Could phones and desktops successfully merge?
Earlier this year, Canonical introduced a hybrid Android phone/computer running Ubuntu at a mobile phone confab. It seems that handset makers, in attempts to battle the never-ending onslaught by Apple, are lining up to do business with Canonical, a company that sees the smartphone as the computer of the future.
Since the 1980s, I've been describing such a handheld device on which you'd store everything and plug it in to docking stations wherever you went. I've since tempered my thoughts on the matter because I've seen the high rate of phone thefts and losses. Right now, I even have a phone in the house that I cannot find.
USE THE CLOUD OR ELSE
Much of this new problem can be minimized by cloud services because the cloud is a safe place for all your stuff. But I've made clear my issues with the cloud over and over. Once again, I do not think it is as secure as it should be. It's unreliable, and by that I mean it is slow and often unresponsive. Just subscribe to various online products and see for yourself. Also, there are too many stories about users losing all their data because a company ended their accounts for no good reason.
Be that as it may, the arguments fall on deaf ears. The cloud is here and now comes the docking mini-computer lurking inside a mobile phone. CNET nicely outlines the movement in a recent article. Here is a key snippet:
The Android phone functions normally when used as a smartphone or when making calls, but when it docks then the Ubuntu desktop pops up and acts like a standard computer. You can open a desktop Web browser, but you can also install and run standard Ubuntu desktop software for photo editing, word processing, etc.
Because Ubuntu is so lean, the entire Ubuntu software stack only takes up about 2GB, and that includes apps for e-mail, Web browsing, photo editing, music, and other basic stuff. If you install more applications from the large Ubuntu repository of open source apps then that will obviously take up more space, but there's still plenty of storage on most modern smartphones to handle it.
WINDOWS 8 ON A DOCKING PHONE?
While the article describes how this approach differs from Webtop and other ideas, it fails to mention the distinct possibility that Microsoft could just as easily do this in conjunction with Nokia. Windows Phone 7 and the upcoming Metro-centric Windows 8 could easily morph into a phone/computer—one that leverages the worldwide market share of Windows rather than Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is great and I see no reason why it cannot make more inroads on the desktop. The real problem with Linux, in general, and Ubuntu, in particular, is twofold. First, media propaganda keeps harping on the false fact that it is unsuitable for the desktop and that it is really only good on servers. It's supposedly too complicated for the public. This is total bull-crap as most of the current Linux distros are simple to install and easy to use.
ADOBE LINUX
The second problem, as far as I'm concerned, is that Adobe Creative Suite isn't running on Linux. If Adobe was smart, it would roll out a stand-alone Adobe Linux with Creative Suite optimized for the OS. I'll stand over on Pluto holding my breath while waiting for that to happen.
Meanwhile, the phone/computer that plugs into a workstation and talks to the cloud is coming, like it or not.
APPLE iPHONE 5
Now, wouldn't it be funny if what's described in this scenario is exactly the iPhone 5? And wouldn't it be hilarious if it was called the Mac iPhone? This would be the disruptor.
Fun times ahead, for sure.
You can Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter @therealdvorak.
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