Mark Shuttleworth, creator of Ubuntu and Canonical, is clear. Your smartphone is your next PC. For months revealed its intention to smartphones and tablets Ubuntu, and that effort has had a particular impact upon collective funding campaign Ubuntu Edge.
The campaign, however, did not achieve its economic goal. This smartphone will not see the light, at least not as originally conceived it-but revealed a promising fact: that convergence is possible. The that the smartphone and the PC can (should?) Join.
Principle
The 2011 CES halls were filled with news of several technology companies, but maybe one of them unknowingly take into their hands the key to the future. That company was called Motorola, and its solution, the Motorola Altrix , probably ahead of its time.
Motorola Altrix
Mobile That was perhaps too ambitious. Based on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 SoC with a dual-core CPU-most at the time, but now I consider it a very limited mobile hardware solution-the Motorola Altrix however it was marketed as a smartphone destined to become a PC or Portable.
For this, the use of accessories made ??Altrix as docks, ports that contributed mainly allowed expansion and connect the smartphone to a conventional monitor or even a laptop that drew power from the terminal hardware and software, a concept that then be exploited by ASUS and its Padfone .
But the world was not ready for that concept. The Altrix did not work, and it did not because it was too limited device resources. The analysis we did on Engadget, with four long chapters ( 1 , 2 , 3 and 4 ) - and confirmed it. The idea was fantastic. Its implementation, not so much.
Then came Ubuntu for Android
In Canonical probably had long munching the idea. The impact of netbooks served as experimental platform for Unity, an interface introduced in Ubuntu Netbook Edition (also known as Ubuntu Netbook Remix) and arrive in May 2010, it announced Mark Shuttleworth - initially oriented such machines.
Ubuntu for Android
But the idea would suffer a critical transformation. The revolution start in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, a distribution that would first use Unity interface, which theoretically had booked netbooks instead of GNOME-Shell. That decision was widely criticized by more conservative Ubunteros, but later everything was going to make sense.
Unity was no use interface. For starters, the Dock / Launcher stood on the left side rather than the traditional bottom but at Canonical also wanted to encourage applications to run maximized (very tablet philosophy and certainly totally smartphone).
And who does not like things - was first Unity, or the idea of Ubuntu on smartphones? - That interface became one of the pillars of the true ambition of Canonical, the Ubuntu carrying not only the PC or the notebook, but the smartphone, the tablet and TV.
Shuttleworth Ubuntu 14.04 LTS established as the first version of the distribution that would be truly universal, but before that , at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2012, we would see Ubuntu for Android.
One glimpsed what he was getting this project. In this case, Ubuntu and Android were running at the same time, and when you connect the device to a monitor that solution, we could enjoy a standard Ubuntu system. Do you know how smartphone demonstrated the ability of this development?
Right. A Motorola Altrix.
Ubuntu Edge, another ahead of his time
Ubuntu for Android was one of the most farsighted developments in this regard, but, again, Canonical transform that initial idea in its global project, which actually does not have a defined name and it seems to just continue to be known as Ubuntu.
In fact, earlier this year the stakes seemed divided into two: Ubuntu for phones , announced in January 2013, and Ubuntu on tablets , which would weeks later, in February. Actually both platforms were one table legs: the universal version of Ubuntu that could have become a reality with another unique project: Ubuntu Edge .
This revolutionary smartphone however will not see sunlight. The Canonical funding campaign launched in July 2013 on Indiegogo not achieve its ambitious goal. Of the 32 million sought to develop and manufacture a first batch of 40,000 units only got 12.8 million. That device seemed the true heir of that Motorola Original Altrix.
Shuttleworth showed however pleased with the campaign . It may not have achieved the economic objective sought, but had attracted interest from industry, the media and users. And they made ??clear an idea. Convergence was not only possible. She was attractive, logical, consistent. And I would add something else. Crushing.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows 8 RT prompted convergence
I pointed not long ago in Engadget Mobile : Windows RT may not have crystallized in the market, but I did not bury it so soon. Microsoft's proposal is bold and far more ambitious than it seems, because this commitment ARM so far they have not gone too well could be a life insurance policy in the future. More on that a little later.
Windows RT
As Canonical, Microsoft took a radical turn in the paradigm of the desktop interface. With Windows 8 could Meter Microsoft design language (or Modern UI, there is a mess after rename obligation), a system that made ??clear the commitment to the future of Microsoft. Touch What imposed on the non-touch.
The bet, as many bets radical in its infancy, it was very well received. A (almost) nobody likes change, and Windows 8 supposed too big a change in the interaction with an operating system that is the basis for hundreds of millions of PCs and laptops worldwide. But that change had a purpose again.
Convergence.
The Metro interface (let's call it license as it was known for years) first appeared in a few media players that Microsoft brought to market in November 2006. Perhaps remember: it was the Zune.
Zune HD
At that time not even driving the Metro name for that interface, but the idea was gradually seeping Microsoft. The sadly forgotten Microsoft Media Center-curious as a company that bet for entertainment has abandoned this development, he displayed some of the ideas from that interface. Absolute role of typefaces, easy navigation, simplicity.
The idea also would move Zune software for the PC, but especially relevant charge on the Xbox 360, which would move from its traditional dashboard (with the interface named Blade) pick New Xbox Experience that would refine to be increasingly more and more similar to that concept later would find the entire catalog of Microsoft.
Windows Phone 7
But that catalog had to grow and adapt. And the first-and probably true-revolution come with Windows Phone 7. Microsoft finally took a giant step after having forgotten, again, inexplicably-a mobile platform. It was not a perfect system, of course, but its interface was a real breath of fresh air in a market too polluted Apple's influence. The flat design seemed ahead of his time, interestingly, has been Apple's who has finished more or less taken shape in iOS 7 - and all interface elements that dotted simplicity.
Windows Phone 8 would improve many sections of that first revised edition (true multitasking, Windows NT kernel, NFC support), but not too clunky visual appearance, if anything more powerful with issues such as the ability to resize the tiles on the desktop or to give support more screen sizes and resolutions. This will improve even more with the arrival of the GDR update 3 and support at last 1080p resolutions, but that's another story.
But that would not be the thing. Not at all. Microsoft began selling Windows 8 in October 2012, and that development would cause a veritable welter of criticism (the most) and praise (the least). Microsoft was smart enough to continue to maintain, a little sly-classic desktop, in Windows 8.1-fortunately for many, it was even more important that traditional management model and the laptop PC.
Windows 8 touch
Because make no mistake. Windows 8 is an operating system designed for the PC and the laptop.'s An operating system designed as the first step towards convergence. A convergence that Microsoft seems to be able to understand and want to make a more gradual.
First, conquering the tablets. He's trying to both Microsoft Surface with Surface Pro and RT, and time your adventure is not being too successful. The Windows 8 tablets have not been well received-the traditional Windows software was never meant for one-touch device and Windows tablets have not curdled RT-catalog software is too discreet.
And yet, that bet is becoming more and more sense as time goes on, at least for the undersigned this article. The hybrid ultrabooks are another interesting element of this transition, but there is a final step, much more complex. Windows 8 comes to our phones. O to do Windows RT. Does the same results?
ARM is postulated as heir to Intel
And here comes into play the other major leg of this technological revolution. The hardware. The x86 and x86-64 have served our purposes for decades. Its features were perfect for a desktop world, but that world has changed and is heading inexorable and merciless way to segment mobility.
Snapdragon
And despite the efforts of Intel-AMD not so much - the absolute protagonist in the field of mobility is none other than ARM. A British company, remember, does not manufacture a single chip. Their engineers are dedicated solely to the design and development of these chips and their features and capabilities, but never of its production.
That are many others, among which there is currently a clear highlight: Qualcomm. The San Diego company has taken advantage of the explosive mobile market and has become "the Intel of mobility". Its market share is huge, though MediaTek is gaining whole-good for all, and its processors make the difference.
The last example is the snapdragon 800, prodigious performance SoC that has little to envy midrange processors for desktop and notebook PCs. 4K playback support, the power of the Adreno 330 GPU and independent management of voltage and clock frequency of its four cores were a utopia for a couple of years, but now these buses will equip smartphones and tablets that integrate sensational capacity.
And the question, of course, is whether architecture is not enough for traditional computer users. For anyone who has seen them in action, of course, it is. The Snapdragon 800 can face all tasks "conventional" we do on a PC or laptop today, and even some not so conventional as that cited 4K content playback.
It is precisely this power which further suggests with convergence guarantees. With a Snapdragon processor as the 800 and a polished version of Windows RT for smartphones, would under our hands the device of the future. A phone that would finally and really, all a computer.
Surface RT
Of course, in this proposal Microsoft should fix the major current limitation of Windows RT: its catalog software. The passage of ARM applications x86/x86-64 not seem trivial, but the renewed obsession Microsoft to control the catalog through its Windows Store Apple recalls its App Store, and Gatekeeper. The solution seems clear: let the developers work, and not close the door to other forms of distributing software.
Of course, Windows Store offer guarantees of a store "official" as the App Store or Google Play on mobile: no or very low presence of malware applications, and, if they do well, some guarantee of quality available applications with filters prior to accepting exceeding a reasonable minimum.
The other important factor, in my opinion, is the continuing importance and will continue to have the classic desktop. Here the idea would follow the Ubuntu model, which adapts to the screen format: on a smartphone touch experience makes sense. In a desktop, or even on a laptop, not (although it may be an interesting option). Power still choose the classic desktop in that theoretical behavior of the smartphone as is for many critical PC. Windows RT continues to offer the classical setting, but so far only operating system applications (file explorer, Internet Explorer, Office programs RT) it can take. See if in Redmond open the door to expand this important behavior of RT in the traditional way.
Is Apple about of convergence?
Trends do not appear (watch for bold) to go with Apple. At least, not that they can not create it. The Cupertino company has made ??some nods to the convergence in recent years, but its commitment to maintain two distinct proposals seems (again, watch for the bold) clear.
MacBook Air with ARM
On the one hand we have, of course, OS X. Beware, for more than a year ago that Apple removed the word traditional name Mac OS. OS X and Mac OS X is not ... and that "mosque", especially considering that this operating system is available only to their iMac, its Mac Pro and MacBook.
Anyway, the fact is that the operating system for desktops (not call them PCs, not call them PCs) and laptops Apple has evolved in interesting ways in the past iterations. They integrating iOS features (or "iosificación" as some call it) has been evident, but not dramatic.
Clear examples are LaunchPad, the Mac App Store, full screen applications or increasing support touch gestures. Notifications Center, including Maps or iBooks-these latest developments in OS X Mavericks - Apple demonstrate that provision of the most interesting take iOS to OS X.
iOS 7
But iOS has its own entity. Go if you have one. The operating system was born with the original iPhone, but then do not even know him by that name, in fact, we referred to it as iPhone OS. This mobile platform became the example to follow in almost everything. And above all, in his conception of the mobile applications market, which has been the real goose that lays golden eggs for Apple and to a lesser extent, for most developers who have contributed their developments in this segment.
This mobile platform has become an industry giant. The overwhelming success of the first sales of the iPhone and then iPad has served to make this ecosystem a benchmark in all areas, and tight control that Apple imposes on their platforms closed redisplays its benefits-little fragmentation, few conflicts little malware (though this has other reasons) -.'s catalog of iOS software is absolutely brutal both in quantity and quality, even if we talk about tablets, a land that has been very much spoiled in Cupertino. And it weighs.
So everything seems to point to a two-headed Apple, in which both OS X and iOS are more or less equivalent weights. A priori it seems unlikely that the situation will change: Apple has already made ??a significant investment of time, resources and money when he jumped to Intel processors running Mac OS X, and iOS platform does not seem destined to be able to run on anything ARM architecture is not.
Yet questions arise. And they are important questions.
These doubts are based on two arguments. The first is that iOS is, as Jobs said at the launch of the first iPhone-a kind of shortened version (very cropped) of OS X. The kernel of iOS is based on Darwin OS , the operating system pillar notebooks and desktops from Apple. That alone already makes one wonder, since both share the same base plataforman although around the other components are fundamentally different (eg, management of multitasking
The second argument is even more disturbing. In January 2010 Tristan Schaap, an engineer who was studying at the University of Delft in the Netherlands showed something surprising . This student-that since October of that year working at Apple, in the department where he developed precisely as a fellow-managed project to move the kernel OS X, Darwin, to iOS. And do it in just 12 weeks.
Actually the achievement does not seem so relevant considering that as we said iOS is a kind of "lite" version of OS X, but returns to give pause. Your limit project - available here - explained "Tak ing Darwin MV88F6281 move. The MV88F6281 is an ARMv5 processor with [...] The aim of the project was to compile Darwin and start it in a multiuser environment. " Some media, however, rule out this possibility and look away to another option, the use of NetBSD.
Apple-Intel
Apple has already done in the past: when it was announced the passing of Mac OS X to x86, Steve Jobs admitted that had worked five years in the parallel version to the users enjoyed their PowerPC processors. The Cupertino company could very well be doing the same thing now, but with a version of OS X would work on ARM architectures completely.
Rumors of a MacBook Air Theoretical ARM processor are not new: already shuffled in 2011 -at that time, with an A5-, and charged new meaning now that the ARM architecture has gained in performance and that Apple has gained experience in this field.
The transition to ARM solutions is therefore not at all ruled out. Our fellow Applesfera already past him in April 2011 when they talked about this issue, and now that the convergence argument is even stronger. We also did a review on Ars Technica time ago in this sense level developers, and those mentioned in that study made ??it clear that "merge" both operating systems was not complicated.
This new era would make sense, but probably the transition would have to advocate for a model similar to dual boot with Ubuntu Canonical posed Edge. This device could boot either Ubuntu and Android, combining both alternatives so that the user could get the best of both worlds in each scenario (Mode Android smartphone, Ubuntu in PC mode, but not necessarily always). The same should happen with those future converged devices, they would be equipped with iOS and OS X: mode smartphone, iOS would be the system of choice, but when connected to the PC, go into action that version of OS X for ARM.
So also thought John Tudor, a programmer in Perl that was part of Apple's marketing team. Tudor made ??it clear long ago that although this possibility does not seem feasible in the short term, both divisions are going well-would be much more interesting to develop technologies that would allow both operating systems run on the same hardware device on a dual boot model.
So the road to convergence Apple also seems prepared, at least on paper. Having an iPhone with iOS and OS X, or a MacBook Air with ARM proceador and that specific version of OS X, no longer seems so crazy. Probably some kind of Apple users would be harmed-those that use intensive applications, type Apple Mac Pro, but have in their hands a solution very, very attractive.
Google plays the dismissal. Or not.
Of course, need to talk about the other big player in the field of mobility. Google has become the main protagonist of the market with a global market share of around 80% thanks to Android. This free operating system with a strong Open Source is the primary choice of most manufacturers, users and developers. And interestingly is farthest apparently is convergence.
Android
So say on Google, and Sundar Pichai certifies, head of both Android and Chrome OS (and Chrome). This engineer has been climbing the ladder positions of Google and took over Android division following the departure of Andy Rubin few months ago. Taking both responsibilities could point to a possible merger of Android and Chrome OS, but recently made ??it clear Pichai:
Both Android and Chrome, are large open platforms to grow very fast. I think I developed a great role, not merely exist. I see this as part of an interesting innovation and choice for both users and developers.
The statements are somewhat surprising. Chrome OS, by any stretch Google, not gel. And in recent times Google know what's going on with projects that do not set. Larry Page and his boys load them without them shake the pulse. Happened to Reader, a hugely popular service, so do not abandon Chrome OS seems to cost a lot.
I did this analysis on Engadget Android for months, and in that reflection we highlighted also the words of Matias Duarte, head of the design division of Google and a huge specific weight in the company. Duarte himself noted in one of his comments on that possibility:
The momentum that Android has is allowing us to make an operating system and plunge linking it all to him. We should have an operating system that provides the ciminentos the future of digital humanity. Really think about it. In fact, I think it is inevitable, because you get a lot more power when all can communicate with all and interoperate. I believe passionately that if we have this unique operating system is an operating system that everyone can use, modify, study, but which nobody will own.
That's what prompted him to Duarte as joining Google: the possibility to work on "an operating system for humanity." Those words seem to contradict those of Pichai, although here the interpretations can vary.
Pixel Chromebook
And yet, Android could become a general-purpose operating system with no apparent problems. The only real-there-are certainly more demanding applications and the fact that, for now, Android shows no sign of wanting to leave the tactile experience.
The implementation of Android for x86 to check these benefits, with limitations, of course, but also shows that little guidance to keyboard, mouse or a multi-window environment for users on other platforms traditionally exploit. Although Intel does not see much point to the combination of Windows 8 to Android in dual teams, it is significant that some manufacturers have opted for that curious mixture, and could also be a sign of that ambition to conquer Android PC desktop and laptop.
Conclusions
Do not know about you, but I see that future with crystal clarity. I commented "on my other blog" for some time, and a year and a half later I can only confirm that feeling. In fact, that would change a little holder, eliminating the use of a conditional. Your next PC will be your smartphone .
Dock
All Indic so indicate. Canonical's commitment is the most openly what has been reported, but each and every one of the big-market proposals except perhaps Google, although you never know, they seem to be working in this convergence.
So get ready, because in one, two, or I would say that at most three years you will be using your smartphone in a slightly different. Of course, as usual You will use it to make calls and to keep in touch with your relatives and friends, and to follow, especially being connected.
But that experience with the smartphone will not stay there. You will arrive home, or work, and conectaréis that device in a dock, or perhaps simply a HDMI cable. Activaréis Bluetooth connection, and kindle the 24-inch monitor in front of you.
Disclaimer
