Apple has made the first move, but the checkmate could be given by Microsoft.
The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) which has made me think about the next movements that could occur in the IT industry, for this first movement from Apple.
Without a doubt, Apple has made a very interesting move with its new M1 computers, but the big question we must ask ourselves is whether it is a finishing move or simply the beginning of a game that others will end up winning.
Apple likes to baptize everything it does as something unique and created by them is a fact, but reality is far from its utopia.
Apple Silicon = Licensed ARM Processors
macOS = Free BSD with an exquisite custom visual layer.
That makes me dream that others could do the same and take the market by storm.
The new M1 computers, with the little time that they have been around, are already a success and I personally believe that time will show that they are the way to go and the factors are clear:
· Greater processing capacity
· Lower energy consumption
Are there other sectors of IT and other companies besides the end user that could benefit from these ARM processors?
ARM processors are not exclusive to APPLE, although they are the first to launch a specific version for desktop or rather they are the first company the size of APPLE to use it, it may be the new path of many others.
I am talking specifically about MICROSOFT, which with the help of Satya Nadella has come very close to open source and no longer sees Linux as its rival but has incorporated it.
But the APPLE movement opens the doors to a whole new future.
Microsoft has already experimented with ARM processors and the migration of its Windows operating system to it has not been entirely successful.
Unlike Windows, Linux is ready for ARM and there are functional projects today, it is true that the current ones do not have the capacity of the APPLE M1, but with what has been achieved by APPLE I think the path is clear.
Beyond the desktop, the biggest consumers of processing, power and space is CLOUD COMPUTING and although Microsoft is still at a considerable distance from its competitor AWS, this could be a very interesting move.
Microsoft has already acquired GitHub, a prominent global custodian of OPEN SOURCE software.
It has also migrated its SQL SERVER database that today is functional in LINUX, perhaps not so well known, but functional.
Today, with AZURE they have an excellent knowledge of Linux, which undoubtedly masters the DATA CENTERS and CLOUD environments.
And what if in an unprecedented move MICROSOFT abandoned the Windows Server / NT kernel and replaced it with the Linux kernel?
I am certainly not the first to mention it and although the technical arguments against such a move are thousands, I am sure that the same arguments were valid for APPLE, but they did, they changed their OS to FREE BSD with a personalized graphic layer and now, for the second time, they change the technology of their processors.
Microsoft’s change has already been brewing, changing its sales model to a PAY FOR SERVICE model and there has been talk for some time that Windows will be free.
Let your imagination fly and imagine Microsoft making an alliance with large providers and creating SERVERS with ARM processors, which consume 1/3 of the current energy consumed by equivalent servers and to that we add an advantage in computing power.
To all the latter, let’s take the Linux Kernel, with a new Microsoft graphic layer, that if it can be similar to Windows today, the day-to-day user sees Windows with the graphic environment with windows, user doesn’t care how their guts work, if you keep the graphical aspect, the change wouldn’t even be that painful.
It is true, the OPEN SOURCE license is somewhat more restrictive than the BSD license, clearly the reason why APPLE preferred FREE BSD over LINUX, but if Windows is going to be free, launching a full customized Linux distribution by Microsoft only follows the Same way.
MICROSOFT’s business is no longer selling, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for its software are already a fact.
APPLE has not offered anything in return to the FREE BSD community and has continued, as always, isolating its work environment, the Apple ecosystem has always been ME, ME and more ME.
But Microsoft hand in hand with Satya has been showing greatness and embracing the OPEN SOURCE community.
Imagine for a moment a Linux Distribution, created by Microsoft, with a graphical environment 100 times better than the one we are used to today, with top-of-the-line software such as OFFICE, VISUAL STUDIO with C #, ASP.NET and all the developers who use these platforms.
All the latest using ARM processors that could revitalize the sales of current PCs, with smaller equipment, with battery autonomy of up to 20 hours.
Add to the last MICROSOFT support on a GLOBAL scale for Linux, which today is tremendously complex to achieve, because although there are companies that do it in NORTH AMERICA, the rest of the world is much more limited.
Let’s add to the cocktail the migration of AZURE to new ecological DATA CENTER, which reduce energy consumption to 1/3 of the current ones, on platforms supported by MICROSOFT such as its own version of ENTERPRISE LINUX on ARM.
The APPLE movement has certainly been inspiring, but it is the first movement, there is still a long way to go for a Checkmate.