By Karen Axelton
Do you use Macs in your business? If you do, your work life is about to get a lot simpler. If you don’t, you might be ready to switch after learning about the upgrades Apple is planning to its desktop, laptop and mobile operating systems. Combined with Apple’s iCloud service, the changes will streamline the way business users are able to work and may even help the company change its image to being more business-friendly.
One of the features I’m most excited about with Mac OS X (Lion), the desktop/laptop operating system upgrade, is how much it will simplify saving, storing and retrieving data. Whether it’s documents, photos, videos or PowerPoints, saving will be done automatically. The new system saves “Versions” of each document so you can always go back and look at prior versions. The “Resume” feature enables you to shut down your computer, then instantly return to the applications you were working in last wherever you left off. You’ll even be able to update software without restarting and reopening your applications.
Another exciting aspect of Lion is AirDrop–WiFi networking capability that enables you to drag-and-drop share documents with co-workers without having to set up a wireless network. The Mac’s Mail application will be streamlined too so you can view conversations all at once (rather than toggling among emails). And the new OS will enable users to use gestures on the trackpad or Magic Mouse to open apps, drag files and zoom in or out—making the desktop/laptop experience more similar to the iPhone/iPad experience.
With more than 250 new features, there’s much more than I’ve discussed here. OS Lion will be available in July for $29.99 and sold only from the Mac App Store.
Combining Lion with Apple’s iCloud storage option, to be released in the fall, will make it even more useful for business users. While iCloud is largely being promoted to the general public as a way to store music files (competing with Amazon’s recently launched storage offering), for business users, the good news is it offers a way to store all your data—documents, contacts, calendars and mail.
iCloud stores your content and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices — automatically–so it’s always accessible from your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac or PC, offering instant access to your music, apps, latest photos and more. One of the most exciting features is that it keeps your email, contacts and calendars up to date across all your devices, which means no management or syncing.
Apple already offers a cloud storage service, MobileMe—but it has failed to become widely popular. I use MobileMe for business, and the system’s big downfall (aside from general clunkiness) is it requires you to actively save data to the cloud instead of doing it for you. iCloud will save a huge amount of time in this regard.
iCloud will be free with iOS5, the new operating system for Apple’s mobile devices including iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. iOS5 offers more than 200 new features for mobile devices, including improved Twitter integration and the ability to update your device wirelessly without the use of a desktop or laptop.
Image by Flickr user Kazuho Okui (Creative Commons)
Google+Web.com is now offering forums designed to support small businesses in cities throughout the US. Learn more about these forums here: http://Businessforum.web.com/
Tags: cloud computing, small business, small business technology
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