Monday, November 5, 2012

Focus of the OSes - Updated

Well, I just realised this. The different OSes in the market today have different focuses, but that is also why Chrome/Chromium OS would not strive, in which Android may be affected. Here is why.

Let us start with computer OSes. The big ones are Windows, Mac OS X, Ubuntu (Linux, but since Ubuntu is much more well known, so Ubuntu). Chrome/Chromium OS tries to get a place in there but it would be difficult. Why? Because its focus is mediocre, which is web explorer (at least from what I read because this is the only OS I have not tried among the aforementioned OSes). Windows has the focus of file exploring and document creation - amplified by Microsoft Office. This targets the white-collar workers. Mac OS X has the focus of media creation as amplified by GarageBand, iMovie and the likes. This targets the artists or artists wannabe (who are the youth and probably the reason Macbook is popular among the young ones besides simple design of the laptop). Ubuntu has the focus of command executor. This targets the real hard coder. So, where does Chrome/Chromium OS stands? Its focus is web explorer in which the other three OSes have as well. If you can have more than just web explorer, why don't you have so? Indeed, the focus is fast and fluid OS, but Mac OS X is fast and fluid from my experience (though I am not a Mac person myself, but I have to admit it is neat for users who don't meddle with experimenting in software). Well, there is more.

Now, let us look at the current or recent or soon-to-be mobile OSes. We have iOS, Android, WP8, Blackberry, Meego/Tizen/Joola, Boot2Gecko and Symbian. Again, their focuses vary. iOS focuses on being a media player. WP8 has extra functionality for document creation and being on the update through Live Tiles. Blackberry focuses on enterprises. Meego and its friends focus on simple phone functionality. Boot2Gecko is not out yet (:p). Symbian was on full customisation of themes and for those toying with software, a file explorer (the best at its prime time). Android. Android tries to be a media player as well. However, Google does not earn any money from the media. Android focus is to be a platform for the ads, thus its focus is making it attractive to buyers so that more ads revenue can be earned. (Note: I am an Android user myself now and loving it :)).

The problem here lies not in Android being a driver for ads revenue. You see, Mac OS X is a media creator (even for games, it has Unity who backs it up). Windows and WP8 connection is obviously document editor/creator. The rest except Android has no brother in the computer OS market. Chrome OS and Android? Their link is just ads driver, one driving on web and the other on apps. This thin line needs to be changed. This way, not only Chrome OS thrives, Android may as well get more fans. How?

That is the question to be answered by Larry Page. I cannot think of any solution. One solution that is not really gonna work is that Chrome OS should focus on web creation, since Android can be made to be an available port for web apps. But yeah, it may not work since the prime time of web is over. Now everyone is insane about apps. And as I suggested earlier, Android may worth to be a universal OS. One thing about Google is that it focuses so much on web/cloud solution (as evident of online document editor in Google Drive and online ads by Google AdWords, and Google itself as a search engine). Android, though looks like a big thing for Google, actually is out of the company's focus on cloud solution. Thus, either change the company's focus or change Android focus from being just another smartphone to a phone whose content is shared across devices on cloud system, whether it is game and its save data, apps, documents and so on.

*Update*
Note: I forgot what I wanted to write so I lost some train of thoughts last night and it was after training, but anyway, here we goes.
The weak link between Android and Chrome OS is actually not a big problem. The problem lies in the fact that commonly computer OS and its respective mobile OS complement each other. For example, media created in Mac OS X (Unity for game, iMovie and GarageBand) is used in iOS, or even compatible in iOS to be edited. Documents made in Windows can be edited in WP8 so that you can have your document on the go in case of emergency, as in the video I embedded below (starts at 0:32). Android and Chrome OS? They don't make use of each other. That's what needed to be fixed.


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