A term you may have heard being thrown around is cloud computing. It is used to describe something fundamental that happens to all high tech. The best definition I could find to describe this phenomenon was:

Cloud computing is a paradigm shift - a disruptive change in I.T. towards online services.

What does this mean exactly? It means the computer is undergoing commodification; it is in transition from being a product to a service. It is moving towards becoming a utility - much like electricity! Businesses will no longer sit down and talk about using IT; they’ll just be using it. In other words, IT will simply be a cost of doing business rather than being of strategic value.

The word cloud is appropriate as it is hard to pin point what stage we’re at. Clearly, if you ignore commodification, your business would be at a competitive disadvantage - you won’t have any of the gains, such as lower costs and maintenance that keep the cloud computing buzz going. For example, using Google Apps could remove the need for a start up to install and maintain Microsoft Office.

On the flip side, the risks of bringing innovative services to market are barriers to adoption. There are certainly concerns about being dependent on third parties for IT services. Recently, T-Mobile stopped production of the Sidekick mobile phone as a technical glitch in software designed by Microsoft caused around one million customers to lose their personal data. Risk management is therefore essential when using web based services, as with adopting any new technology.

Periscope, our online studio management system, is an example of a service using cloud computing. It offers a core service with no limits and no installation; it allows businesses to concentrate on creating value rather than maintaining and scaling a system. Give Periscope a whirl and benefits will soon become clear!

It was announced recently that Microsoft will continue to support Internet Explorer 6 until 2014. With an increasing demand for better looking websites, higher performance web applications and increased security, it was a major blow to web developers globally campaigning for support to be dropped. Currently, 25% of users browse the web using IE6. Whilst it’s important to know that upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer is free and recommended, there are still legacy systems designed specifically for this browser, which stops people from upgrading.

Legally, web applications need to be accessible by anyone using any supported agent. The continued support means that web developers will have to continue to work with IE6 whilst that meeting the high expectations that newer browsers perform with ease. No need to panic though, as our development team has been taming  the ‘IE6 beast’ for years.

Accessibility is an important thing at IE, and we maintain to make sure everyone is included.

One of my favourite blogs, ReadWriteWeb, has an interesting commentary on IBM’s latest ‘Next Five in Five’ list- five big things that are going to happen within technology in the next five years. They’re excited about the ‘Talking Web’, already an emerging use of voice technology from boundary pushers like Google. Their Google Mobile App for the iPhone can accurately translate your speech into search queries. While something of a novelty, the potential for exciting new applications is real, and the groundwork is complete.

Voice is a great medium for input when you take into account the speed of transmission; most people can speak faster than they can type, and in terms of accessibility, those with physical impairments can accurately and quickly dictate their intentions. On the flip-side, how does your website cope with multiple languages, accents or even speech impediments? Can you afford to add voice functionality to your application, as well as maintaining standard keyboard and mouse inputs?

To happen in the next five years I think that developers need to do a really solid job of applying the technology, or it’ll enter the already laughable realm of automated phone lines such as ticket booking lines or change of address systems - that’s right TV licensing, I said the number SIX three times and you still didn’t get it!

I think the most fundamental question, one everybody can answer, is this: If the web could talk to you, would you talk back?

Some time ago I was asked by the directors here at IE to explain what Flex was, how it was different to Flash, and why I had been using it in some of our interactive projects. My initial attempt, off the top of my head, was poor - I quickly discovered that it’s not an easy concept to explain!

I was encouraged, therefore, to see that Adobe have also realised that it is confusing to those who aren’t geeked-up on all things Flash, and relaunced the Flash Platform label at their Max conference last week. The Flash Platform brings together all the different technologies that contribute to Flash-based projects, as shown in this handy diagram.

So having failed to explain it properly the first time, I did then go away and think about it and wrote an explanation of the way I understand it, which I have copied below. I seem to have unwittingly explained some of the other parts of the Flash Platform as well.

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I’m running the half marathon on Sunday. I’m no athlete so in order not to embarrass myself I’ve taken my training quite seriously. By seriously I mean geekely…

It’s well known that I really like spreadsheets - for organising everything, and my training plan has been no exception. It’s got every 144.52 miles that I’ve run in the 19 Hours 43 Minutes and 47 Seconds of training that I’ve done. It’s also got charts showing my actual pace and formulas to calculate my normalised half marathon time from every run.

That’s all quite geeky but this may just top it…

It’s live so you’ll know where I am whenever I turn my iPhone on. After the race I’ll find a way of exporting a record of it.

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

If you happen to see this post while the race is on then please do leave a comment - I’ll obviously be otherwise engaged…