board; some in limited deployment, some not at all. Our jobs as IT are to figure where and when.
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