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*Disclaimer: I’m neither an IT professional, nor do I proclaim any 1337 abilities (that’s leet or elite for you noobs) with any programming or computer know how. I’ve neither extensively studied the progressive field of information technology, nor do I research its trends on any regular basis. At best, I’m an enthusiest of technology and computers whom often experiments with new software and ideas with a fine beer or mixed drink in hand.

That being said, I’ve had some thoughts about the world of news, information and data lately. I separate data out from information because, in my mind, it’s more about the actual bits and numbers while information is what you can churn out from data. News is a presentation of information that’s either been churned up from data, or is plainly obvious without the need to churn from data or information.

Humor me for a moment of intellectual digestion. Example: A car crash occurs. The data would be velocity, location, impending object’s mass, trajectory, injuries and other such things. Information would be what crime scene investigators get when they look at the data and recreate the time line of events, or when doctors take all those factors into consideration when assessing the victims of the crash at the hospital. The news is for everyone else, because we are without data or information. You’ll notice that news can be presented without data, and really without all the information (the facts so to speak). With me?

All of us in the world of business easily think in terms of news. We watch it, read it and talk about it. Some of us are into information. We might read research studies, technical manuals, food recipes or software upgrade articles. And, predictabely, a few of us are into data. We collected the data for the research study, or the manual, etc.

We all use information architecture. Huh?

We’ll start simple. A rolodex, an address book and eventually computers. In the world of business, information architecture seems like it started in the secretaries hands. It’s now progressed to computers, where, just like finding a faster typist in the old days, now we look for more efficient systems in computers.

In the world of business, for your average consumer, Windows has always been the default for information architecture. Let’s face it, CEO’s could understand ‘you click here’ and so they bought it. It’s not that it was bad or good, it just was the fastest to understand and that meant a lower learning curve. Not that it was the best at handling information, but it was the easiest to get information out of it.

It used to be, if you knew Windows 98 and Office, you added that to your resume, or application. Now, you look a little childish, as if including ‘skilled with phone’ on your application.

Couple that with what businesses are tired of. Expensive upgrades. Windows was really on a role for a while there. Windows 95, 98, then 2000 with ME (let’s agree.. that one sucked really bad) followed by XP, Media edition and now the impending Vista. It’s almost no wonder Windows is and was so highly pirated in corporations (tell me you haven’t worked somewhere that used illegal copies of Windows). On top of that, it started breaking… often.

Here, in the background, the people who look at data have been working diligently all along. Not people who can talk about information, not people who read news, but people who understand data. I’m guessing they knew, or felt that big corporations would never allow the data to be handled and to speak the way it was always meant to speak: freely.

Now, it seems to be working. Large corporations are considering Linux servers and systems, all the meanwhile, applications are becoming Web based instead of software based and they are doing it largely for free.

The truth is, the data has always been free. What we should be paying for are the expertise of the people who understand the data.

You can spend $200 or more on Windows, but no matter how easy the interface, it doesn’t mean you will know how to use it. Or, you can get any other OS (and I’m not about to propose a winner or best here, they are like people, different sizes for different types) and get into chat rooms that will tell you and help you use the software. The people who understand the data stand close by and ready to help. It really just depends on your level of use with computers.

I find that people who simply check e-mail, play videos and mp3 and surf the web are wasting a huge portion of money on Windows. So what’s it going to take to change that?

What if you started having to use Linux or Unix at work? Think I’m crazy? It’s probably going to happen. This article discusses the growth of Linux over time. That’s just Linux, not Unix or any other system out there. Businesses are realizing the advantage both money and data wise with these other systems. How’s your knowledge of these other OS’s? Does your job market stand to be affected by it?

It used to be said that you needed to know computers to function in today’s job market. That started out with everyone learning Windows. In the future, it won’t just be you skills with a mouse, but your knowledge and ability to adapt to various systems with ease, which is something parents have been commenting that their children can do for the past several years.

Consider this a friendly heads up to anyone who uses computers in the workspace. You might want to take a look at other OS’s. Why not? They are free, afterall.