Battle of giants

This last week and even month has been quite interesting from an IT perspective. We have been able to see the announcements at Apples WWDC, the new user interface (UI) of Windows 8, Google+ and Microsoft Office 365.

Google vs Facebook

Looking at the soft launch of Google+ the big issue would be, is this another Buzz or Wave? Two services that simply failed but perhaps for different reasons. Buzz because it tried to copy Twitter and Wave because it either was to innovative that nobody understood it or because it simply wasn't needed.

Well, Google+ takes another approach than Facebook in several areas. But perhaps the biggest problem will be to get a large enough user base so that the service will gain a self momentum. Facebook is a lot of things but it is now the largest Social media player (even if some has started to leave the service).

In any case it was quite interesting to read that Google+ is supposedly Google's attempt in "killing" Facebook. I guess that will not happen and  that Google will integrate more or less with Facebook. Isn't that Google's core business: Aggregation of information across different services?

Edit: I found this good blog entry about Google+ from SiliconFilter. 

Microsoft Office 365 vs Google Apps

The announcement from Steve Ballmer regarding Office 365 was also presented in the press as an attempt to "kill" Google Apps. Having used Google Apps since 2007, LiU launched Apps for our students back in May 2007, I welcome Microsoft's challenge in this area. It will spur both solutions. For students Google Apps still seems better, there is no need for integration at a desktop level and there are more support for various clients (Smartphones, Pads/Slates etc). For faculty and staff where Microsoft already have a big installed user base Office365 makes more sense and definitely rival on-premise solutions.

Apple vs Microsoft in Touch interfaces

When looking at the new UIs from Apple and Microsoft it is clear that they envision a future where you are more tactile with your computer. It is fascinating to see how similar they seem to be at first glance.

I have to say I have more faith in touch than voice. I can't really see how we could use voice as a primary UI, even though I know Google et al has ideas in this area. Just imagine the scenario: You are in the train writing an e-mail to someone, or searching for information in the subway. Even sitting alone in ones office talking to the computer feels strange (perhaps that is a generation issue and todays youth can't see the problem with that).

However I can definitely see that I would touch the screen or use gestures to control the computer. Even better would be to replace the keyboard and mouse with something that combine touch and gestures. Even eye tracking might work well.

My dream would be large screens in conference rooms with a "Minority report" style of UI. I often catch myself pointing at a projection of my presentation or word document wanting to interact with the computer.

In all the cases above we as customers and end users benefit from the competition between the giants. 

A humble wish regarding calendaring

With the launch of Microsoft Office 365 and the ease of use of Google Apps I have a humble wish regarding calendaring.  It is simply: Integration!

I attend a lot of meetings both within my organization and outside. Within the organization this works quite easily, my calendar is accessible for everyone in our Exchange environment. However it is not easily available to people outside the organization. That means I get meeting invitations from Doodle.org, Tungle.me, Foodle or simply an email where I am supposed to respond what times are available. This process takes a bit of time and is cumbersome. For me it is  also impossible to reserve timeslots in my calendar for potential meetings, I would simply have no time slots left.

Now for the request. I would like to see a super simple solution of a standardized way to expose my calendar (or the one I choose in Exchange or in Google Apps) to different services. Naturally it should only be the free/busy and for X months in advance. Naturally this should be able to be exposed to various services on the web using a web interface.

It should be as simple as providing a URL, x.x.x.x/username/freebusy/calendar with some type of OAuth style of authentication.

If this is implemented throughout many services one could also imagine ways of exposing different organizations free/busy to all end users in an Exchange  or a Google Apps environment. Or even a federated approach where all universities expose the information with in the federation.

In the end it is these types of quite "simple" integrations that makes life easier (or not) when using different services.