Android to lead in 2011

Android was the number two in 2010. But as per a recent IDC report, Android will be the lead Smartphone operating system. So the vendors who have adopted Android will smile the way to the bank in 2011.

But analysts are also upbeat about the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft. The market expectation is that Windows 7 with Nokia reach will become a dominant force.

But whether Windows 7 will be strong enough to beat Android, we will have to wait and watch. In addition, Symbian will also continue for a couple of years, hence give an additional competition to Android.

Please see the table below for the current Smartphone Operating System market details:

Operating System	2011 Market Share	2015 Market Share
Android	39.50%	45.40%
BlackBerry	14.90%	13.70%
iOS	15.70%	15.30%
Symbian	20.90%	0.20%
Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile	5.50%	20.90%
Others	3.50%	4.60%
Total	100.00%	100.00%

Smartphones Surge -- IDC Reports

Smartphones are selling like hot cakes, and manufacturers are raking in large amount of money. All the major telecom equipment manufacturers are launching a new Smartphone almost every month. Even Dell launched Smartphones signifying the growth importance of that segment. Even in the Smartphone operating systems’ market, the competition is stiff and companies are fighting hard to capture mind and market share.

The recent report from IDC on the Smartphone market will definitely sound like sweet music to ears of the telecom players in that space. As per IDC, ‘the worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2% in 2011 as more consumers and enterprise users turn in their feature phones for smartphones with more advanced features. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone vendors will ship more than 450 million smartphones in 2011 compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010. Moreover, the smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market’.

So the dominance of Smartphone is on!! It has already hit the PC and tablet market, and organizations will definitely focus on Smartphones to rake in profits. But whether this development will bring in paradigm shift within the manufacturing sector only time will say.

SLA for Cloud Computing

SLAs for cloud computing is still a big issue. The customers as well as the vendors are left confused as to how best to create a SLA that supports their requirements and meets their service level targets.

For me the best way to go would be service wise. Unlike the traditional mode of service, in cloud computing the service is ‘as-required’ and pricing is ‘as-used’. So you can well imagine how confusing would be the creation of SLA.

In fact many vendors are confused whether to offer Customer SLA (i.e., one SLA for one customer covering all the services provided) or Service SLA (i.e., one SLA covering the same service for all the customers).

So what should customer and a vendor (cloud computing service provider) look while creating a cloud computing SLA?

For Customers, keep an eye out for the following:

• Just like in traditional mode of service, check out the uptime and downtime targets and resolution times. 
• Be sure that you are charged for the service that you are using and for the specific period of time (yeah, cloud computing gives you that flexibility).
• Ensure availability, reliability, maintainability and security target levels are strong (the scenarios can be different in cloud computing).
• Find out how the vendor tracks and manages security breaches and data loss.

If you are a vendor, do remember that cloud computing is vastly different from the traditional computing. Hence, keep in the mind:

• How you will ensure seamless uptime, and quickly manage any downtime issues?
• Your Service and Customer SLA should be very specific and detailed.
• Ensure that security is strong and foolproof enough to avoid security breaches and data loss.
• Availability, reliability and maintainability targets should be reasonable.
• Spend a lot of time in penalty clauses before agreeing to it.

Can Cloud computing prevent piracy?

Why People buy Pirated Products

Piracy is no doubt very rampant in the developing nations compared to the developed nations. But what  prevent piracy, adopt Cloud Computing and provide the solutions in SaaS mode. to use pirated stuff if the genuine soft3warexactly prompts usage of pirated software and applications? The reasons are simple:

• Easy availability and access to it
• Low cost (imagine getting a software that actually cost Rs. 12,000 for Rs 100)

In addition to home users, many SMBs too use pirated software for the same reason –low cost. Everybody knows about the pitfalls but still uses it because these pirated products are cheap compared to the genuine products, and hence tremendously cuts down on operational cost.

Is Could Computing a way to fight piracy?

Government and federal as well as state agencies have tried their best to stop piracy; but there efforts have proved futile. Despite knowing the risks involved, people are still using these products and the reason is still the same---low price.

Hence, I think and believe Cloud Computing mainly SaaS will be able to drive down piracy. SaaS products are/will be cheap and easy to access.

 Many vendors, SMBs and home users I spoke with mentioned that they would prefer not to use pirated stuff if the genuine software is available at reasonable price. They also agree that SaaS solutions are easy to access and are low priced – no doubt so many SMBs are already adopting SaaS solutions.

So to prevent piracy, adopt Cloud Computing and provide the solutions in SaaS mode.

How violent can be video games?

The latest video games that are hitting the market are so violent that it makes absolutely no sense. 

Beatings and mindless violence seems to be the basis of each game, blood and torn guts fill up the screens for no apparent reasons—it simply makes you wonder, do we really need so much violence?

Can these violent games turn us into psychopaths? It surely can. In fact, psychologists have warned that kids and even grownups who spend a large amount of time playing these violent games can turn into the characters that they strongly associate with.

The video games industry should be monitored and extremely violent games should be prohibited. 

 By the way, I read a great story Video game manufacturers have no social conscience. Check it out.