Apple: The next Microsoft…only more dominant
With the iPhone and iPod, Apple has already found its way into the pockets of the consumer and chances are pretty high that it would remain there for quite some time. The success of the iPod and iPhone has spurred the sales of Apple’s laptop and desktop systems. Today, Apple appears to be the sole beacon of light in the otherwise dark global economic situation.
So what’s next for Apple? Where is the company headed? Difficult questions to answer. And even if we could it would be more of an educated guess. From a computer making company Apple has evolved to a consumer electronic powerhouse, thanks to the genius of Steve Jobs. But there is only that much that you can do with a mobile phone or a portable music player. The more interesting question would be which segment would Apple target next?
There are quite a few of them that could be considered. GPS navigation systems would be one where Apple can make 
an impact. Imagine a GPS system with the grace and elegance of an iPod or iPhone. Apple already has the pieces, its just a question of putting them all together in an appealing package. Handheld gaming consoles can be another area for them to explore. They can even take on Sony and Microsoft on the gaming console business.
There is another space where Apple could play a potentially game-changing role. That space is nothing else but the flat panel television arena. Dominated by companies like Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and LG, the flat panel television business has almost hit a saturation level with respect to innovation. If you go to buy a flat panel TV today, most of the models offer similar features. It’s really left to the consumer to decide based on their budgets and their impressions of the TVs in the showroom (maybe some online reviews can influence that decision a bit). But imagine an Apple television (no not the Apple TV but a an actual plasma/LCD TV). Apple has the required competence to produce a world class television that would probably knock the wind out of the sails of the established players. With Apple’s expertise in software and hardware the product could actually become as pervasive as the iPod. And Apple can gain a very firm foothold in the digital living rooms world over. Once they are there, there is virtually no stopping Apple. The next in line would be a music server, stereo system, A/V receiver, specialized speakers, surround sound systems, and the list goes on. With one single stroke Apple can conquer this last bastion that has been eluding even the best of the best.
Even though Apple strongly denies any such inclination, chances are high that they are already eyeing it. Such a move has the potential of establishing Apple as the dominant player in the digital living room space – a position that the company can then consolidate upon to mount a serious threat to Microsoft’s dominance on the desktop. After all an Apple eco-system for the living room that harmoniously co-exists with iMacs and Mac Books offering unparalleled interoperability and legendary user friendliness, is something that would be very very hard to ignore.
Would all this be good for the end-user? That’s a totally different question. I for one believe that monopolies are seldom beneficial towards the consumers.
1 comment February 6, 2009
Apple, Microsoft: Birds of the same feather
Microsoft is being sued in the European Union(EU) for antitrust practices – yet again. The piece of software that’s the bone of contention is Internet Explorer. In spite of being one of lousiest browsers, extremely prone to security exploits, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still holds a majority stake in the market of web browsers. Mozilla’s Firefox, comparatively a much superior product, comes second by quite a distance. The EU now wants to stop Microsoft from bundling IE with its Windows family of operating systems or bundle other competing browsers too. The rationale behind such a directive is to allow users the choice of trying out an alternative.Anyway, Microsoft’s practices have always been anti-competitive and for this reason it has been much vilified by the pundits.
On the other hand, Apple, in spite of being even more closed than Microsoft, has never come under the radar of the anti-trust laws. Firstly, Apple prohibits the usage of its operating system on any hardware other than Apple branded ones. The hardware that Apple sells has significant markups even though it is not necessarily superior. So for the same hardware capability, consumers pay an exorbitant price. Isn’t that anti-competitive? How is it then that Apple never comes under the scrutiny of the anti-trust sharks? When Psystar started selling computers with Apple Mac OS installed, Apple decided to sue to the company. Many thought it would be an open and shut case, but guess what? Psystar continues to sell its brand of Open Computers preloaded with Apple Mac OS. Psystar has also brought forward anti-competitive charges against Apple. Till date Apple has not won the case. So is there are a chance that Apple might come under the anti-trust laws at last?
And Apple is a really sore loser. The recently announced Palm Pre stole the thunder from Apple in this year’s CES. Experts are predicting that the Pre would probably dethrone the Apple iPhone. So what does Apple do? It responded with a veiled threat of suing anyone(read Palm) for violation of their IP. Well the iPod design was not Apple’s and they ripped it off. They survived that because the previous patent was held by an individual who could not renew it due to financial constraints. And being the unscrupulous corporate that it is, Apple did not even think of paying a one time royalty to the guy. But when sued, they brought him over to lend credence to their case in court.
So ladies and gentlemen, next time before maligning Microsoft over a coffee-table discussion, please give Apple a fair thought. They are no better than Microsoft. The only difference is that Apple enjoys the loyalty of a few high-nosed zealots that Microsoft does not have.
2 comments January 27, 2009
First impressions: The return of Palm – The Palm Pre
After pioneering a revolution in mobile devices like PDAs and smart phones, Palm, as of recent times, has found itself 
more and more out of the market due to stiff competition. Currently it is ranked fourth after the likes of Apple, Research In Motion(RIM) and Windows Mobile. All that is pretty much set to change if what Palm showed in CES lives up to its promise. And there is a high chance that it would.
Enter the Palm Pre. This is Palm’s latest entrant in the land of mobile devices, more specifically the smart phone segment. This segment is dominated by Apple and RIM. Even though Palm did have some success with its Centro, Treo and Treo Pro lines of phones, it was nowhere near to regaining the coveted leader position. With the Pre, Palm is pretty well set to pose a challenge that is serious enough to even topple the revered Apple iPhone.
If looks could kill or rather dethrone the iPhone, the Palm Pre has it. If functions and performance can poach users, the Pre has that. If coolness is such an important factor that entire cults grow around that, the Palm Pre is well equipped. The new design features a touch screen interface along with a slide out full keyboard. It sports Palm’s latest operating system the WebOS. The combination is stupendous.
The Pre is not only a pretty looking phone, but packs a mean punch too. There is innovation at its best coupled with legendary usability. Here’s a look at a few innovations that the Pre comes with.
Wi-Fi, GPS and email are standard on the Pre. The new Synergy system also allows a user to see all the conversations with a certain contact in a chat style. The universal search feature allows searching across contacts, Google, applications and even Wikipedia. Pretty cool, huh!
The Pre treats each running application as an activity card. Multiple applications can run in parallel and a user can switch between these running instances or activity cards with the mere flick of a finger. No longer do you have to close your email application to browse a web site. All notifications, like the ones for new messages, appear at the bottom of the screen and does not interrupt the user’s current activity. Quite nifty I say.
The calendar application in the Pre can show a combined logical view of calendars stored in Outlook, Google Calendar
and Facebook. Also if a single contact is stored in different applications, they can all be linked together.
The browser is full featured and fast. It supports full HTML and has the now ubiquitous zoom and pan functions. Also all the applications installed on the phone are constantly updated via the internet. This gets rid of the rather dull “Update now” function.
Another innovative feature is the Touchstone wireless charging station with which the Pre can be recharged. The Pre attaches to the Touchstone device through magnets and remains in position without any cables or wires connecting the two. The phone can be used while charging.
The Plam Pre appears to be of fantastic value with the necessary looks and coolness. Check out the following gallery of images taken from the Palm website:
Here are the specs as detailed on Palm’s site and do not forget to watch the keynote presentation:
Carrier
Sprint
Operating system
Palm® webOS
Network specs
3G EVDO Rev A
Display
3.1-inch touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color 320×480 resolution HVGA display
Keyboard
Physical QWERTY keyboard
Email
Microsoft Outlook® email with Microsoft® Direct Push Technology
POP3/IMAP (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc).
Messaging
Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
GPS
Built-in GPS
Digital camera
3 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
Sensors
Ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity
Media formats supported
Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
Image Formats: GIF, Animated GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP
Wireless connectivity
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, 801.1x authentication
Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
Memory
8GB of user storage (~7.4GB user available)
USB mass storage support
Phone as laptop modem
Bluetooth tethering
Connector
MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Headphone jack
3.5mm stereo
Palm® Touchstonecharging dock
Compatible
Dimensions
Width: 59.5mm (2.3 inches)
Height: 100.5mm (3.9 inches)
Thickness: 16.95mm (0.67 inches)
Weight
135 grams (4.76 ounces)
1 comment January 12, 2009
Switch to Linux: Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) in Apple Mac OS X
Apple seems to be going the way of Microsoft and the rest of the crowd of pedestrian software vendors. First their iPhone 3G failed to deliver the goods. Then there were security issues galore. Then the Mobile Me fiasco. And now the last bastion has also developed chinks in its hitherto impregnable armour. The famed and fabled Apple Mac OS X has been greeting its users with the Blue Screen of Death that has always been associated to Microsoft Windows. Windows, a victim of vicious derision from the Mac fan boys, probably had the last laugh.
With the OS X 10.5.6 update Apple has left many of its loyal customers with unusable machines. Some complain that the only thing they are able to see after start up is a blue screen like the one with which Microsoft Windows users are all too familiar. Many others have complained about an infinite reboot loop, while others have seen their spanking new and 
expensive systems freeze up. One business customer actually had the misfortune of suffering from seven of his Apple computers freezing up with the update. When he contacted the customer service he was told that the reason for the freeze up may have been due to the number of third party applications that have been installed. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This comes from a customer service that is supposedly the best in the business? So does Apple expect us to only install applications that it has “approved” ? Are we going to see an App Store concept for the computers soon? Imagine Microsoft selling its Office suite for the Mac OS X through Apple’s App Store. That would be a day to remember. 
)
This is yet another blow to the bloated up egos of the Apple fan boys ? Is Apple’s bubble about to burst? I sure hope so.
To all the people who have been blind loyalists to Apple, WAKE UP!!! Embrace the power of open source. Switch to Linux.
4 comments December 16, 2008
Kubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex: Kvpnc broken
Kubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex has been out for some time now. This version of Kubuntu sports the brand new KDE 4.1 Plasma theme that introduces a Mac OS like dashboard. The analogy with the Mac OS is just to make sure that people who are less aware of Kubuntu understand what I am talking about. Here’s a screen shot of my dashboard:
Nevertheless, since I run Kubuntu at my home it was very important for me to get my company VPN connection working. In the previous version, Hardy Heron, I had installed Kvpnc for this. Kvpnc is a GUI client for KDE that uses vpnc to connect to VPNs. In Hardy, all I had to do was import the Cisco (my company runs Cisco VPN servers) .pcf file provided by my company. And voila! I was in.
Keeping that experience in mind I tried the same thing in Intrepid. Disappointingly, it did not work. I kept getting an irritating “Authorization failed(Group password)” error. There was an even more cryptic “tun0: Disabled Privacy Extensions” message in the system logs. Initially I thought there must have been some change to the .pcf file. My IT department confirmed that there weren’t any. Puzzled I sat down to get this thing to work.
My previous Hardy installation was a 32-bit one whereas the Intrepid is a 64-bit one. Was that at fault? A bit of Googling did reveal that I might be right. Still not convinced and unready to give up I kept at it. But no matter what I tried I could not get it to work.
Finally when I was on the verge of giving up, I came across an article that mentioned decoding the group password. A bit of digging and I got to a web site that offered to decode the encoded group password that is specified in the .pcf file. Using that web site I retrieved the group password, fired up Kvpnc and specified the decoded value as the new group password and hit Ok. It worked!!!
Wow. So apparently the Kvpnc client does not do a very good job of decoding the encrypted group passwords that are present in the Cisco VPN .pcf files. Here’s the web site that helped me with the decoding.
Add comment December 14, 2008
Apple violates antitrust laws
The ongoing battle between Psystar and Apple doesn’t seem to be headed towards a closure anytime soon. Psystar, a company operating out of Florida, was sued by Apple for copyright infringement. Psystar sells off-the-shelf Intel microprocessor based computers running Apple’s Mac OS operating system.
Apple’s EULA for Mac OS prohibits running the operating system on any hardware other than Apple-branded ones. 
Psystar claims this to be a violation of antitrust laws. According to Psystar, Apple employs stealthware to stop OS X from running on hardware other than Apple approved ones. Furthermore, Psystar claims that Apple’s Mac OS X is perfectly capable of running on hardware that is less expensive than what is included in Apple’s machines. This control over hardware that Apple enforces, is, according to Psystar, out of the scope of the copyright. (Psystar’s complaints are very similar to the ones about Apple bricking iPhones running unapproved applications)
Psystar was an unknown vendor before it stirred up this controversy. It is not clear how they are sustaining this legal wrangle with Apple by employing high profile law firms given that they were a little known shop till recently. Maybe 
there is someone else who is backing Psystar. Ever since the Microsoft Windows Vista fiasco, the major PC manufacturers have been unhappy with Microsoft. Maybe one of them is betting on being able to release the Mac OS X on its own PC platform. That would be a real slap in the face of Microsoft which has been arm twisting vendors and by extension consumers for a really long time. Apple’s Mac OS X on the PC would be a great alternative to Windows bloatware. Sounds like wishful thinking? Could very well be true if Psystar wins.
2 comments December 12, 2008
Mac OS is vulnerable to virus: Apple says yes and then no
The Mac zealots’ pride was recently dealt a hard blow when Apple published in an article that the Mac OS was also prone to virus and other malware attacks. In fact, in the article Apple advised its loyal fanbase to use popular antivirus tools from Symantec and McAfee.
So does that mean that the aura of the Mac OS has been destroyed and it has been brought down to the same level of mundaneness as Microsoft’s Windows family of operating systems? Well, not really. The fact of the 
matter is that the number of viruses in the wild for the Windows platform outnumber the ones for the Mac OS by quite a large factor. Also the ones that can potentially affect the Mac OS platform are relatively less damaging. Moreover the malware exploits on the Mac OS are not as popular as compared to the ones on the Windows platform. But does that make Mac OS immune to viruses? Of course not. No operating system is totally invulnerable. Nothing like that exists. But the level of vulnerability varies. The Mac OS was never immune to threats but less vulnerable. Those are two totally different things.
Nevertheless, Apple’s recent admittance dealt a serious blow to the bubble in which Mac fanboys usually prefer to exist. And Apple realized that. So what does it do? Simple, it deletes the line from the post and defends itself saying that it was from an old post. So that means the notion that the Mac OS was never vulnerable to virus attacks was wrong. It was very much threatened like the ordinary Windows operating system.
Kind of confusing I say. Can Apple come clean on this?
1 comment December 3, 2008
Flex panel with Maximize, Restore capability
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Recently I have been working with Adobe Flex 3 for a project of mine. Flex offers a lot of UI components out-of-the-box that can be used as is. One of them is the Panel control. The Panel is essentially a container to house other components like data grids, etc. Panels are useful when creating dashboard applications. Unfortunately Flex does not offer inbuilt maximize or restore functions on the Panel controls. Rather it is left to the developers to devise their own mechanisms. Long story short, I had a need for it and Flex did not offer it. And so I started scouring the net for samples. There were loads of good ones but their implementations were much too complicated for my needs. Reluctantly I started working on my own prototype.
<pre style="text-align:justify;"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute"
width="598" height="620">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.core.UIComponent;
import mx.managers.SystemManager;
import mx.controls.Alert;
import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
import mx.managers.PopUpManager;
import mx.containers.TitleWindow;
import mx.core.IFlexDisplayObject;
import mx.containers.Panel;
// Button constants
private static const _RESTORE_LABEL_:String = "Restore";
private static const _MAXIMIZE_LABEL_:String = "Maximize";
[Bindable]
private var currWidth:int; // Stores the current width of the panel to be resized
[Bindable]
private var currHeight:int; // Stores the current height of the panel to be resized
[Bindable]
private var currTop:int; // Stores the current y coordinate of the panel to be resized
[Bindable]
private var currLeft:int; // Stores the current x coordinate of the panel to be resized
[Bindable]
private var isMaximized:Boolean = false; // Stores the current state of the panel as a boolean
[Bindable]
private var currIndex:int; // Stores the current index of the panel to be maximized
/**
* This function orchestrates what method
* is called on the button click event depending on
* its label value.
*/
private function maxRestore(thePanel:Panel, minRestorBtn:Button):void
{
if(minRestorBtn.label == _RESTORE_LABEL_)
restore(thePanel, minRestorBtn);
else if(minRestorBtn.label == _MAXIMIZE_LABEL_)
maximize(thePanel, minRestorBtn);
}
/**
* This method maximizes the specified panel to occupy the
* whole displayed screen area. This method can be tuned to
* occupy the area of its parent component rather than the parent
* application.
*/
private function maximize(thePanel:Panel, minRestorBtn:Button):void
{
if(!isMaximized)
{
// Save previous position info
currWidth = thePanel.width;
currHeight = thePanel.height;
currTop = thePanel.y;
currLeft = thePanel.x;
currIndex = thePanel.parentApplication.getChildIndex(thePanel);
// Set the maximized flag to true
isMaximized = true;
// Set current info
thePanel.width=this.width;
thePanel.height = this.height;
thePanel.x = 0;
thePanel.y = 0;
var parentApp:UIComponent = thePanel.parentApplication as UIComponent;
parentApp.removeChildAt(currIndex);
parentApp.addChild(thePanel);
// Set the button properties
minRestorBtn.label = _RESTORE_LABEL_;
}
}
/**
* This method restores the panel to its original location
* and size on the screen.
*/
private function restore(thePanel:Panel,minRestorBtn:Button):void
{
if(isMaximized)
{
var parentApp:UIComponent = thePanel.parentApplication as UIComponent;
// Set the maximized flag to false
isMaximized = false;
// Set the button properties
minRestorBtn.label = _MAXIMIZE_LABEL_;
// Restore the original size and location information
thePanel.width = currWidth;
thePanel.height = currHeight;
thePanel.x = currLeft;
thePanel.y = currTop;
// Now relocate the panel to its original position
// in the child stack.
parentApp.setChildIndex(thePanel,currIndex);
}
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:Resize id="resize" /> <!-- This helps in the resize effect -->
<mx:Move id="moveEffect" /> <!-- This helps in the move effect -->
<mx:Panel id="upperPanel" x="47.5" y="35" width="500" height="142" layout="absolute"
resizeEffect="{resize}"
moveEffect="{moveEffect}" backgroundAlpha="1.0"
borderAlpha="1.0" title="Top Panel">
<mx:TextInput x="136" y="19"/>
<mx:Button x="304" y="19" label="Button"/>
<mx:ControlBar width="100%" alpha="1.0">
<mx:Spacer width="100%" alpha="1.0"/>
<mx:Button id="upperPanelMaxBtn" label="{_MAXIMIZE_LABEL_}" click="maxRestore(upperPanel, upperPanelMaxBtn)"/>
</mx:ControlBar>
</mx:Panel>
<!-- This panel has the capability to maximize and restore -->
<mx:Panel id="maxminPanel" name="maxminPanel" x="47.5" y="195" width="500" height="184"
layout="absolute" resizeEffect="{resize}"
moveEffect="{moveEffect}" backgroundAlpha="1.0"
borderAlpha="1.0">
<mx:title>Middle Panel</mx:title>
<mx:DataGrid top="10" right="10" bottom="10" left="10">
<mx:columns>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Column 1" dataField="col1"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Column 2" dataField="col2"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Column 3" dataField="col3"/>
</mx:columns>
</mx:DataGrid>
<mx:ControlBar width="100%" alpha="1.0">
<mx:Spacer width="100%" alpha="1.0"/>
<mx:Button id="maxminPanelMaxBtn" label="{_MAXIMIZE_LABEL_}" click="maxRestore(maxminPanel, maxminPanelMaxBtn)"/>
</mx:ControlBar>
</mx:Panel>
<mx:Panel id="lowerPanel" x="47.5" y="403" width="500" height="197" layout="absolute"
resizeEffect="{resize}"
moveEffect="{moveEffect}" backgroundAlpha="1.0"
borderAlpha="1.0" title="Bottom Panel">
<mx:TextInput x="104" y="35"/>
<mx:ControlBar width="100%" alpha="1.0">
<mx:Spacer width="100%" alpha="1.0"/>
<mx:Button id="lowerPanelMaxBtn" label="{_MAXIMIZE_LABEL_}" click="maxRestore(lowerPanel, lowerPanelMaxBtn)"/>
</mx:ControlBar>
</mx:Panel>
</mx:Application></pre>
This is, like I said, just a prototype. The MXML file contains a couple of methods that take in the Panel controls as parameters and work their magic. For production use, I would surely extend the Panel control to create a custom one and wire it up with the necessary behavior. I would have loved to upload my SWF file to this blog but unfortunately WordPress does not permit that (for some ridiculous reason).
The moment a UI library offers widgets like panels and windows it becomes quite obvious that people would want to have minimize, maximize, restore and resize capabilities on them (and no the resize and move effects do not help much since they do not manipulate the z-ordering of components).Unfortunately Adobe does not think it is necessary. Personally I think the guys at Adobe are being extremely lazy about this. Of course there is always an excuse of being busy doing bigger and better things. Well so much for making lives easier for developers.
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3 comments November 18, 2008
