A couple of weeks ago, we were excited and exposed five reasons why Ubuntu Phone OS can beat Android.
But then, were we so right? Nah, I don’t think so personally. We gave
you 5 reasons why Ubuntu can be a grand success. It’s time to light the
torches and look around for the potential pitfalls that can ruin Ubuntu
Phone OS before curtains are furled.
No offence sire, but you’d be a fool if you called Ubuntu a weak brand. Calling it weaker is
a different issue however. When we speak about that green humanoid OS
or the brittle furniture OS or the excessively egoistic OS that begins
with an ‘i’, we are talking about big names – Google, Microsoft and
Apple. Where does Ubuntu exactly stand against these? If your answer is nowhere then
you and me, we think alike. Jokes apart, who wants an Ubuntu Phone? I
can see a few hands, out of thousands. When Ubuntu calls out to
developers, it would not be as loud as the roar of Google for sure.
Google has been called the God of Internet and righteously so because everytime you forget your car keys, you silently wish for Google to help you!
When you mention Java,
you are talking about masses. Languages like C# and Java bring a unique
offering to the table – people who are lazy enough to not understand
the details of the machine can program too! Well, that’d include many
other languages as well but these two are the prominent ones. This
feature (not having to deal with the details of machine) helps a larger
number of people to write applications than C++. This results in more
people learning Java and C# than C or C++.
Since Java is used to program apps for Android, it translates to a huge human resource pool available for building Android apps. For Ubuntu, C++, though a performance boosting platform, can prove disadvantageous! The only other OS that you'd be dealing with in something like C is iOS and that one has a cult following - not the case with Ubuntu. The HTML5 API however can boost the development because seemingly there are more HTML5 developers than there are C/C++ developers. However, chrome is now available in Android and it is only a matter of time before Android gets an HTML API as well! Result – Ubuntu does not have a solid advantage in long run.
The way Guy Kawasaki puts it - the most difficult thing about starting up is well, starting up.
Ubuntu, no matter how technically strong will be a opening a new outlet
in the market. There would be low number of apps for sure. Apps grow as
number of users grows and users come to a platform where interesting
apps are available; a kind of vicious circle for new entrants, you see!
In recent times we have seen Microsoft investing millions to make way
for Windows 8 mobile. The Windows 8 OS might be good for laptops and PCs
but Microsoft’s mobile segment has still not been able to gain a
challenging position in the market.
However, Microsoft has recently been upping their ante by creating competitions for students for creating Windows phone apps and so on. On the other hand, iOS and Android are going strong. Not only this, there are businesses standing on these platforms. There are companies, big and small building and selling Android and iOS apps for their clients. The people working in those companies have gained experience on their respective platforms and it will take quite a lot of effort and effect to move the mass towards Ubuntu phone. The demand-supply chain has given a lot of velocity to Android and works in its favour. To slow it down is not an easy task, we believe! Keeping all of that in the log book and reading it again makes one feel just one thing - Ubuntu’s position is not that promising.
All videos across the internet promised a lot of benefits and apps and cool looks and services and blah blah. What came out was not really pleasant. That too, it came for only a handful of nexus devices. The way we see, Ubuntu did hit itself real hard with its own axe – just giving an outer shell without the peanut inside it? Add to that the fact that it was running an Android kernel (basically a CM) - not good for advertising the launch even! No, that is not how you release developer previews. Something’s gotta work in the preview. Naming it ‘pre-alpha’ would have been better. Android did not start this way, nor did Windows phone, nor did the iOS.
It might be a publicity stunt or something but when you say that your
mobile is going to run desktop apps, we believe you are short on a few
things – like a keyboard to actually make those apps run and a screen
big enough to make sense. Desktop apps can already run on mobiles, as
long as the technology is concerned. And when you are porting those
apps to mobile, you are just re-skinning them. Tell you what, for
almost anything from taking notes to locating the pencil you lost in
your childhood – apps have been built for Android. Ubuntu does not make huge additions. Those ported apps will have a new skin and that does not make them ‘desktop apps’ per se.
As long as mobile-as-a-PC is concerned, we are unsure of how that benefits except attaching a larger screen to the device. Yes, there are applications that can take advantages and the mentioned desktop apps might just display in full glory on an external monitor but Ubuntu misses one important point – those apps cannot perform beyond a level. Mobile phones are not supercomputers, heck they don’t even rhyme! A PC or a laptop is what it is because it can deliver performance which a mobile phone cannot. Believing in the specifications does not change the fact that the power consumption and heat dissipation from a mobile are very limited. You have very limited resources and well, no one is going to buy a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor to work with their phone because no one buys them to use them with a laptop/tablet/netbook either. If they do, they will buy a PC soon enough.
In the end – how difficult would it be for Google to add that feature to a very stable codebase of Android? Really, how difficult could that be for a company with immense talent pool?
So what advantages have Ubuntu got? None. Can it beat Android? Well, since it does not give anything more than what Android does, the answer is a stern no!
1. Name is Game
No offence sire, but you’d be a fool if you called Ubuntu a weak brand. Calling it weaker is
a different issue however. When we speak about that green humanoid OS
or the brittle furniture OS or the excessively egoistic OS that begins
with an ‘i’, we are talking about big names – Google, Microsoft and
Apple. Where does Ubuntu exactly stand against these? If your answer is nowhere then
you and me, we think alike. Jokes apart, who wants an Ubuntu Phone? I
can see a few hands, out of thousands. When Ubuntu calls out to
developers, it would not be as loud as the roar of Google for sure.
Google has been called the God of Internet and righteously so because everytime you forget your car keys, you silently wish for Google to help you!2. Java – the not-so-nice but at least a cup of coffee!
When you mention Java,
you are talking about masses. Languages like C# and Java bring a unique
offering to the table – people who are lazy enough to not understand
the details of the machine can program too! Well, that’d include many
other languages as well but these two are the prominent ones. This
feature (not having to deal with the details of machine) helps a larger
number of people to write applications than C++. This results in more
people learning Java and C# than C or C++.Since Java is used to program apps for Android, it translates to a huge human resource pool available for building Android apps. For Ubuntu, C++, though a performance boosting platform, can prove disadvantageous! The only other OS that you'd be dealing with in something like C is iOS and that one has a cult following - not the case with Ubuntu. The HTML5 API however can boost the development because seemingly there are more HTML5 developers than there are C/C++ developers. However, chrome is now available in Android and it is only a matter of time before Android gets an HTML API as well! Result – Ubuntu does not have a solid advantage in long run.
3. Corporate Backup - because money matters
The way Guy Kawasaki puts it - the most difficult thing about starting up is well, starting up.
Ubuntu, no matter how technically strong will be a opening a new outlet
in the market. There would be low number of apps for sure. Apps grow as
number of users grows and users come to a platform where interesting
apps are available; a kind of vicious circle for new entrants, you see!
In recent times we have seen Microsoft investing millions to make way
for Windows 8 mobile. The Windows 8 OS might be good for laptops and PCs
but Microsoft’s mobile segment has still not been able to gain a
challenging position in the market.However, Microsoft has recently been upping their ante by creating competitions for students for creating Windows phone apps and so on. On the other hand, iOS and Android are going strong. Not only this, there are businesses standing on these platforms. There are companies, big and small building and selling Android and iOS apps for their clients. The people working in those companies have gained experience on their respective platforms and it will take quite a lot of effort and effect to move the mass towards Ubuntu phone. The demand-supply chain has given a lot of velocity to Android and works in its favour. To slow it down is not an easy task, we believe! Keeping all of that in the log book and reading it again makes one feel just one thing - Ubuntu’s position is not that promising.
4. A stupid developer preview
Nothing can possibly hurt like stupidity. After getting us excited for weeks, Ubuntu finally released its developer preview. And when that came out, what did it look like? Well, it looked like it was too early for an April-fool joke. Most of the date was demo data. Menus were static, the phone did not work like a real phone. No Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth, no headphone support. Was Ubuntu kidding? Well, it better would have been kidding if it wants to be anywhere within a visible radius of a winner’s outpost because if developers did not like what you called a developer preview, then you are short on apps for a long time and that time alone would be enough to kill the platform!All videos across the internet promised a lot of benefits and apps and cool looks and services and blah blah. What came out was not really pleasant. That too, it came for only a handful of nexus devices. The way we see, Ubuntu did hit itself real hard with its own axe – just giving an outer shell without the peanut inside it? Add to that the fact that it was running an Android kernel (basically a CM) - not good for advertising the launch even! No, that is not how you release developer previews. Something’s gotta work in the preview. Naming it ‘pre-alpha’ would have been better. Android did not start this way, nor did Windows phone, nor did the iOS.
5. Desktop apps and transforming to a PC - not that noble, not that easy
It might be a publicity stunt or something but when you say that your
mobile is going to run desktop apps, we believe you are short on a few
things – like a keyboard to actually make those apps run and a screen
big enough to make sense. Desktop apps can already run on mobiles, as
long as the technology is concerned. And when you are porting those
apps to mobile, you are just re-skinning them. Tell you what, for
almost anything from taking notes to locating the pencil you lost in
your childhood – apps have been built for Android. Ubuntu does not make huge additions. Those ported apps will have a new skin and that does not make them ‘desktop apps’ per se.As long as mobile-as-a-PC is concerned, we are unsure of how that benefits except attaching a larger screen to the device. Yes, there are applications that can take advantages and the mentioned desktop apps might just display in full glory on an external monitor but Ubuntu misses one important point – those apps cannot perform beyond a level. Mobile phones are not supercomputers, heck they don’t even rhyme! A PC or a laptop is what it is because it can deliver performance which a mobile phone cannot. Believing in the specifications does not change the fact that the power consumption and heat dissipation from a mobile are very limited. You have very limited resources and well, no one is going to buy a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor to work with their phone because no one buys them to use them with a laptop/tablet/netbook either. If they do, they will buy a PC soon enough.
In the end – how difficult would it be for Google to add that feature to a very stable codebase of Android? Really, how difficult could that be for a company with immense talent pool?
So what advantages have Ubuntu got? None. Can it beat Android? Well, since it does not give anything more than what Android does, the answer is a stern no!
Thanks & Regards,
"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
send2raheel (skype id)
My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
send2raheel (skype id)
My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment