Friday, May 17, 2013

News about the Web Browsers Market

The web browsers world has introduced us with some new key players during recent years: till about 2005, we were used almost completely to Internet Explorer, without being even aware to other options. But then, the Mozilla association woke up to offer us Firefox and then Sergei Brin's crew also did the same. In parallel, an emerging smart phone browsers market introduced us to new players like: Opera & Android browser.

Let's have a look at the share each main browser holds in the browser market:




1. Internet Explorer - 45%. This means that this portion of users uses primarily (even if not solely) one of IE versions.



2. Mozilla Firefox - 30%. This figure surely reflects a vast expansion of what used to be a marginal browser some 5 year ago. It happened much because of the vast add-on gallery the browser offers, which makes the browsing experience much more entertaining.



3. Google Chrome - 20%. Frankly speaking, it's not very surprising that a brand new browser (issued in 2009) has already gained a respectable proportion of the market, taking into account that its producer is the world's main searching tool, making it visible to almost every web user.

The figures mentioned above depict a simple picture: we have a tough competition between 3 main browser that probably will fascinate us in the coming years.

In the mobile phone browser market, the figures are such:

1. Opera - 22%. This browser is primarily structured for mobile phones, and its development platform (the environment where developers code the applications for the browser) simulates the functioning on mobile phones.

2. Android browser - 17%. as Android is Google's merchandise, it has a significant "push forward" from its owner. so no wonder why it has gain territory recently.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Developing Countries Software Developers - on Their Way to Rule the World?




The pacific is small compared to the ocean of debate that has been held during the last decade concerning the possible evaporation of software development jobs out of western economies in favor of technologically developing economies (mainly India).

The main argument feeding that state of mind says that hiring developers in India (and other developing countries) in much less expensive than hiring personnel in developed economies. Let's have a look at the average annual hiring costs of software engineers in several countries:

Australia: $180,000
Canada: $155,000
Denmark: $146,000
United Kingdom: $145,000
United States: $130,000
Spain: $95,000
Poland: $50,000
India: $50,000
China: $36,000

Fine,now we all know that basically it's much more economical to close down your office in the the Silicon-Valley, Toronto, London (let alone Sydney) and move to the golden mines of Bangalore, Kiev or simply Beijing.

So why do you: Jeff, Philip. Francois, Jorgen and Kylie still employed? I guess that the decision-makers in high-tech firms also take into account the following arguments:

1. The hiring costs in developing countries rise constantly and quite sharply: about 10% annually. This means that by 2020 (if the trend continues), the hiring costs in India should be around $130,000. I assume that this trend deters mass transition of western firms to developing countries.

2. Mental gaps between continents may be excruciating: the mainstream cultures in the US, in W. Europe or in Australia are almost upside-down compared to those in most Asian nations, and those nearly reversed cultures should work together on a daily basis. Many decision-makers wouldn't take the risk.

3. Telecommuting is a fantastic idea, but most decision-makers just can't bear the possibility of not controlling face-to-face their employees, especially those involved in the core development of products. Let alone when the employees are located across the ocean.

4. Local patriotic concerns - many decision-makers can't come to terms with the idea of firing local employees in favor of foreigners, and do their utmost effort to avoid such steps. They know that they might meet the employee they fire at the local mall.

5. Disrespect for personnel in developing countries - Many decision-makers don't actually believe in the professional abilities of Programmers in developing countries, and tend to believe that the gap in the costs should materialize in gap of quality.



Conclusion - There are some decisive constraints on the move of software development to developing economies (primarily India). In my opinion, the large majority of software development is about to stay where it is today.

We should bear in mind that cultural changes (including organizational changes) take generally generations to take root. Think of how many services we can acquire on the web but still use the services of a professional: travel agents, matchmakers, newspapers, libraries and many more.






Saturday, May 11, 2013

Desktop Applications - The End?

Recent years have seen a gradual transit from desktop applications (such that are installed on the computer) to web applications (such that reside on a web page).



Why should we think that the web is about to take the primacy in the software world?
First, the social networks niche which has become the most popular use of the PC, taking captive tens of millions of enslaved fans who actually live online.

Second, the growing capacity of the web of hosting large size data platforms, like: file-sharing platforms (i.e Emule) or video-sharing platforms (i.e Youtube).

Third, Rich Internet Applications (RIA), like: Flash or Silverlight, that give the user graphic quality equal to that of desktop applications.

Forth, users nowadays prefer logging in to their applications from everywhere (including mobile phones), so applications that are attached to a PC frequently may be conceived as old-fashioned.

So why are desktop applications still with us? I can think of a few reasons:

First, the power of the habit: people are used to downloading stuff to their computers, and among computer geeks or gamers downloading is simply a ritual. An entire industry of downloading and file-sharing is still alive and in full strength.

Second, the physical network (the communication lines) are way behind the size of data which is needed to go through them, especially in developing countries. This means that heavy applications get stuck in the way, giving desktop applications a chance of remaining relevant.

In short, the web becomes more and more dominant within the PC use and the desktop applications will become more and more expandable, but this process may take decades.

Do you think differently? Tell me!