Desktop software is not dead

(This is a cross post from the LicenseSpot blog)

Recently Andy Brice from Successful Software posted a very nice article asking if desktop software is dead.

I personally think that is not dead and that is still very alive. I know inexperienced users that are running installations on their local computers to install their favorite software. And it’s very easy to understand from the user point of view as this the oldest form of applications that we know. The most used software apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, are all desktop products.

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Should there be a partnership or a buyout between mobile operating systems?

A lot has been written about how the top three mobile companies should configure themselves. I’m talking about Apple, Google and RIM. Which one is better and which one is worse, who should die first and who’s second.

I think all those views (although have some degree of veracity in them) are too absolutist in the sense that things are not black and white. But also, it depends on the point of view of each person and their own experience.

All platforms have their own strengths, if they didn’t, neither of them would reach to the place they’re right now. Some value is the end user getting from them.

Here’s what I think in short words:

Blackberry OS

Is the oldest of the big three (even though Windows Mobile has a long history) but that doesn’t make it a looser. Been the oldest brings a lot of experience to the table. One of the biggest and strongest fields of Blackberry is their enterprise market capabilities. It has lots of good features built in that satisfy big companies like the White House. Lots of features has been incorporated into Apple’s iOS trying to get into this market, but adoption has been slow. As I said in the beginning, Blackberry has lots of experience in this field.

Besides been a leader in the enterprise market, Blackberry has fair good market share of the consumer market. This comes by a good reason: there are features that millions of people feel attracted to when buying Blackberry, one of them being the BB Chat. See as this simple and common capability, available on the Internet since its own birth, is one of the top features. Again, experience. I still don’t know why Apple didn’t launch the first day with a feature like this.

Apple iOS

It has a domination of the consumer market. The ease of use makes it a winner between people that have never had a smartphone.

Also, one of the biggest advantages is their App Store that has thousands of good applications. And more coming in with innovative features. This makes it a winner for usability and in the area of solving daily issues.

Adoption in the enterprise market has been slow, advancing a in small steps, but it’s coming.

Android

Also the usability here is a big winner. A fast growing market of applications makes it look interesting against Apple and Blackberry.

The biggest advantage of Android might be their price. As it’s an open source platform, carriers and phone makers don’t have to include royalties in prices bringing the phone’s total cost of ownership down.

Conclusion

I think all three has their own pros and cons. Neither of them should abandon their technologies for adopting the other. They have their own bright spots.

Even more, there could be some partnership between them if they want to consolidate and reduce costs. For example, a partnership between Android and Blackberry could integrate Blackberry enterprise features into Android giving it the experience and technology know how to become a unique platform that combines consumer and business capabilities.

Who you think should partner with who?

New About Me

Following the guidelines posted by Jakob Nielsen in his article Weblog Usability, I have made a minor redesign to the site.

I have added to the left side a bar that explains pretty much who I am and what I write about. You will also find a page with more details about me, a photo and some other interesting stories.

About Me

I’m Jose Emilio Leon, your host. I’m a software
developer and write about business, process, collaboration and workflow; what
you’ll read more about on this site.

About Me

I was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic.
It’s an island in the caribbean with fine white sand, beautiful beaches and
wonderful people.

I studied high school in San Pedro de Macoris
(from the famous song of Juan Luis Guerra) where great baseball players like
Pedro Guerrero, Sammy Sosa and George Bell are from. Yes, I know, why didn’t I
became a baseball player too? I would have been making millions by now just for
playing. Well, I think about it like once a year, but I always come to the same
conclusion every time: it’s not just for me. I played with my friends back in
high school and always remember been the last one selected on the list. Since
those days a figured something was wrong :-) .

After high school I moved to Santo Domingo, the
capital, where I had the opportunity to enter INTEC, one of the best
universities for studying Computer Science, my fascination. After finishing, I
immediately started undergraduate studies about Information Technology. After a
year and half, I decided something was missing, and started an MBA in the
Universite du Quebec au Canada.

Work Life

Since day one in work, I started as a
consultant in the technology area. First thing I did was Business Intelligence,
using the first version of Microsoft OLAP Services. Then, after a year, I was
transferred to ecommerce and B2B Internet applications, the boom of the moment.

After that, I was developing custom software
applications to several companies and managing software projects. At the same
time, I was teaching about software in my university.

SkyXoft

Since I began working, I always though about
starting my own company. There was a moment in my working life (and some feeling
inside) when I decided when was the right moment. So, together with my brother
Emilio Leon, we decided to start SkyXoft on March, 2004. We started as a
consulting company and one of the first projects we came up with was to develop
a workflow application for a client. I look at the needs on the market and
though that every company should have a product like this, and decided to make
it our flagship product. We’ve been growing since day one delivering benefits to
our customers.

Business And Process

I started the site on October 2005 and I’ve
been writing about processes and business since day one. You can start browsing
for articles right now and feel yourself welcome.