The End of Platform Wars

Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux: the battle rages on, with other smaller players fighting for precious market share. Advertisements urging you to choose a side in the Platform Wars sway from the ridiculous to the insulting. Old consumer prejudices are still common too: Mac is for artists and Windows is for business.

It is all nonsense and it will all be ending soon.

A computer's platform is the operating system. Windows Vista, MacOS X, Unbuntu are just brand names for the collection of computer programs that run the machine and provide you with digital services, like Internet accessibility. The operating system used to be the most important consideration when buying a computer. People wanted to buy a computer with a system they were familiar with that would also run all their favorite video games and work software. This is the old paradigm that brought about the industry giants like Microsoft and Apple.

The new paradigm is platform independent. More computer users don't really care what platform they work on, especially when they use web services like Zoho and Gmail. The operating system doesn't matter when all I want is to connect to the Internet.

With the rapid move of technology towards the new computing paradigm, the platform is irrelevant. Soon, users will only be interested in platforms that do not hinder their work and does not hog system resources. As more and more useful services become available online (and as more users start using them!) the services traditionally provided by an operating system will be just more bloat that slows systems down.

The new computing paradigm is up on us. Is your business ready?