Chapter 4

Hardware, Software, and Mobile Systems

"... If We Dont Have an iPad App, We Dont Have a Business."

GearUp not competitive without iPad app Lack of knowledge could waste money and time Outsourcing to India? Open source? What have others done? Conflict between low cost and technical competitiveness

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Study Questions
Q1: What do business professionals need to know about computer hardware? Q2: What do business professionals need to know about software? Q3: Is open source software a viable alternative? Q4: What are the differences between native and thin-client applications? Q5: Why are mobile systems increasingly important? Q6: What characterizes quality mobile user experiences? Q7: What are the challenges of personal mobile devices at work? Q8: 2023?

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Q1: What Do Business Professionals Need to Know About Computer Hardware?

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Server farm
Large collection of coordinated servers

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Computer Data

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Important Storage-Capacity Terminology

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Memory Swapping
When RAM too small to hold all open programs and data CPU loads program segments into free memory If none available, O/S swaps out existing segment, to a disk and copies requested segment to freed space Swapping slows down computer

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Specifying Hardware with Computer Data Sizes

CPU speed expressed in hertz Slow = 1.5 GHz; Fast = 3+ GHz 32-bit or 64-bit 64-bit for 4+ GB memory Processing large spreadsheets, database files, picture, sound, or movie files; using many large applications at same time Cache and main memory are volatile

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Q2: What Do Business Professionals Need to Know About Software?

Basic Categories of Computer Software

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What Are the Major Operating Systems?

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What Are the Major Operating Systems? (cont'd)

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Windows 8 Metro Interface

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Virtualization
Host operating system Runs one or more operating systems as applications PC virtualization Personal computer hosts several different operating systems Server virtualization Server computer hosts other server computers Makes cloud computing feasible Virtual desktop Allows access from any computer a user has authorization to use

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Virtualization: Windows Server Computer Hosting Two Virtual Machines

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How Virtual Machine VM3 Appears to a User

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Own Versus License

License Right to use specified number of copies Limits vendors liability Site License Flat fee to install software product on all company computers or all computers at a specific site Open source software Free usage license

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What Types of Applications Exist, and How Do Organizations Obtain Them?

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What Is Firmware?
Computer software installed on read-only memory Printers, print servers, communication devices Coded like other software Can be changed and upgraded

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Using MIS InClass 4: Place Your Bets Now!

Three-way race for market share Apple, Google, Microsoft Merging software, hardware, personal communication devices, movies, etc. All have deep technical staff, knowledge, patents, and plenty of money Who will win?

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Three-way Comparison

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Q3: Is Open Source Software a Viable Alternative?

GNL General Public License Standard for open source software Successful open source projects
Open Office Firefox MySQL Apache Ubuntu Android Cassandra Hadoop

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Some Terms
Open source source available to public Source code computer code written by humans and understandable by humans Machine code 11010010100101111110011101111001000111.... Closed source code highly protected and only available to trusted employees and carefully vetted contractors

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Why Do Programmers Volunteer Their Services?

Its fun Freedom to choose projects Exercise creativity on interesting and fulfilling projects Exhibit ones skill to get a job Start a business selling services

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How Does Open Source Work?

Collaboration of many programmers Examines source code and identifies a need, creates new feature or redesigns existing feature, or fixes a problem Code evaluated and extended by others Iteration, peer reviews and well-managed project yield high-quality code

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Source Code Sample

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Is Open Source Viable?

Depends on requirements and constraints of situation Free open source software require support and operational costs, could cost more than licensing fee Future will involve blend of both proprietary and open source software

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Q4: What Are the Differences Between Native and Thin-client Applications?

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Developing Thin-client Applications

Browser handles idiosyncrasies of operating system and underlying hardware Applications written by professional programmers, technically oriented web developers, or business professionals Cheaper to develop Limited by capabilities of the browser Thin-client applications via Web go to www.picozu.com/editor

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One Consequence of Browser Differences for Thin-Client Applications

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Which Is Better?
Depends: Strategy, goals, application requirements, budget, schedule, tolerance for managing technical projects, need for application revenue, etc. Thin-client applications cheaper to develop and maintain, but may lack wow factor

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Ethics Guide: Because Its Where the Money Is . . .

Hackers target where money is Windows targeted more than Mac Malware: Viruses, Trojan horses, Spyware, Adware Apple better get ready for avalanche of attacks.

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Q5: Why Are Mobile Systems Increasingly Important?

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Elements of a Mobile Information System

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Q6: What Characterizes Quality Mobile User Experiences?

Primary characteristics of quality mobile applications

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Chrome-less Mobile Windows Store Application

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Example of Application Scaling

Example of IE10 Charm Scaling

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Example Use of Web Page Data Declared as Shared

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Mobile Systems Cloud Use

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Kindle Fire Roaming Message

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Q7: What Are the Challenges of Personal Mobile Devices at Work?

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Six Common BYOD Policies

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Advantages of Example BYOD Policies

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Q8: 2023?
Can Microsoft take Office 365 to mobile market via its Skype acquisition? PC mules rare Large-screen computing/connectivity devices available everywhere Use public device to connect to cloud Wont need desktop office applications Cost performance issues of desktop virtualization will be gone

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Ethics Guide: Churn and Burn

Conspiracy among hardware and software vendors?
Hardware vendors create new, faster computers Software vendors create new products with more features only needed by some users Time-consuming to learn

Churning
1. New software needs new hardware to run. 2. New hardware becomes obsolete fast. 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

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Ethics Guide: Churn and Burn (contd)

Products have defects Vendors turn these into a sales advantage Should users accept these problems? Should they rise up in protest? What should vendors do?

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Guide: Keeping Up to Speed

Relentless pace of technology change 21st century business professional cannot bury head in sand Use knowledge of IT to gain competitive advantage Dont ignore technology Read articles, technology ads, attend seminars, workshops Get involved as user representative in technology committees

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Guide: Questioning Your Questions

Learn how to discern judgment quality and evaluate answers. Most difficult and creative tasks are generating questions and formulating strategy for getting answers. Be able to ask good questions and obtain good answers. Learn about new IS alternatives and how to apply them.

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Guide: Questioning Your Questions

Questions can be bad in three ways: 1. Irrelevant: Answer wont tell you why 2. Dead: Provide no insight into subject 3. Asked wrong source Dont ask What is it? questions of valuable or expensive sources. Ask: How can I use it? Is it the best choice for our company or situation?

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Active Review
Q1: What do business professionals need to know about computer hardware? Q2: What do business professionals need to know about software? Q3: Is open source software a viable alternative? Q4: What are the differences between native and thin-client applications? Q5: Why are mobile systems increasingly important? Q6: What characterizes quality mobile user experiences? Q7: What are the challenges of personal mobile devices at work? Q8: 2023?

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Case Study 4: The Apple of Your i

Tripled market share in three years Second largest public company in world Pioneered well-engineered home computers and innovative interfaces for students and knowledge workers Every sales success feeds other sales successes

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Case Study 4: The Apple of Your i (contd)

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