Computing

Interesting post on Microsoft Monitor about the future of Windows: 

What Microsoft really needs to do is transcend the traditional user interface and fundamentally transform how people interact with the operating system. But not in some newfangled way that would require effort akin to learning a new foreign language. Apple is off to a good start, assuming the company really understands what it’s got.

I’m talking search as the user interface. Back in February I suggested that maybe the best future of operating system interfaces is a step back to the command line. Search as the user interface makes lots of sense, and it is familiar because of how people use the Web.

Over the weekend, I stopped into an Apple Store to ask questions about QuickTime 7 High-Definition support. An Apple employee said that he had a 1080i short of BBC clips on one of the Macs. Rather than go to the file folder where the clip was stored, he clicked on the Spotlight search icon in the upper right-hand corner, typed BBC, found the file in about one second and started playback in HD. I’ve spoken to a few Mac users that are going through a kind of transforming behavior, where Spotlight quickly is becoming the main way through which they interact with the operating system.

Right now, Windows is stuck in the past.

I see desktop applications like desktop publishing and spreadsheets as driving the first wave of PC purchases. The Internet spurred the second wave of sales. Digital content could drive a third wave of sales, if vendor focus shifted from processing power and other tired feature and performance metrics to real user benefits. Search is a potentially strong user benefit, because it can remove an obstacle–the tired file folder structure–to making more out of digital content. I wonder in a teacher’s survey of a third-grade classroom how many kids aspire to be a file clerk when they grow up? Probably none. So how many people really aspire to filing stuff on their computers and then actually trudging through the file folders looking for it?

Since installing Google Desktop Search and Picasa I now never use the traditional My Documents file browsing. I just bung in what I am after into Desktop Search and move from there. Likewise on the web, with Google as my homepage I simply don’t bother with bookmarks any more – does anyone? It’s far easier to just type what you want into the search engine.

Thoughtful piece here by Vic Gundotra about Microsoft ( he work for them).

It’s currently in vogue to discuss the “End of Microsoft”. A stock price that has remained flat for some time, recent high-profile departures, repeated slips in schedule for major products, the success of companies like Apple and Google, the emergence of the web as a platform and other very compelling arguments are all used as evidence to point to the decline of Microsoft.

Yup. They are all causes for concern. No wait. Let me be clearer before someone thinks I’m being flip. These *are* very serious issues that we need to address and react to. I’m not blinded to the reality of the situation. I too get depressed when friends who I’ve worked with for years make decisions that indicate they believe that some other company offers them a better financial future. This didn’t happen as often in the old days.

This is Vic’s first major posting on his blog. I hope he keeps them coming.

Jason Kottke provides a very thorough roundup of the various views being put forth here.

For background, here is the BBC online article:

Adobe buys Macromedia for $3.4bn

Shares in Macromedia have risen 10% on news its US rival Adobe is to buy it for $3.4bn (£1.8bn) and integrate its software with its own.

The agreement marks the latest move in the consolidation of the software industry. In December Symantec agreed to buy Veritas in a $13.5bn deal.

Under the terms of the acquisition, US-based Macromedia’s shareholders will own 18% of the combined business.

It will be run by Adobe’s chief executive, Bruce Chizen.

Better together

With the addition of Macromedia’s products – which include computer animation, and Dreamweaver and Flash web-design software, for use on the internet and mobiles – Adobe hopes to meet the need from businesses for more integrated software.

The deal will be an all-share transaction in which Macromedia shareholders will get 0.69 of an Adobe share for every share they own.

This represents a premium of 25% a share to Macromedia’s $33.45 closing share price on the US’ Nasdaq market on Friday.

Although Macromedia’s shares rose on the news Adobe’s were down more than 11% early in the day.

Some analysts see Adobe’s move as designed to strengthen its position against Microsoft, which is working on software that could challenge Adobe’s Acrobat document display software.

Separately, Adobe said it would buy back $1bn of its shares after the Macromedia deal was completed in the autumn.

Big deal

Microsoft and Adobe could go to head to head over office-document creation software for businesses, because Adobe wants a larger share of this market, analysts said.

Moreover, Macromedia’s web-design software is one of the leading products for creating websites and both Adobe and Macromedia are starting to put their products on mobile phones.

If Adobe’s and Macromedia’s cultures meld well, they could present Microsoft with significant competition.

“Management is quite capable, but I think it is quite a big deal to be swallowing,” said Robert Sellar, a technology fund manager at the UK’s Aberdeen Asset Management, which owns Adobe shares.

However, he added that Adobe does have a very good cashflow situation.

The company also has a large presence in the consumer market through the use of its Photoshop photo editing software, as well as a growing stake in the magazine and newspaper design business with Indesign.

“Customers are calling for integrated software solutions that enable them to create, manage and deliver a wide range of compelling content and applications – from documents and images to audio and video,” said Mr Chizen, Adobe’s chief executive.

The firm said Macromedia’s president and chief executive Stephen Elop will become president of worldwide field operations at the enlarged company.

John Naughton writes excellently every week for the Observer newspaper. Here is his article from last weekend, which focussed on a Tory party candidate’s use of Photoshop on a campaign photo. He explains issues and techniques in a very clear and transparent way:

Ed Matts is the Tory candidate for Dorset South, a bucolic paradise with possibly more dairy cows than voters. Until last week, he was deservedly obscure. Now he is a global celebrity – and all because of a piece of software called Photoshop.
Photoshop, for those unfamiliar with such things, is a wonderful program for manipulating digital images. It is used by graphic artists everywhere. I doubt that there is a web designer alive who does not have a version of it on his or her computer.

Millions of digital camera users have been given a cut-down version when they bought their cameras. They can use it to touch up their photographs, eliminate the ‘red-eye’ effect caused by flash and generally tidy things up. If you have inadvertently snapped Aunt Ethel with a telegraph pole apparently growing out of her head, a few minutes with Photoshop will see you right.