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Poll: Is your company waiting on Windows 8 to decide its tablet strategy?

June 13, 2012, 4:17 PM PDT

Takeaway: TechRepublic wants to know if your company has its tablet strategy on hold until you see Windows 8 this Fall. Answer poll and join the discussion.

One of the things that I’ve heard from lots of IT professionals in 2012 is that their company is now supporting the iPad — albeit reluctantly in some cases — but that it’s also waiting to start deploying iPads or any other tablets in significant numbers until it sees what Microsoft comes up with in Windows 8.

We’re curious to see how widespread this phenomenon is. Answer our poll below to let us know if your company is delaying its tablet strategy until you see what Microsoft and its hardware partners come up with this fall with the release of Windows 8. After you respond to the poll, jump into the discussion and let us know how your company is (or isn’t) using tablets or plans to use them in the years ahead.

Take the poll

Is your company waiting on Windows 8 to decide its tablet strategy?

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About Jason Hiner

Jason Hiner is the Editor in Chief of TechRepublic. He writes about the products, people, and ideas that are revolutionizing business with technology.

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21 Votes

+ -

Waiting? Yes. Waiting for W8? Not necessarily.

MaxStirner 14th Jun

With notebook and desktop machines on the one hand and smart phones on the other, we see little need for tablets except in the "nice to have toy + wow the customer / client" niche. For communication purposes (mail, social, web access) tablets at best would be no more than unwieldy smart-phones. On the other side, we have been fazing out desktop computers in favour of notebooks for some years and any tablet coming around the corner will only have a chance if it is able to replace a notebook, able to provide similar computing power and able to run the many applications in use today. Is W8 / Metro the bees knees? Probably not, but perhaps a step in the right direction.

m2cw, Max
Franfurt, Germany

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14 Votes

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Not for v1

DerekBez 14th Jun

Two things:
- Win8 is unlikely to be adopted to by businesses. It's quite different, and they are only just starting to think about Win7.
- Version 1 of any product is going to need to be bedded in / ironed out before it gets real traction.

So, no, there is no point in waiting. It would be worth supporting the initiative by MS, and promoting their use for personal activities, but not for business. Yet.

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10 Votes

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Waiting for Windows 8?

phill.erasmus@... 14th Jun

Our company has decided not to wait for Windows 8. We have just started rolling out about 250 iPads for our pilots to assist with their flight documents in the cockpit. The rest of our company will be issued with Samsung Galaxy 10.1" tablets. The reason for the duel decision is because, at this stage, the iPad is the only tablet approved by the CAA. Otherwise we would have done the Galaxy's for the pilots as well as we would then not have to be tied in with the Apple Store for using an application to sync their documents.

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0 Votes

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I won't argue that the Surface Pro looks like a strong contender

Vulpinemac 24th Jun

I'll even admit it has MY attention. Personally, I don't expect the keyboard cover to have much of a lifespan, however. That's just me. The ARM Surface with RT however, is little different from the iPad itself; it's biggest advantage is its ability to tie into a Windows-based network more easily

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1 Vote

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Pro

Spot on Vulpine

JJFitz 21st Jun

"(the tablet) is an intermediary device--a supplemental device between the too-small smartphone and the too-big, too-clumsy laptop used as a portable desktop."
Is spot on.
As an IT Director, I use my 7" HTC Flyer (Android) for taking notes on the fly. I can walk around with it in my back pocket. It is "instant on" so I can quickly take it out to snap a picture & annotate it, and email it to my staff. It is also useful for taking notes during impromptu meetings because it accepts pen input.
I am not sure if I would carry a 10" tablet around as much because it is a bit bulkier. I have to weigh the pros and cons.
The pros for the Surface Pro are:
AD integration / GPO / User Profiles
Runs full Windows programs.
Windows Remote Desktop support
Could be used as a lightweight desktop with a dual monitor set up.
The real keyboard frees up screen real estate for heavier writing and browser searches and folds away when I don't need it.
And it also supports pen input.

It looks like I have plenty of time to think about it.

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1 Vote

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Wacom. Of course.

Vulpinemac 19th Jun

I will admit I didn't know they'd licensed their technology for use on tablet PCs. I'm sure the Cross-branded one was licensed as well.

Microsoft's "Surface" does look good and it does look like they at least tried to make a truly integrated device. I also like the fact that they're making it in both RC and desktop Win8 when they finally release it. However, Microsoft chose not to mention any kind of pricing, saying that they'd give that information after Win8 itself is on the market. This implies, at least, that the cost is not going to be any lower than Apple's iPad pricing for the RT version and likely no lower than the "Ultrabook" pricing for the desktop version--in other words probably in the $600 range for the first and the $1200 range for the second.
I do like the keyboard cover concept on both of them, but I'm not so sure it's going to be the selling point they think it is. I noticed how they emphasized "third party keyboard" when talking about competing with the iPad when we already know the iPad can use any Bluetooth keyboard which really gives it more flexibility than a proprietary one. You still have the issue that to use the keyboard you have to set it down on a flat surface.

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