Three weeks ago I took the Windows 8 plunge. My initial reaction was positive, but you never know what impact actually having to use something all day, every day will have. So now, three weeks later, what am I thinking?
Good news: I’m still loving it! The metro interface has quickly become instinctive; I never fumble to access the features I need to use on a regular basis. In fact, I don’t have issues finding features I infrequently use. One reason? I discovered that, when on the metro interface, you can simply start typing and you find yourself in a powerful search function. Note (below) how quickly Windows 8 has found Excel, but in addition to the app, it has also found other items of relevance. The ability to extend this simple search was very exciting to see. As a software development company, my head is spinning with ideas of how we can quickly bring information to our client’s fingertips.
But two other exciting things have happened related to Windows 8 in the past three weeks:
The first was the announcement of the Microsoft Surface. What excites me about this isn’t a Microsoft manufactured Windows 8-based tablet, in all honesty, I’m not sure whether I’ll get a Microsoft Surface. Historically, one of the reasons I’ve stayed a huge Microsoft fan is the fact that they have remained an open platform. I plan to get the best Windows 8 tablet, not one based on the brand. No, what excites me is that Microsoft has laid down a line in the sand. I expect that this will push other manufacturers on both feature set and time frame. From my perspective, it’s great to finally know the exact date when we (and our clients) can hold a Windows 8 Tablet in our hand.
The second announcement came with much less fanfare, and very likely slid under a lot of radar screens. It was the fact that the Windows 8 Phone would share the core OS with Windows 8. This has a lot of ramifications for us as developers and our clients as users. It means better operability of our applications across servers, desktops, tablets and phones. It also means that the Windows 8 Phones will be more manageable by IT departments than previous generation smartphones of all OS flavors. This was the announcement I’ve been hoping for and it is the functionality I believe is key to adoption in the enterprise.
This is going to be an exciting six months in the Microsoft computing world. At ProActive, we strongly believe that Windows 8 is going to have great success penetrating the enterprise across all platforms, and we are busy preparing ourselves to be a key resource for our clients as they start this exciting journey into the Windows 8 world.