Rampidbyter Rampid byter: A byte of my .Net developing life.

When I became the senior developer with my current company with it came some added unexpected responsibilities. I instantly became the main technical interviewer for the programming department. I became the bearer of the responsibility for weeding through those deserving few who would bless our department, and more importantly our code with their presence.

It wasn’t into my third or fourth interview where I’ve started to notice a very unsettling trend. Every single developer we brought in listed AJAX not once, but many times throughout their resumes. In addition to being listed within the skills section nearly every project listed AJAX among the many accomplishments of a project. The problem is that the entire experience and exposure to AJAX consisted simply of using an ASP.Net UpdatePanel.

ASP.Net UpdatePanel’s do not mean you’re accomplished at AJAX. It simply means you can drag-and-drop a control onto a Web Form. Congratulations you’ve just accomplished something any first year programmer can do. The saddest part is the people I’ve been interviewing lately have more than 10 years of development experience and nearly all listed their expertise as expert on the .Net platform. Every single one of them couldn’t answer a single question related XMLHttpRequest, jQuery AJAX calls, consuming a JSON web service, or had any idea what an PageRequestManager is.

UpdatePanel does not mean you’re an expert at AJAX. Updating a page without a full-page post back does quality as an AJAX behavior, but does not make you an expert on AJAX. None of these AJAX experts have ever worked with jQuery, and only one has ever touched the AJAXToolkit. It’s seriously starting to get to me. It’s like putting down that you’re a NASCAR driver when all you’ve done is driven a go-cart around a track at an amusement park.

Yah, I said it. I think the iPad is a perfect business device. Why? Lack of true multi-tasking ability, it’s incredibly portable, has wifi by default as well as 3G ability, supports external peripherals (keyboard in particular in case of need), and compared to many touch screen manufactures is very low-cost. The screen size is large enough to display most web pages without much effort, the speed of the device is enough to render most web pages with ease, and can run a variety of business tailored iPad applications.

I should most likely clarify that the iPad is perfect for ‘most’ businesses. In particular I believe the iPad is perfect for call centers, retail stores, or any inventory management tasks for retail industries. I’ll hit more on the call center environment in particular as I think this is one of the biggest industries that could benefit from the device.

Call centers? Why would a call center ever benefit from the LACK of multi-tasking? Firstly the lack of multi-tasking means that when working on an application that is the sole focus of the call center representative. No playing on-line music, no playing on-line games, no instant messenger, less vulnerable to viruses, and contains NO USB inlets for call center reps to take out sensitive data or bring in virus/malware into the work environment.

Can you imagine the bandwidth that would be saved by the simple restrictions imposed natively on the device that limit the amount of slack-off activities most reps do between calls? At our company you become very accustomed to walking down isles seeing Pandora streaming, Yahoo games open, IM windows, and umpteen number of random websites call reps are browsing. Also notable is the headache caused by the IT staff constantly having to police proxy settings, or reimage a PC after a virus outbreak. Seriously, this gets old after a while when remoting into a PC seeing porn application icons flooding the desktop, pop-ups appearing all over, and something closing the task manager whenever you try to kill a process. Very old.

Getting back to the original case the advantage of being portal would come in incredibly handy for call centers. The desktop space required for the phone, headphones, keyboard, LCD monitor (depending on the company… could be a CRT), the desktop on the floor or behind the screen in smaller cubicle areas just takes up a LOT of space. That’s not including paperwork, note pads, pictures, candy, or action figures that may be floating around in that area as well. The small slim stature of the device makes it incredibly easy to reposition anywhere in the cubicle area or desk space. It can be held, it can be mounted to the wall, it can be set on the keyboard mount, and amounts to little more than the area required by a standard LCD minus the actual desktop.

The iPad has no wires. No plugs means no wires. With wifi built in by default the device can connect to the network without wires. The restrictions are instantly lifted on where a person can work with the iPad. No wires means call center reps don’t have to tangle their feet on cat5/6 cable strewn across the floors, no wires draping from the ceiling down through pillars with electrical wires, and with 10 hours of battery life (well past the 8 hour work day) the device doesn’t really need a power outlet either. Worried about the security of the devices? Just lock them up after work, and hand them out during the beginning of the work day.

All of what I've mentioned is nice, but of course it all depends on software supporting the hardware. With the proper software backing the iPad is the perfect computing device for many businesses. Personally, when I get my iPad in a few weeks (pre-ordered 3G version) the first thing I’m going to do is test the hardware, explore the SDK more in-depth, and pitch the device to the current company I’m working for as the ideal touch-screen kiosk device. Systems we’ve purchased over the last year without 3G have been easily twice the cost of the cheapest 3G iPad, require customers to provide their own high-speed broadband ($60+ per month), and are bulky table-stop monsters with umpteen number of physical buttons/input ports on the side or under the devices just begging to be exploited. Providing a kiosk with a fixed no-contract $30 a month unlimited data access plan, true multi-touch input, and company tailored site/application then you’ve got yourself a winner in my book.