Recently, I've been thinking about the death of operating systems in our educational environments.  No, I don't mean to suggest that operating systems are going to disappear in the near future.  Operating systems like Windows, Mac OS, Android, and even iOS are necessary to make our devices work.  However, the historical problem of these operating systems has been that applications developed for one operating system wouldn't run on another without some significant amount of work.  This meant that educational institutions had to make a big, up-front decision on the ecosystem that they were going to enter.  Would the institution be an "Apple" school or would it be a "Windows" school?  The decision was fraught with anxiety, as it truly did limit the selection of applications available.

Then, as tablets proliferated, the decision only became more complex.  Applications designed for the iOS operating system that runs on an iPad would not run on a MacBook.  In a particularly interesting twist, Microsoft released a tablet called "Surface RT" that looked very much like the normal Microsoft Windows operating system, but ran only specific applications downloaded from the Windows Store.  This was primarily because the Surface RT leveraged a Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, a completely different type of processor than that used in Windows laptops, and therefore that processor required a unique set of instructions . . . which meant that the operating system and the applications on it needed to be completely rewritten for this processor.  The device had extraordinary battery life because of this processor, but consumers were confused by a device that looked like normal Windows but couldn't run any of the normal Windows apps.

The Birth of Universal Apps

For the Apple ecosystem, the challenge was not only the different operating system used by MacBooks and iOS devices (iPhone, iPod, iPad), but also the different screen sizes on the iOS devices.  Applications written for a specific screen size can work — but look awkward — on a larger screen size.  If you have both an iPhone and an iPad, you may have noticed this when you tried to run an app designed for an iPhone on your iPad: it launches and runs, but the app looks awkward on the larger screen of an iPad.  Apple has addressed the issue by introducing the concept of "universal apps," which are applications designed to scale (resize themselves) to look correct on all iOS devices.  This eliminated any need to purchase both an iPhone and an iPad version of the same app to have it look correct on both devices.  Universal apps are designed in such a way that a single app can run correctly across multiple devices of different form factors, provided those devices are running the same operating system.

Recently, Microsoft has attempted to "one-up" this notion with its own definition of universal apps.  Although Microsoft has spoken about universal apps for years, many felt that the introduction of Windows 10 — and the new features introduced in that operating system — was the first time that the vision had become an actual reality.  Microsoft is seeking to make it possible for its universal apps to run on all of its devices: desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, and even Xbox.  If so, this is quite a shift, as it means that an application designed for, say, a Windows laptop can run on an Xbox One.  Microsoft has largely accomplished this by thinking about what application design looks like across different processors, as the devices mentioned use a wide variety of them.  If operating systems can be designed in such a way that you can write a single app that works successfully across all of them, then you've got a much larger ecosystem of apps.  Perhaps Microsoft learned from Surface RT in that regard.

There is, though, yet another shift: web-based applications.  As educational institutions have shifted to Google's G-Suite and Microsoft's Office 365, apps have taken on a distinctively web-based flair.  Both a Google Doc and a Microsoft Word document can now run on MacBooks, Windows laptops, iOS devices, Android devices, and virtually anything with a web browser.  Phillip Redman has written about this in a CIO opinion piece titled "The death of the OS (Part 1)."

If the applications that you leverage in your educational environment run across a wide swath of operating systems, does the operating system really matter anymore?  In this metaphorical sense, operating systems are dying.

Practical Suggestions in a World Without Operating Systems

What are the practical implications of this for educational institutions evaluating technology?  Here are a few ideas:

• Tone down the Apple/PC/Android debate.  Currently, there are still software applications that run only on particular operating system platforms.  As we move forward, though, the decision on a particular ecosystem will become less and less important.  If the applications that you use don't require a particular operating system ecosystem, then there's nothing really to force you in a particular direction.  Stop making it about your preferred ecosystem, and start making it about the students.
• Consider a BYOD program.  A bring your own device (BYOD) program isn't right for everyone, but it can be a good fit for your particular institution.  If the applications that you are running do not require specific operating systems, then you can allow students to bring the devices that are most comfortable for them.  You'll need to balance this against your faculty's familiarity with multiple operating systems, your technical staff's ability to support multiple operating systems, and the other trade-offs between device uniformity and device diversity.
• Select web-based applications to widen choices.  If the apps that your institution uses are primarily web-based, you can easily move between an extremely wide selection of devices and operating systems as the technology market shifts.  Granted, web-based applications will make greater demands upon your internet bandwidth, so this may not be the right choice for all educational institutions, particularly those located in rural areas where internet connections are more expensive.  However, if it's a possibility, this will provide you with the widest possible flexibility in a rapidly-changing marketplace.
• Contemplate decisions carefully if they lock you into particular ecosystems.  If you choose to use an iBook as the text for your classroom, you have locked yourself into the Apple ecosystem.  Choosing the same text in an Amazon Kindle format, for example, would again widen your choices.  Although the Kindle is technically an ecosystem unto itself, Kindle texts can be read on a wide variety of devices.  Choosing a downloadable PDF would be even more flexible, as virtually any device is capable of reading/rendering a PDF file.  If you ultimately choose a particular ecosystem, can you pivot later if the need requires?  (For example, is your iBook textbook also available as a Kindle?)
• If you can't get a web application, choose a universal one.  If you can't choose a web-based application, then look to purchase a universal one.  Whenever possible, seek to select applications that run on the widest variety of devices.  There are particular instances in which the educational needs of the students are best met by a particular application, and that application is limited in some way.  If that's the case, then buy the limited application.  If there isn't a significant difference between two applications (or two textbooks), though, choose the one that provides the maximum flexibility.  This may sometimes mean that you pass over a "better" application for a marginally "lesser" application with more flexibility.  That's OK. If you can find an app that runs on a student's school-issued iPad and runs on his personal Android cell phone, well, you've just given him more options for learning!

Ultimately, this is all about flexibility.  Flexibility for your educational institution, for your particular campus, for your particular classroom, and for your particular students.  If you interpret any of the above as prescriptive, you're wrong.  These are merely suggestions to encourage your thinking in a world where operating systems are quickly dying . . . at least in the case of dictating some of our most important choices in educational technology.  As operating systems shift in prominence in our decision-making, so also we need to shift our decision-making.  The above list is just a starting point.  You, your students, your schools, and your institutions know what is best in your particular situation.  My best wishes for a more flexible technology future!