The Future of Desktop Software

My wife asked me the other day why it cost billions of dollars for issues related to patching computers for the new Daylight Savings Time. Aside from firmware on components that one could not easily just have the DST adjusted, you had the issues related to deploying any hot fix, service pack, or patch in a corporate environment. Anyone not familiar with deploying software in a corporate environment, it can be a very tedious process. There are a numerous amount of methodologies for implementing any software installs, including patches, services and hot fixes. I just want to talk about the three main ones that are out there and mention that generally all others are just deviations of these.

• The one that can take the least amount of time to follow is the one where you start installing on the desktops and hope everything goes well. This is also the most likely to end up be the most time consuming. Over the years I have seen a number of smaller companies implement this methodology and then they want to blame the vendors that their applications stop working. They may spend days, even weeks chasing down fixes, waiting on vendors to create patches, etc. And with some things, just un-installing does not fix the problem. In the worst case senerio, the IT department ends up reinstalling the OS on every desktop. And often in smaller companies, they have not implemented any type of imaging process, so they have to manually install the OS and every application.
• There is the one where the IT department deploys to a few desktops and let the end user be the tester. This is a fairly safe practice, but the users selected should be those who use the most applications and are thorough in testing. The biggest benefit here is that you have people testing who know the ins and outs of the software they use. But you have the downside also, which is that generally these people are not technical and don’t check other things such as CPU and Memory utilization. They also can verify the impact the applications have on the server.
• Finally, there is the one that is the most time consuming and the least likely to have any impact on the business. In this model, you have an entirely separate network set up and all applications are put through a rigorous set of tests. Not only do they test the impact to desktop software, they also test network utilization and the impact on servers. The biggest problem with this approach is that updates to software and operating systems are weeks or monthes behind. And in the worst case senerio, they may be years behind. I worked on a project about 3 years ago where all the desktop OS’s were windows 95. Even though I know why they were still using windows 95, most of their problems were related to using windows 95 but they had a very ridged testing planning for everything and it put them years behind the rest of the world.

This is where Web 2.0 applications will play a big role in the future. You won’t have to worry about impact on the desktop, because everything will run from the server. Since they are web based applications, you generally don’t have to much to worry with them interfering with other software. IT departments won’t have to worry about deploying updates to desktops.
I found a great article over at Zoli’s Blog (Desktop Software: A Failed Model). I would suggest that everyone read the article as Zoli points out many issues that IT professionals experience and those that individuals experience.

However, the above story is not at all unique. We all experienced bungled Windows / Antivirus / Office / you-name-it updates, the famous Patch Tuesdays actually last a week (to get a successful auto-install), than the patch that messed up the computer again has to be patched just to get your PC back to normal – but in the meantime it’s nothing like normal, spending way too much time maintaining itself.

And for a great article on ‘What is Web 2.0‘, visit the zoomf.com blog.

As I see it, the key to Web 2.0 is found in the ‘2’. Web 2.0 can be summarized as the two-way web, the evolution of the internet from a ‘static’ place to accumulate knowledge into a dynamic arena of dialogue, interaction and online communities — it’s the internet come to life. At the same time, the ‘2’ means you, the enriched user experience, the internet as a platform of high-end ‘usability’ that takes people where they want to go quicker than ever before.