Well, you might not have suspected it, but when I’m not cleaning, caring, cooking, shopping, and laundering, I also have a job. I mean I have a job that pays money instead of hugs.

[WARNING: Shameless self serving product endorsement follows here.]

And that is where my head will be for the next couple of days. You see, Apple just released a variety of products and services today and from what I can tell so far, they represent a warning shot across the bow of any other online services. Consequently, they represent an important shift in Apple’s strategy and therefor and important shift in the kinds of services and solutions I will provide as an independent Apple consultant.

Now you might think that these comments would be better placed in an Apple blog, and you’re probably right. Its just that my Apple blog is in development right now and not ready for prime time. Hopefully I’ll get this other half of my life online soon.

So quickly said, what is Apple’s new strategy? Today Apple released their new online services called Mobile Me. It represents Apple’s largest commitment to the idea of “cloud computing,” or the idea that our computing worlds are about to shift from one centered on our devices, i.e. laptops and desktops, and become a world centered on the fact that our own data will be stored on the internet and available on a multitude of devices ubiquitously.

Now this may come as no surprise to those young’ns who’ve only known online services like Google, Amazon’s Web Services, Picasa, Blogger, MySpace, etc, but to computing old timers like me who have always lived in a world of local files, folders and applications that reside on the equipment you are using, this is a seismic shift in perspective. Though I must add that, though Apple seems late to the game here, it reminds me of how they introduced the iPod long after there were already so many mp3 players on the market. Apple simply did it right and was rewarded with success. I have the same feeling about Mobile Me. It looks like it will be the one that works for tying all of these disparate online services together.

So please give me a couple of days to get my head around it. I’ll be pouring over the literature and taking the new services out for a test drive. Oh, and if you are one of my readers who is still getting by with their ol’ tried and true Windows PC, I’ll only say this once here. Get over it. The sun is setting on Microsoft’s approach of “Operating Systems are at the heart of the computing experience.” They cannot keep up with Apple’s innovation here. And now that our computing lives are firmly entrenched in open standards and shared online data, don’t you think it is time you looked at computing alternatives that really let you shine?

Ok, I don’t wan’t to start a pointless flame war here. I’m just doing what I’ve always intended to do here and offer the best advice I have, in all matters, to my readers. Feel free to ignore it.

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