Life Between 0 and 1

Having been a downer the last few weeks, I decided to instead write about something I’ve occupied my time with lately.  I use technology as a safety blanket because, well, I’m a geek and that’s what we do.  Anyway, what I’m referring to in the title with SaaS is Software As A Service.  Boiled down to non-geeky terms, when you put “as a Service” in front of the words Infrastructure, Network, Platform, Software, etc. it’s indicative of a cloud based service.  By cloud, I mean, a bunch of storage and computers running “somewhere else” and connected to the Internet with the equivalent of an 8 lane highway.  Bandwidth for all!

Windows 10, released by Microsoft on June 29th of this year, is their first true SaaS operating system….. ever.  It’s a bold experiment and is really putting all their eggs into one basket, but one I think they’re going to be successful at.  After all, there are 1.5 billion computers out there running some form of Microsoft Windows.  You may or may not know, but anyone with a legit copy of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 for Phone gets a FREE upgrade to the newest offering by Microsoft.  That’s right people, FREE.  If you haven’t upgraded yet, ask yourself why?

A few perspectives first.  If you’re on Windows 7, you most likely didn’t upgrade because of Windows 8’s weird and funky tile interface.  I don’t blame you either, it was a huge diversion from previous builds of Windows since Windows 3.1 to Windows 95.  The good news is that you will still have your coveted Start menu with a few improvements.  Still have your application list that is searchable multiple ways.  The new improvement is the miniature tile interface to the right that serves as shortcuts to your most used applications.  I have Office, email, browser, weather and news in my start menu.

If you’re on Windows 8.1, congratulations.  You balked at the naysayers about the tile start menu and all the issues that surfaced with Windows 8.1.  You plowed forward balancing on the bleeding edge of the electronic sword flipping off all the people hoarded on the sword handle afraid to move forward.  You also have some major improvements to look forward to as Windows 10 has taken the best parts of Windows 7 and 8 and merged them into a cleaner and more compact interface.

The bottom line here is that its FREE, so why not upgrade.  Yeah, its different and there are still some unpolished aspects, but who cares.  Microsoft’s new model, SaaS, allows for them to continually update the system as needed without major service packs and emergency updates.  Instead, everything is built on top of a common core of code (the main OS) with all the separate functions sort of bolted on like a ring on a spider web.  It’s a radical approach for Microsoft, but an accepted practice of coding that’s been in place for years.  I’ve talked with so many people in the last few weeks about Windows 10 to the point that I think I should be paid by Microsoft to be a spokesperson!