Posts by martin_hamilton

How farsighted is Microsoft's Azure RemoteApp?

Wait for the "App Store"

If you squint a bit, Microsoft are in a good position to deliver "Legacy Windows App as a Service" off the back of Azure, Windows Store, OneDrive etc. RemoteApp isn't quite it, yet, but we're getting close.

This is hugely interesting for CIOs, given the amount of effort (== FTE) required to manage a fleet of Windows machines, package apps, track licensing etc. Also hugely threatening (and not just for those FTEs) in terms of the dreaded "disruption" that might ensue.

Some further thoughts (from a ChromeOS perspective) from a couple of years ago... http://blog.martinh.net/2010/07/chromoting-and-what-it-means-for-you.html

Launchpads, catapults... what a load of - WAIT, there's £15m for grabs?

You have to shoot for the moon to get there...

Whilst there is a fair bit of breathless hyperbole in the blurb, do keep in mind that the concept for the Catapult centres is to bring in a hefty whack of industrial income, with public funding tapering off over time. The High Value Manufacturing Catapult has been up and running the longest, and now generates 35% of its income from industry. Here's what Steve Bong's new favourite journal The Engineer had to say about it...

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/channels/policy-and-business/in-depth/shooting-for-success-the-launch-of-the-catapult-centres/1015778.article

You might say "oh, that's all very well - they actually make stuff" but if we rush to discount UK Internet based stuff as the absinthe addled outpourings of Shoreditch based chancers with funny haircuts and amusing facial hair, then perhaps we are doing ourselves a disservice. Aspiring tech mavens have tended to throw in the towel and move to California because of the difficulty of obtaining startup finance in the UK, which is the agenda CDEC really addresses once you dig beneath the jargon.