“Let’s think about Mountain Lion and the company’s readiness to disrupt its own business models and consider this: ‘Will Mountain Lion be one of the last desktop operating systems Apple ships?’ In a sense, I think it will. That’s because I believe operating systems are heading inexorably into the cloud,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld.
“Looking at the access logs of people reading this blog here on Computerworld, it’s becoming clear that an ever-increasing number of readers like to use their iPad to read what’s here.,” Evans writes. “We all know what an iPad is, but what is its nature? I see it as a device hosting a slimline mobile operating system that, while capable of performing numerous tasks offline truly comes into its own when accessing the Internet. In other words, it’s a mobile device custom-built for use with all the information, software and services held up there in the cloud.”
Evans writes, “In future your computer (Mac or PC) will be more like this. It will carry a slimline OS in order to remain capable of doing many things offline, but will truly come into its own when accessing the information, software and services held online… This might be years out, but the opportunity is tangible. Surely it is evident that this change is going on. It’s only a question of time I feel until a combination of operating system virtualization, personal data storage and sync, and software-as-service models mean the desktop operating system will be something you access online.”
Read more in the full article here.