Randy Johnston's 2012 Technology Update

• Support for both x86 PCs and ARM devices
• Gestures, Touch-centric, Tiles-based User Interface (UI)
• Charms
• Snap Multi-tasking
• Windows 8 Control Panel
• Web Navigation by Touch
• Two Touch Keyboards
• Enhanced Copy Experience
• Native USB 3.0 Support
• Better Support for Multiple Monitors

These platforms will be supported by HTML 5 software and virtualization. Developers will innovate broadly as soon as these platforms are stable.

Things to Come

Over the coming months, hardware built on the technologies above will arrive. Software vendors will begin to take advantage of the new capabilities. Software to watch in the near term:

1. Office 15 – We’ll write much about this over the next few months as more facts become known.
   
   
2. Hadoop – This is software to process “Big Data”. Big Data consists of data sets that grow so large that they become awkward to work with using on-hand database management tools. Data demands today include non-traditional data types beyond words, such as images, audio, and other non-structured data types. Difficulties include capture, storage, search, sharing, analytics, and visualizing. This trend continues because of the benefits of working with larger and larger data sets allowing analysts to "spot business trends, prevent diseases, combat crime."
   Big Data is the next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. McKinsey Global Institute studied big data in five domains—healthcare in the United States, the public sector in Europe, retail in the United States, and manufacturing and personal-location data globally. Big Data can generate value in each of these five domains. For example, a retailer using big data to the fullest could increase its operating margin by more than 60%. Google or Bing on Big Data to learn more.
   So, what is Hadoop? Hadoop is an open-source project administered by the Apache Software Foundation. Hadoop’s contributors work for some of the world’s biggest technology companies. That diverse, motivated community has produced a genuinely innovative platform for consolidating, combining, and understanding large-scale data in order to better comprehend the data deluge. Hadoop is set to be the next big database type, Hadoop File System or HDFS. And yes, companies like CCH are already looking at Big Data.

This short look at our evolving technology future will set the stage for our on-going recommendations of practical selections of the right computer technology to deploy. We’ll continue to evaluate Cloud, on-premise and Hybrid strategies to serve client’s needs best. No hardware or software stone will be left unturned IF we believe it can help you serve clients better and give you a competitive advantage.