Still As Life

Google Chrome, the most recent browser to join the fray. Is Chrome just a browser though?

I have to say I don’t think so. The release of Chrome reinforces my views that Google are directly targeting the operating system and integrated applications market. Be warned that the below is entirely my thoughts and theories based on my own observations and are not in any particular order but hopefully make sense.

Think about IT, Google already have a suite of applications and the support of Sun who tried to push cloud computing a while back (but failed). Now this suite of applications runs through the browser, not as feature rich as their counterparts like Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, Open Office and so on, but with enough features for most general consumers.

If you can run most applications through the browser, then the operating system can be reduced. At this stage, the only things that you really need to run on a local computer are graphic or data intense programs, such as games, video processing, 3D rendering etc, however, ultimately as bandwidth increases, these could potentially be run over the internet as well, further reducing the operating system. All you would need is to boot into the browser. It’s already built in to Windows and OS X, Explorer and Finder. Of course these are limited as far as internet activity goes, but you get the idea.

Google have been working on Android, a mobile operating system, now a computer operating system would be much more of a challenge to make immediately viable, despite the huge amount of BSD and linux distributions around that could be used as a basis. A browser is a logical step in this direction.

Separating tab processes, if you are running one application, you don’t want another to crash. When you are running them in a browser this doesn’t change, separating the processes makes for a nice stepping stone into what could potentially be an operating system.

Now, here’s another thought, Google pours how much money into the Mozilla Foundation, so why use Webkit as the layout engine for Chrome instead of Gecko? Afterall, Gecko is the one that Google have been funding so extensively.

Did you know that Webkit is a KHTML fork that was started by Apple? Webkit is also a more advanced layout engine than Gecko, the features that are available in it that are used in the iPhone and are slowly seeping into desktop Safari virtually do away with the need for plugins like Flash and Silverlight (not entirely, but it is getting there). Webkit is also funded by Nokia for use in the S60 browser. So, with two mobile browsers using it as the layout engine where none currently use the Gecko engine (that I’m aware of), Webkit is a tried and true engine for mobile devices.

So, Webkit has established mobile support from both one of the largest mobile manufacturers and from Apple for both the iPhone and desktop versions of Safari. While Opera and their Presto layout engine is the best for Windows Mobile devices, it is not open source and despite its quality, it doesn’t have the budgets of Nokia and Apple pushing it’s development. Webkit makes sense to use for the layout engine on Android, and subsequently for Chrome.

So, we have 3 mobile operating system producers utilizing Webkit, I don’t know the exact market share figures, but Nokia are the dominant mobile manufacturer and almost all of their phones use the S60 operating system. Apple’s iPhone has snapped up a large share of the market as well considering their inexperience in this area and Android has the potential to end up very widespread as well, all using variants of the same layout engine. There is a huge amount of potential here for Google to extend their mobile advertising, not just on Android phones.

Migrate to the desktop segment and what do you have? Safari is on every Apple computer and is also available on Windows, Chrome is supposedly going to be available on Windows, Mac and Linux. Then there are a number of other smaller browsers using Webkit. With the distribution of Safari and the potential distribution of Chrome, it would be entirely possible for Google to start gradually offering features of their applications that are only fully available on a Webkit based browser, and then ultimately, only on Chrome.

Doing something like this would be a risky path and would have to be done very slowly and gradually or it would alienate millions of users, but there is potential there for it.

Now, the Google CEO - Eric Schmidt - is also on the Apple Board of Directors, so he has interests in furthering both companies. So it makes sense as well, that Google is going to benefit Apple and Apple are going to benefit Google, at least to some degree.

Lets head in a slightly different direction, I was reading Simon Griffiths thoughts on Chrome today and came across a new development from Mozilla that I hadn’t heard of before, Ubiquity for Firefox.

Ubiquity takes a variety of Google Applications and takes them out of Google’s interface to integrate them into a quick and easy to use system. Simon explained it very well:

“…you open up a dialogue box with a keystroke and then type a command. This allows you access to functionality in a few keystrokes. With Ubiquity you can add maps into gmail, add calendar items and much more all by typing a few keys.”

If Google controls the interface, they control the advertising. If ubiquity combines many of Googles applications without the advertising, this represents a possible exposure reduction of many, many millions, the more it expands in popularity, the greater the reduction.

Since they control Chrome, there is the potential for Google to integrate all of their applications into it in a similar way to Ubiquity, and thus allowing them to retain their advertising. So as Simon suggested, Chrome is in direct competition with Mozilla’s Ubiquity.

Anyhow, just some thoughts on everything happening in this area at the moment. What do you think? Are Google going too far? Not far enough? Perhaps getting too power hungry?

Popularity: 37% [?]

I received a completely unexpected present from a good friend of mine a couple of months ago, a new Palm Treo 750 running Windows Mobile 6.

I am quite fond of the design of the Palm Treo’s as they manage to incorporate an (almost) full keyboard along with a reasonable sized screen (240px * 240px) without the need to use a sliding keyboard. Sliding keyboards are prone to getting broken much easier in my experience, especially when I’m using them.

Unlike it’s predecessors and most other Palm phones, the Treo 750 runs Windows Mobile instead of Palm OS, and there have been some interesting things implemented in Windows Mobile by Palm. To my understanding, Palm have an exclusive license with Microsoft, allowing them to actually modify Windows Mobile 6.

One of the things I find the most useful is how it displays SMS and other messages in the form of a conversation, similar to how Gmail displays emails, and how Palm OS displays messages received. The addition of a search box on the Today screen is also extremely useful. Simply start to type a number or name and it will search your contacts and make suggestions as you type.

(more…)

Popularity: 39% [?]

I have noticed news and rumours popping up, as well as some releases on Apple’s website about the next version of OS X, due out next year, Snow Leopard. Just going off the information directly from Apple, Snow Leopard is sounding like it is going to be a very interesting release and as an unashamed Mac fan, I am eagerly awaiting it’s release.

One of the first things that popped into my head when I saw what it was being called was that surely they could have picked a different cat since they used Leopard for 10.5, but upon thinking about it further, Snow Leopard is actually perfect for it, hopefully when I’m done, you will see why.

Apple says:

“Taking a break from adding new features, Snow Leopard — scheduled to ship in about a year — builds on Leopard’s enormous innovations by delivering a new generation of core software technologies that will streamline Mac OS X, enhance its performance, and set new standards for quality.”

So what’s the big fuss?

Microsoft Exchange Support

Well, one of the biggest things is full Microsoft Exchange support through Apple’s Mail, Address Book and iCal applications. As a user of Microsoft Exchange for my email, calendar and contacts on my desktop and Palm Treo 750, being able to sync my MacBook Pro with my Exchange Server would complete my work communications suite. I imagine there are plenty of other people in the same shoes as myself there, and I have no doubt that it is holding many people back that would otherwise be more interested in the Macintosh platform. Yes, there are other options available that I have talked about previously, such as using Kerio Mail Server instead of Microsoft Exchange Server. However, in a situation where Microsoft Exchange is already installed, this is not really a viable option.

I have noticed that Mail in Os X Leopard has an option to access an Exchange Server, but I have not tried this as of yet.

What else is there?

Open Compute Language

The other thing in Snow Leopard that is quite a big addition is what Apple is calling “OpenCL”, or Open Compute Language. I’m sure by now a lot of tech savvy people have come across the concept of using the processing power of graphics processing unit’s for general purpose processing as well as graphics processing. OpenCL is meant to allow development in this area. From the Apple website (server) (and personal), OpenCL is:

“Another powerful Snow Leopard technology, OpenCL (Open Computer Library), makes it possible for developers to efficiently tap the vast gigaflops of computing power currently locked up in the graphics processing unit (GPU). With GPUs approaching processing speeds of a trillion operations a second, they’re capable of considerably more than just drawing pictures. OpenCL takes that power and redirects it for use in high-performance computing applications like genomics, video encoding, signal processing, and simulations of physical and financial models.”

Grand Central and 64 Bit

Now, the other things listed on the personal, or client usage OS X site are not necessarily spectacular, such as mentioning 64 bit and multi-core support through Grand Central, seeing as how OS X has been 64 bit and with options running on multiple cores for years, but with all the confusion surrounding Vista and it’s 32 and 64 bit versions, it doesn’t hurt to re-establish that OS X is 64 bit and every computer is now running a multi-core CPU. What is interesting about these things though is the improvements Apple are making in the 64 bit field. With up to 16 terrabytes of RAM supported in Snow Leopard, is this paving the way for a new breed of Mac that could potentially run entirely from RAM rather than the slower hard drives? The MacBook Air has a solid state drive as an option, it would make sense to start offering them in other computers if the capacity can be brought to a sufficient level. With the vast amounts of power available in graphics processors and multi-core CPU’s (currently up to 8 cores and 4 GPU’s in Mac Pro’s), it makes sense that the biggest bottleneck is going to be the 7,200 rpm or 10,000 rpm hard drives.

Grand Central is meant to make the entirety of the operating system “multicore aware”, which I assume means that every part of OS X will be capable of efficient multi-threading, allowing them to run faster. I have seen it indicated and theorised in a few places, that Grand Central will be, or should be, providing a more efficient way of controlling multiple threads. This is particularly important as the more cores and threads you have running, the more overheads there are. So you can only add so many more cores before there is so much overhead that multiple cores simply won’t help. There is a good read about this over on ZDNet by Robin Harris. Providing a solution to this problem that is easily accessible by developers would be an excellent advance, regardless of what your preferred operating system is. If Apple hit it with Snow Leopard, it will have to push Microsoft to come up with a solution as well in time for Windows 7, if they don’t then there needs to be something else that can provide a significant performance boost on similar hardware.

I expect that in Snow Leopard, with the addition of OpenCL, that multi-core functionality on Mac’s will natively include GPU’s as well as CPU’s and processing across the two+ units as well as improving the 64 bit performance to potentially allow RAM to be used in place of hard drives. There are already solutions available that allow you to add RAM to riser cards that can be used as a small boot drive or swap drive, though they are very limited. It makes sense to extend this to allow maximum data access speeds for the processors.

What else is there?

Reduced Footprint

A reduced footprint is meant to be coming along. This is marketed as a reduction in the hard drive space used by the operating system, which grew in Leopard. This is always a nice thing seeing as how I like to have as much hard drive space as I can get my hands on, and I’m sure others will agree. However, the system footprint or a program footprint generally refers to how much RAM it utilises in order to run. Given the hints dropped in the 64 bit section relating to more free RAM, I hope that the reduced footprint will also reduce the amount of RAM used by the operating system, both when idling and under load. Though as it is, the RAM usage is nothing compared to Vista.

Compatibility

Unfortunately for those still using Mac’s based on the old IBM CPU’s, I have seen it mentioned in a few places that Snow Leopard will not be a universal release and the system requirements list an Intel-based Mac.

However, these system requirements are thus far only for the developers preview, so it may yet be available as a universal release.

No doubt there will be more than just what is being marketed at this stage, but thus far this is looking to be a very exciting release. What do you think?

Popularity: 49% [?]

Today while downloading the latest version of Adobe’s Acrobat Reader for a computer at work that didn’t have it for some reason, I noticed that Adobe have started to bundle their new Adobe Media Player with it.

From the Adobe website:

“With a broad catalog of videos and shows from the leading media companies and networks, you have endless choices. Pick the episodes you love to watch, and Adobe® Media Player software will track new episodes and download them so you can watch whenever you want.”

It’s the first time I’ve come across it and it sounds like it is intended to be a similar idea to Apple TV/iTunes Store, except that it is taking a slightly different approach by providing it as a software package installable on any computer, rather than using the specific Apple TV hardware component.

(more…)

Popularity: 35% [?]

With Microsoft’s Nick Hodge, Samsung’s Simon King, Asus’ Shawn Yen, and AMD’s Amy Prince, this free event is looking to be quite worth the 2 hours you would otherwise spend wishing you had gone!

With representatives from one of the leading software developers, the leader in computer displays, not to mention a great hard drive manufacturer, among RAM and various other components used in every computer, one of the top motherboard manufacturers, and AMD, it’s going to be an interesting event indeed. Just in case that isn’t enough, theres free gift bags and prizes!

If you need even more reason to go, well, I’ll be there. Isn’t that a great reason.

Maybe not.

However, it’s also at the best university in Australia, the Queensland University of Technology.

For all the details on when it is, where it is, and registration, have a look at the Atomic Live: Forum website!

Popularity: 20% [?]