How's that for a headline? It's from Quartz:
Anyone who has an interest in the future of computing and mobile should consider the following developments:
PC manufacturers, it is rumored, are collaborating with Google on notebook computers that will run the Android operating system. Yet Android is the “mobile” OS that powers the majority of the world’s smartphones.
Microsoft recognizes this development, and the rising popularity of Google’s Chrome OS, as an existential threat. Microsoft is rumored to be following suit with its own “Windows Blue” operating system, which would merge regular Windows with the Windows Phone operating system.
Google’s development teams for its desktop OS (Chrome) and mobile OS (Android) are now headed by the same person. The former head of the Chrome OS effort, Sundar Pitchai, was recently named boss of both efforts. While Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has said that the two operating systems will remain separate for “a very long time,” he’s also noted that this is as much a product of consumer choice as it is a limitation of the underlying technologies.
The gatekeeper between mobile and non-mobile computing is now largely psychological.
When Schmidt says that Google will let the market decide the when and
how of fusing of Google’s mobile and desktop operating systems, he is
acknowledging that we all grew up with desktop operating systems, and
learning how to interact with touchscreen mobile devices is still
relatively fresh in our collective memory. (Not to mention the billions
in the rising global middle class who have yet to purchase their first
smart device.)
Picture a computer interface that scales to
whatever screen we encounter. A kind of universal workspace that
presents only the features that are appropriate to the device we are
on—but is in all important respects identical no matter how we access
it.
Is what you picture a lightly modified version of Android or Apple’s
iOS operating system for iPads and iPhones? Does it look like Windows 8?
Is it Chrome OS with native (Android) apps?
All computing will be, yes, cloud computing.
The
reason our phones, tablets and PCs are increasingly interchangeable is
that the services we depend on aren’t running on them at all. They’re
running on the cloud. More and more, our devices don’t store our data,
handle our security or share—directly at least—with our friends and
colleagues....MORE
Wow
