A looking glass into the machine

The iPad wasn’t really anything new, but it sure has lit a fire as if it’s something new. Basically, it’s a tablet computer or just a fat iPod Touch. I mean do you remember the Dynabook or Memex? Yeah, definitely an old idea!

As corporate applications move up into the cloud … ummm … web apps, we don’t really need full computers, we just need a web browser. That’s where Google’s headed with Chromium/Chrombook and the iPad captures this imagination and runs with it on its sexy look and feel.

Every new platform needs its killer app. For the PC, it surely was VisiCalc and then word processing and desktop publishing kick the can a bit further down the road. Tablet computing will need one to, perhaps that’s the browser? Perhaps it’s only a window into other machines.

I think the excitement is as a looking glass. A view into a distant place.

One of the first corporate applications of note is Salesforce.com’s Sales Cloud. I mean, what more can a salesperson handle does a salesperson need?

Another example is for IT guys is VMware vSphere, like what else do these uber-geeks do before bedtime? Uh yeah, there’s that, but after that what?

These looking glass apps are using the tablet as window through our information conduits into other iMachines.