Lay Techs: Tech for Laypeople

Every war, albeit at huge costs, almost always lead to advancement in technology and standard of living. World Wars 1 and 2 saw the cascade of monarchies and the introduction of nuclear energy. Today in the twenty-first century, we are at the presence of a new-age war; that of technology. More specifically that of computer Operating Systems (OS). For the past decades consumers were at the mercy of only two mainstream OSes, namely Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s MacOS, where they were forced to pay hefty amounts in currency for far-from-perfect OSes simply because of the lack of competition.

Now however the tides have finally changed. OSes are sprouting like mushrooms on damp log under the hot tropic sun, and none of them any less than their competitors. Let us look at some of them.

 Apple iOS

Starting off as the company selling an alternative to suits, ties and black shoes, Apple’s ideology of not conforming to corporate mainstream quickly became the icon of elitism especially among the younger generations of the time. After a roller-coaster ride of nearly  going bankrupt and then reemerging as world market leader, Apple now remains one of the main players in technology today.

Pros: The iOS is Apple’s mobile operating system first introduced in their iPhone and then quickly being adapted into almost every other mobile device they made. It transformed mobile OSes, and in its wake killed nearly every single existing OS in the market at the time. The iOS created an ecosystem never before seen or thought possible by anyone.

Cons: If Apple’s corporate culture were to be compared to a government regime, one would relate it to Authoritarianism. It’s extremely stringent closed-door system is arguably the best and the worst thing about the iOS, in that it was able to provide to its customers products of finest quality but at the same time limiting the speed of its improvement – the latter is becoming more apparent of late.

Verdict: Through a bell-curve one can safely assume that, if all remains equal, Apple’s iOS will continue to slide down a rapid decline. The technology world can only hope the management can stop focusing their efforts on filing lawsuits at every other competitor out there and spend a little time improving on their OS.

Google Android

Every version a dessert and every succeeding one sweeter than its predecessor, Google introduced Android to go head-to-head with the iOS. Although an acquired product, Android was quickly reworked to blend seamlessly into Google's diverse ecosystem.

Pros: Android, unlike the iOS, is an Open-Sourced system. This means anyone in the world can access its coding and build Apps that is optimized for the OS without any barriers. Although this also means the lack of control and therefore quality of third-party products out in the market, it is proven to have led to greater good overall.

Cons: Like every technology product constantly pushing the threshold of its own capacity, Android OS have been known to cause more technical glitches than the iOS. Its instability is at the moment still the number one reason why non-fanatical iOS consumers are still hesitant on migrating.

Verdict: Initially labeled as “The Poor People’s iOS” (simply because they are available also in cheaper-built devices) Android has since evolved into a far superior OS, constantly pushing new technological boundaries. Google has also gelled its Chrome, Google Play and Google Drive ecosystem with Android to make it a more formidable foe Apple initially thought it to be.

Blackberry

Once one of the greatest OS in the world, Blackberry fell into the same trap as every other pre-iOS player: they all thought the iOS was a mere fad which will fade away sooner than it came about. Years went on and before they realized they were being mauled alive, most of their market share was already gone. Stuck between their reluctance to abandon their legacy and the need to survive, Blackberry’s existence now hangs by a thread.

Pros: Still with the best security in the market, Blackberry's refusal to share it's users' information with local authorities have been known to retard sales in those countries. It is also still the only OS with an actual Push-Email system that constantly pushes new emails into devices instead of other OSes occasionally refreshing the inbox for new emails.

Cons: With the interface dating back to the 90s and their OS stability deteriorating at an alarming rate, even its most loyal customers are jumping ship. Information security, although important, may not need to come at the cost of its refusal to keep up with the Joneses.

Verdict: While Apple and Google wage legal war with each other, Blackberry has had the opportunity to play catch up. The BB10 OS has proven itself to be rather promising. Some critics quickly shunned them off by saying it is already too late, but one can never be too sure until all their cards are on the table. Only time can tell if with BB10 Blackberry’s new move can turn the tide for them.

Windows Phone

Through many years of struggle Microsoft finally canned their Windows Mobile OS for a completely overhauled OS made for the future. With the Windows Phone Microsoft has been able to bring artistic design back into mobile devices, something which have been eluding consumers ever since Apple’s iPhone.

Pros: Windows Phone has been able to successfully meld the simplicity of the iOS and the openness of Android into one. Microsoft goes out and personally build business relationships with mobile device makers, feed them all the information they need to produce the best hardware for the OS, and actively seek out ways to expand their App ecosystem. On top of that they made it the mandate for hardware makers to design beautiful devices with colors other than black, white and grey. For the first time in almost 10 years mobile devices are beautiful again.

Cons: It seems that even with the strong marketing and branding, Microsoft is still unable to sway much of the iOS and Android market share away. The app ecosystem is still pretty weak compared to the other players, and their OS has not been able to do anything different or more than its competitors.

Verdict: It may be too early to tell, but Windows Phone appears to be going nowhere at the moment. Then again Microsoft is with significantly deep pockets, which means it has the capacity to fight prolonged wars. Perhaps they should consider creating new pies instead of trying to pry the crumbs off Apple and Google.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Linux-based, completely open-sourced computer operating system that recently introduced it's intention to build on Ubuntu Touch for the next generation computers replacing desktops and laptops. Its selling point is the ability to compact a fully operational computer OS into a mobile device as small as a smartphone.


Pros: Among the many competing operating systems in the market now, Ubuntu is the only one able to break away from all the generic clutter and come up with something that demands substantial attention. With the ability to fit an entire computer operating system into a smartphone, users can simply dock their devices and get the complete multitasking capabilities of an actual computer OS.

Cons: being entirely open-source and free, the lack of proper funding channels can lead to uncertainty in the continuous development and sustainability of Ubuntu. Although it has been able to perform well up until now, their upcoming tasks will test their organizational principals like never before.

Verdict: Technically smartphones are already more powerful than netbooks. The only thing Ubuntu is doing differently than other OS makers out there is that instead of devising ways to make 2 different OSes for computers and mobile devices, Ubuntu just merges them together into one native platform that can intelligently transform into different modes when used in different devices. This can only be done when passion precedes profit, something severely lacking in today’s business scene.

Other Competitors

Apart from the few major players, others are also in the midst of building their very own OS. Some falling into this category would be Facebook and Mozilla. It appears to be a standard evolution for search engine and social networking operators to eventually come up with their very own OS.

The Sum of All Fears

‘The More the Merrier’, they always say, because consumers will always benefit from increased competition. But once pass the point of equilibrium, any increase in competition of a product or service will reduce its competitive advantage to that of farm eggs (which is not good because farm eggs are simply farm eggs). Although with Html5 developers are now able to create single web Apps compatible to all mobile platforms, increasing the number of players will not solve the problem of OS dilution most importantly through the degradation of their market value. Because when the pie slices get too thin, businesses lose interest and consumer end up losing.