My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Windows 8 Tablets and Cloud Printing - Tifa Spell's Out Microsoft's Super 8 Advantage

Monday, September 19, 2011

Windows 8 Tablets and Cloud Printing - Tifa Spell's Out Microsoft's Super 8 Advantage

The rule of my life is to make business a pleasure and pleasure my business
Aaron Burr, Letter to Pichon

The prevalence of Tablets will be very evident by the London Olympics 2012 slated to begin on July 27th 2012AD. Apple iPad and the ragtag team of Android Tablets that are slated to eat the Apple iPad “food” [Jamaican colloquial] as stated in my blog article entitled “Android Tablets Marketshare gain over the Apple iPad - Clear and Present Danger” are ready and set to be the go-to weapon of choice for those Corporate warriors wanting to watch the London Olympics 2012 by streaming while at work at the office…..without the boss knowing they are idling.

Hint: get the 7” Samsung Galaxy Tablet, as it can fit into your pocket and streams well over Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n)! Even better, get the soon to debut in 2012AD Windows 8 Tablets which is set to be a success as per the prognostications of CNET News Editor Brook Crothers in the article “Windows 8 on Intel will be tough to beat”, published September 17 2011 by Brook Crothers, CNET News – Nanotech.

Looks like the stories of Microsoft and chip maker Intel parting ways because Microsoft was “giving bun” [Jamaican colloquial] to Intel with ARM-based processors are grossly exaggerated in the article entitled “Microsoft, Intel chart separate paths in the post-PC era”, published September 13, 2011, 4:00pm PT By Ryan Kim, GigaOM.

Windows 8 Tablets will come packed with all the goodies that you have come to know and love from Microsoft geared towards being productive and be at play at the same. And interestingly too, Windows 8 may be the first Cloud-Based OS on a Tablet as prognosticated in my blog article entitled “Microsoft's Mango Update and Windows 8 - License to Kill in the Real World”.

That is, unless, Google releases the Tablet-centric version of Google Chrome before the end of the Fourth Quarter of 2011AD as stated in my blog article entitled “Google Chrome OS for Tablets Coming - Around the World in 80 Days”.

Jamaica is no different, as with the deployment of Cloud Servers by Telecoms Provider Digicel, Telecom Provider LIME, Computer Equiptment Supplier Fujitsu and Triple Play Provider FLOW as per my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel’s Cloud Backup Services – A deep Analysis”, Cloud Computing and Cloud-based Video Streaming may be a possibility by the Third Quarter of 2012AD.

Especially as Cloud Telephony, the PBX (Private Branch Exchange) killer in the Corporate world has already been deployed by Telecom Provider Digicel, albeit a tad late as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel Cloud Telephony to Make Switched Voice Extinct”.

Which is why I am hopeful of having a Google Chromebook for Christmas 2011AD as per my fervently expressed wish in my blog article entitled “Digicel's cloud Based Backup Services - Google Chromebooks on the Cloudy Horizon”.

The Apple iPad success, albeit real as far as the analysts and myself in my blog article entitled “Apple CEO Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple Becomes No 1 - Rihanna Cheers from Apple iMac to Apple iPad can tell, is still yet to make headway into the Corporate World as a serious work tool.

Along with this trending towards this particular form factor will also be peripherals designed to support these devices and their transition into these Corporate offices to help get work done……if any at all around London Olympics 2012 in the Summer of 2012AD. Most of these Tablets are tailored to have a minimum of physical and logical ports to avoid excessive power drain on the Tablet’s battery.

There are three (3) chief ways that external peripherals such as Optical mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, SSD (Solid State Drives) are designed to connect to Tablets: USB 2.0, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) and Bluetooth. But one of the main complaints about the current crop of Google Android Tablets and the Apple iPad in whose shadow they currently is the lack of printing options.

Thus far, it’s great for the Senior Directors to tote about in order to look virile and trendy such as my blog article entitled “Women adore the Barnes and Noble Nook Colour – Free e-reader Home Improvement”. Or even give to their Managers as Christmas Bonus Gifts, as Telecom Provider Digicel intends to do to its staff this Christmas 2011AD.

But as a means of enhancing office productivity among office staff, Laptops and Desktops PC predominate. This as the main means of conveying information is still printing, something that Tablets do very badly. Amusingly, Tablets were touted as an alternative to printing and a herald of the Paperless Revolution, which it so far has helped to bring about among pilots working for United Airlines as stated in my blog article entitled “US Airlines Pilots endorse the Apple iPad - Tessanne Chin's Hideaway in the PaperLess Revolution”.

Part of the blame rests with the manufacturers of Printers, who chiefly design them to interface with WinTel (Windows and Intel) PC’s, Laptops and Netbooks via a Parallel port or via a USB 1.0 port. Very few Printer makers have even bothered to make Cloud Printing i.e. printing via the Internet and an installed client or website mainstream on all Printers, reserving that honour for workhorse Printers to be used in Corporate Settings only.

Ironically since 2008AD Printers have been about that can print via email attachments sent to an email address assigned to a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) or Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) connected Printer, such as the HP Envy 100 as stated in the article “HP intros Envy 100, Android powered Photosmart eStation AIO with Yahoo widgets (update)”, published September 20th 2010 9:25AM by Sean Hollister, EnGadget. 

The Apple iPad now has included AirPrint in the Second Quarter of 2011AD update of Apple iOS installs Printer drivers and allows printing to mainly HP Printers such as the HP Envy 100. Google Chromebooks, the nifty NC (Network Computer) that utilize the Google Chrome OS, had come with support for Cloud Printing out-of-the-box since 2010AD as stated in the article “Google Chrome Dev release introduces Google Cloud Printing”, published December 7, 2010 11:00 AM PST by Justin Yu, CNET News - Crave.

So it is hoped with the coming of Windows 8 Tablets, which may feature the long awaited printing option baked in from the get-go and Corporate ready with Microsoft Office and other productivity tools that the Senior Directors or most companies love, more Printer makers will join the party and start making Printers that have the option of Cloud Printing.

Preferably via Bluetooth and via the Cloud using Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), 3G or WiMaX (IEEE 802.16d, e) Broadband Internet, as the Tablet is no longer a toy, Tifa Spell It Out Style.

No comments: