.KEYWORD peeditorial0101
.FLYINGHEAD FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
.TITLE The evolution of enterprise computing
.DEPT
.SUMMARY In this month’s editorial, Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz takes you for a trip back to 1983 to look at the way computers evolved from MIS-controlled mainframes to personal, desktop machines. He then fast forwards to today and speculates on how handheld computing will revolutionize the way we do business in the new millennium by further empowering the individual.
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
For those of you new to my editorials, these things tend to be an interesting experience both for the writer (me) and the reader (that’d be you). As I write this (sitting in a surprisingly dead Barnes & Noble on the Saturday before Christmas), I’ve just consumed two 22 ounce Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffees, and I’m working on a grande mucho large-o iced Cafe Americano. In other words, my bloodstream is stoked on caffeine, and as a result, anything could happen herein. For those of you outside the Northeastern US, you may not be aware that it’s pretty darn cold out (wind chill has it at six degrees), and so drinking multiple iced coffees is both a long-time writer’s coping skill and my personal homage to a time when the weather was more balmy.
And, of course, why do something on time when you can put it off until a holiday weekend? So, sandwiched between the five parties I’m expected to attend this weekend and the overwhelming desire to sleep in, I write this profound essay for your edification and enjoyment.
As we publish our third issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition and enter into our fourth year of PalmPower, I’ve been thinking more and more about the use of Palm devices in the business world.
Last month, I interviewed Jon Prial of IBM’s Pervasive Computing Division, and we started our look at the idea of "pervasive computing." Between PalmPower and PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition, we are looking at all aspects of anywhere, anytime computing. But here, in the Enterprise Edition, I’d like to limit my thoughts to the changes that handheld devices will bring to the business world.
These devices may be diminutive, but I’m forecasting a pretty measurable impact on the business world. To gain some perspective on this, though, I’d like to take you on a short trip through the "wayback" machine.
The time was 1983. Ronald Reagan was perhaps the last truly cool Republican president. Flashdance and Thriller were the songs of the day. Ghandi won Best Picture. France tested its neutron bomb, a South Korean airliner was shot down entering the USSR (which Reagan, that year, called the "evil empire"), and the Washington Redskins beat the Miami Dolphins 27-21 in the Super Bowl.
Today, with PCs everywhere, it may be hard to believe that in 1983, PCs were just beginning to find their way into the enterprise. Up through the late 70s and even into the mid 80s, corporate computing power was concentrated in MIS (Management Information Systems) departments, in large mainframes, minicomputers, and supermini computers. Back then, IS departments were often referred to as MIS departments. Apparently, all pretense of management left the IS departments after the 80s (you know, of course, that I’m kidding). The idea of the rank-and-file having access to computing power–uncontrolled access to computing power–was an anathema to MIS. Yet PCs were cheap (all’s relative; at that time a PC XT with 256K and a 10MB hard drive was about $6,000), so individuals and small departments brought them in, completely outside of the MIS budget (and control).
Suddenly, corporate information was scattered hither and yon. Everyone was running different software, nothing was particularly compatible, and, of course, the MIS departments were going absolutely bonkers trying to figure out how to control it all.
Well, as we now all know, PCs became de rigueur. Networking systems like Lotus Notes began to weave some sanity among scattered computers, and networking, file sharing, email, and, eventually, the Internet became part of everyday work life.
More importantly, all new classes of applications became possible. The whole graphic arts/desktop publishing discipline could never have existed on a mainframe-centric world. Sales force automation, presentation software, even software like Microsoft Office fit the PC genre far more than the terminal or batch-oriented approach of big iron.
If you thought PCs decentralized computing, wait until you get a load of this. Palm devices are the ultimate decentralization. First of all, they’re cheap. If PCs grew in a grass-roots manner, handhelds will explode.
While most of us thought long and hard before spending a few grand to give us a leg up at work, a hundred and fifty bucks for a Palm m100 is a no brainer. So lots more of us are just buying our own Palm devices and using them for work.
One reader asked me, "It’s mine. Why should IS care?" Well, if all you keep on your Palm device is your own recipe list, no one will care. But if you use any of the enterprise tools to, for example, HotSync a client list or access information from the network, all of a sudden your Palm Vx becomes a corporate concern.
When PCs first showed up in the 80s, individual users were empowered, and those tasked with managing computing resources were challenged. Eventually, of course, PCs proved to be such a boon that an entire generation of IS folks were educated on how to manage PCs, rather than to fight them. But that took a few years.
And it took a few years to get right. Initially, many PCs were stuck in central "resource areas," where workers could go to visit them when they needed to get something "serious" done. But that really cramped everyone’s style. For example, I keep my email, QuickConference, and Palm desktop open at all times, and it’s all within reach at my desk. I’d never use my PC to track contacts and to do items if I had to leave my desk and stand in line to get onto a machine.
Now, of course, most companies have made the PC the central element of each worker’s desk.
I think carrying a laptop is a lot like that central resource. I have a hot little ThinkPad, but I left it home today. Yet, wherever I go, there I am. And, of course, I have my Palm V and keyboard. So when I found myself at Barnes & Noble and the muse (and guilt for having an article due) struck me, I was able to just start writing. That’s very much like the convenience of always having a PC at the desk as opposed to in a central room, and it’s just one of the subtle ways PC usage evolved and tuned itself to the style in which we work. In my case, today, I didn’t have to plan ahead to carry my laptop. Since my Palm device is always with me, it’s always available.
These few examples are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ll see a lot more ways that handheld computing will subtly change how we work. PCs will still be a key part of our working style. Yet Palm devices will integrate into that style, extending and enhancing the way we do our jobs. In fact, the integration with the PC is central to making handhelds work at work. Arguably, it was Palm’s recognition of the PC by giving its devices their excellent HotSync capability that really made this category compelling.
In the same way that mainframe priests could have never predicted that their huge, monolithic altars to centralized computing would eventually evolve into a world of proletariat computing (and completely revolutionary applications like Photoshop), I’m sure we’ll see handheld devices used in wonderful ways we can’t predict today.
Stay tuned and have a great New Year!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For the PalmPower Magazine Enterprise Edition interview with IBM’s Jon Prial, visit http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200012/prial001.html.
For more information on Lotus Notes, visit http://www.lotus.com.
For more information on Microsoft Office, visit http://www.microsoft.com/office/.
For more information on QuickConference, visit http://www.prgrsoft.com/pages/quickconference.html.
For more information on Photoshop, visit http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html.
For more information on Barnes & Noble, visit http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
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