Hardware in the wild

Employee laptop hardware.
Minimum of 2 classes of laptop hardware will exist in every company.
1: The general purpose business class laptop.
2: The executive level business class ultra light laptop.

Always have replacement and or loaner hardware in stock. Keeping hardware in stock will help your support staff quickly and efficiently setup new employees with hardware or replace existing employees broken hardware.

In my opinion Dell and Lenovo are the best companies to standardize on. From experience they both offer easy to use repair services and no questions asked accidental damage repair. They also are the two companies that will negotiate prices or at least offer deals with businesses in the range of 500+ units.

Google Chromebook

The cycle of technology trends is interesting to me; it seems like there is always a trend which appears before all of its necessary components are incubated.  Thin client computing had it's days as a trend and to be honest I am not quite sure why the companies selling the platform never got it to work. Did the issue stem from a lack of compatability with popular software, or was it a more classic scenario of licensing and software costing too much money?
Thin client computing may have it's second wind, the next big break! Google is listening to one of their founders ideas with a vision focused on immersing users in a full Google experience. The Google Chrome Netbook is a brain child of Paige, and is essentially a thin client netbook with the Google DNA hard coded into it.
The idea of the Chrome Netbook is brilliant, because it takes all of the pain in software updates, and operating system maintenance and throws it out the windows. Most people I know just want to turn on a computer and get online, they don't want to be bothered with updates and maintenance. This netbook from Google takes that request and makes it priority number one. I think of it this way; for the first time ever the home/family IT Pro may be able to give family members a computer they will not need to service. If this netbook functions the way Google is pitching it, then every headache associated with personal computers (including Macs) will be given a heavy dose of aspirin to remove the pain.
I am looking forward to seeing one of these netbooks in hand so I can determine if/how I would recommend it to friends and family who are in the market for some new hardware. Right now my parents and sisters are in need of new computers, this may be the option I recommend to them. I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that it will fill all their needs and won't be too limiting. P.S. Google, don't make a monthly plan for consumers, and make the hardware affordable. Oh and make sure this thin client isn't just a trend, do it right and make sure its here to stay *cough marketing cough*.

Collaboration Tools

So here is the deal, there are so many free collaboration tools now from Google, yet so few people I knew seem to make use of them. Two major tools I know about are the Google Docs and Google Wave (though wave is rumored to be shut down soon). Here is the problem a majority of people I know don't have a Google account and when I try to explain the benefits of Gmail to them they seem to like the idea of getting a Gmail account but they are already cemented into using their existing e-mail client so much so they dont want to change. Only my "geek" friends tend to have the accounts and fortunately they know how to use the tools that Google has to offer. We have already benefited greatly from using the tools with each other as we have discussions which benefit from our ability to show visual representations about what we are discussing. Just last night Scott and I had an in depth conversation about the tax laws in the U.S. and how they are slated to benefit the wealthy. Our collaboration tool of choice for this discussion was Google Docs spreadsheet, and Gmail video/voice chat. Scott was leading the conversation and entering numbers into the spreadsheet, and I was able to easily follow as I could see the spreadsheet being updated in real time while Scott was typing away. I dont feel like we would have had such an in-depth and constructive conversation if it were not for the tools we had at hand, I might add Scotts ability to explain a subject matter is quite good which also adds to our ability to have thoughtful and rewarding discussions.
Imagine if everyone you knew was already using these collaboration tools and could easily pick them up and begin using them mid way through a discussion, the added element of clarity brought to the discussion can help motivate others to stay engaged and feel like they can easily add to the discussion. In the work environment one can set policies and make alterations to the work flow which encourages employees to use these tools. How can one effectively encourage friends and family to learn these tools without taking large amounts of time out of their own life to train them how to use the tools and build them into a daily habit? Will the work place be responsible for enlightening people of these tools and molding these habits or will the employees pick these skills up from friends and family?