CPA Practice Advisor

MAY 2016

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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May 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 5 FROM THE TRENCHES • M ac OS does not have ma ny key business applications. • Most expensive platform. Google (Linux & Android) Strengths and Weaknesses Google sells almost no hardware and has operated an open ecosystem to suppor t hardware ma nu fact u rers si nce i ncept ion. Tis means you typically have more hardware options available at lower cost, and technicians have almost complete fexibility to make low level or granular changes to the operating systems or applications easily unless the option desired is locked for some reason, such as a regulatory control or a marketing decision by Google. Tis normally leads to more fexibility, but with complexity and mixed results in reliability. You can have faster more stable systems when implemented correctly, OR you can have intermit- tent issues that no one seems to be able to solve. Consider the positive and negatives of Google's approach: Positive: • Ha s (a long w it h A pple) t he most mobile applications. • Tight integration with Google's strong cloud ecosystem. • M a r k e t l e a d e r f o r s m a r t p h o n e operating systems. • M a ny choices for mobi le dev ices a nd t ablet s, i nc lud i ng A ma z on's K indle Fire, Samsung Gala x y Tab, and oferings from Lenovo/Motorola. • S o c i a l c o n t e n t f r o m Yo uTu b e , Google+ and chat with Hangouts. • Brillo iOT platform to integrate with Google's Nest acquisition. • Self-driving cars are very interesting, but have a long way to go. Negative: • C h r o m e O S f o r l a p t o p s i s s t i l l struggling to fnd an audience in the mass market. • Goog le Ch romecast has a ref resh which makes it viable for audio. • M a n y p r i v a c y a d v o c a t e s h a v e concerns with how Google uses the data it collects about you. • Wide range of devices, form factors, a nd mu l t i pl e o p e r a t i n g s y s t e m versions ma ke it d i f f icu lt to w r ite code once and then deploy to these multiple platforms. • Microsof's atempt to gain a foothold i n A nd roid dev ices ma kes t h is a n interesting time for Google. Microsoft Strengths and Weaknesses M ic ro sof t s e l l s a little hardware and has operated a partner-friendly ecosystem to suppor t hardware manufacturers since inception. Tis means you typically have more hard- ware options available at reasonable costs, and trained technicians can gain the knowledge to make low level or granular changes to the operating systems or applications easily unless the option desired is locked for some reason, such as a regulator y control or a marketing decision by Microsof. Te Microsof ecosystem has become more reliable over the last decade, leading to more fexibility, but complex ity is increasing w ith the cloud frst, mobile frst strateg y. You can have reliable systems when implemented correctly, OR you can have intermittent issues that no one seems to be able to solve when technicians have not kept their skills current and implemented the system correctly. By the way, correctly does not necessar i ly mean fol low ing the documentation. Consider the positive and negatives of Microsof's approach: Positive: • Top ma rket sha re for computers, laptops, and video game devices. • Good integration between all devices in the ecosystem. • Server operating systems are a part of many cloud architectures and are the heart of most enterprise computing environments. • Chat with Skype has top market share. • Computer hardware is the low cost leader, with the most hardware and sofware vendors for its PC platform. Negative: • Weak market share for phones and t ablet s; shor t a ge of apps for t he Windows Phone platform, Windows Store (e.g. Universal apps). • X box losi ng t he c on sole w a r s to Sony PS4. • Previous missteps in the phone and tablet ma rkets requ ire t hem to be more innovative and beter, just to be considered against Apple. • Te Windows 10 Mobile OS is on life suppor t and M icrosof t is tr y ing to obtain a beachhead in the A ndroid OS – with Bing and MS apps. • Surface Hub and Hololens seem to be more difcult to make than initially t houg ht – a nd seem to be beh i nd schedule. So With All This, Should I? Vendors like Zoho have very robust complete suites that can handle most small business needs well. You can choose all SaaS or hosted applications on Citrix or V M Ware View and your desktop OS won't mater. Today, you could run all Linux or all Mac OS X with these choices, and would prob- ably not think much about it once you got used to the interface changes. You might have a litle harder time fnding support, but are likely to fnd out that once things are set up properly, not much support is needed. You will still need your anti-virus, frewalls, switches, wireless and other infra- structure items. A reminder that this column can ONLY be accurate on the day it was writen. Te information can change on the drop of an Apple, Google or Microsof announcement. Terefore, ou r c u r rent recom mendat ion is pret y plain: If you intend to use a Microsof strateg y, then you should pla n on deploy i ng W i ndows 10 bet ween May 1 and July 15, 2016 to get the f ree upgrades that are available. If you wait until afer July 28, 2016, you are likely to have to pay for upgrades. I f you want to r un an Apple infrastr ucture, that should be f ne. Ex pect your total costs to be more. If you want to run a Linu x infrastructure, that should be f ne, too. However, make sure you have not only current but future ex per tise to suppor t this choice. With all approaches, make sure you are choosing suppliers that look like they have a strategic plan that w ill support you for many years.

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