Tony Maro, Linux Superhero

Tony Maro, CIO of EvriChart, a hospital records management and archiving business, successfully migrated his company’s Windows-based line of business document management extranet application and his employees’ 40-odd Windows-based desktops to a 100 percent Linux-based server and desktop infrastructure.

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2016: Welcome to The Screen

In the not so far off future, computing for most of us will be reduced to remotely delivered subscriber services, running on cheap, commodity high-definition display units.

What is The Screen? I don’t think it has been well defined what the interface or the experience really is going to look like, but I have a very good idea. Certainly, I’m not expecting anything along the lines of Minority Report or even something like Microsoft’s “Surface”, although it’s certainly possible that some day, people might use UIs like that for certain niche applications. Initially, early versions of The Screen will almost certainly look very much like the platforms you use now — Windows, Mac, and definitely Linux.

The only difference is you won’t own the computing hardware it runs on — all you’ll really need is a screen (an HDTV with HDMI inputs) mouse, keyboard and broadband, and you’ll be buying your computing services like a utility, just like you pay your electric or Cable TV bill today. And like your Cable TV bill, you’ll subscribe to computing “Channels”, complete with applications and hosted data, with balls to the wall clouded backup services to match.

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Microsoft, Please Release Windows Server as a Workstation

As I write this column, I’m using the Milestone 3 release of Windows 7. While it’s still probably too early to make any sweeping judgments about a product that is probably close to a year from release, if current results are even a fleeting indication of what is in store, I’m not impressed. With the exception of a few tweaks, Windows 7 looks to be just another Vista.

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