MICROSOFT IS SET TO RELEASE WINDOWS 8 LATER THIS YEAR; IT WILL RUN ON ALL DEVICES FROM PC’S TO SMARTPHONES TO TABLETS. HOWEVER, IT IS MICROSOFT’S MOVE INTO THE TABLET MARKET THAT HAS ANALYSTS PREDICTING A RISE IN TABLET ADOPTION IN THE ENTERPRISE.
Some organisations have been conservative in adopting tablets in the workforce, particularly if they currently run Windows on company computers. So will running Windows on tablets ease the transitioning pain of adopting tablets in the workplace?
“Currently, the majority of tablet computers run on non-Windows operating systems such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. These non-desktop operating systems provide a substantially different experience in comparison to Windows. In many ways, this is a much simpler experience and may not always be the most suitable from a business perspective,” commented Kareem Tawansi, CEO of software development provider, Solentive Software.
“The introduction of Windows 8 with its dual modes (Explorer and Metro) will allow the same device to be used for leisure or business. The Metro mode will allow the tablet to be used for activities such as social networking, image and video viewing. However, the Explorer mode will allow employees to perform business activities similar to using a laptop or desktop computer, such as the use of spread sheets and Word documents,” explained Kareem.
Windows 8 will allow a more comfortable transition to tablet computing in the workplace; however will this stop the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) trend? According to some analysts, this is unlikely to happen although some organisations may require employees to use a tablet that runs Windows 8 to perform specific business tasks. It is now predicted that tablet adoption in Australia will increase to 11 million users by 2016, an increase of 2.6 million users.