We first want to be clear, the Pros and Cons listing on v3.co.uk is a very good one and covers most of the key features and pitfalls of Windows 8 in the market (we highly recommend you read it). We are not trying to say they missed anything or that the article was a bad one. What we wanted to do here is add information and also to put some of the items in a broader context. With that out of the way let’s dive into their list and give you our input.
From the Pros side of the list:
5. Improved touch experience for tablet users
This is a key factor for many as they view the market from the perspective of the iPad against everything. While we agree that Windows 8 has a very good touch interface it is not that accurate when working with small details. It is also important to remember that most companies are not going to replace their users’ monitors with touch screen monitors or with tablets. This pro is therefore limited to people that are considering a tablet only. As V3 shows later, it could also be of limited importance when it comes to the current market and who holds the lion’s share in terms of tablets. It also should be noted that many applications for Windows are not designed for touch and become very cumbersome to work with in a touch environment. It is also not a great feature for productivity as the on screen keyboard (although very well designed) covers half of your screen real estate. Microsoft also dropped the Alt, Ctrl, Shift, and F-Keys making the keyboard annoying to use at times.
4. Storage spaces
Disk pooling (also known as JBOD or Just a Bunch of Drives) was a feature that was in Windows NT 4.0 when full software raid was popular. Microsoft has brought it back because so many IO controllers already include RAID they felt they could piggy back on this. The problem with spanning volumes (or pooling them) is the chance of your data becoming heavily fragmented and taking up system resources to keep it indexed. Microsoft has done a fairly good job with their mirroring support, but in all reality if you want to mirror your drives you are probably better off using your motherboards RAID controller and cutting Windows out of the mix. It is a gimmick feature at best.
3. Windows 8 will integrate well with Windows Phone 8
Here we have to disagree with the guys over at V3. Windows Phone and Windows Phone 8 represent a fraction of the market. It is not going to suddenly explode onto the scene because Windows 8 looks like it. Also in an enterprise environment Microsoft’s Exchange already has built in tools to remote wipe and secure phones connected to it Via Active Sync. You do not need Windows Phone to get that feature and have not for some time. Many companies also already use software to control what can and cannot be installed on phones via IT policies that can be pushed through Exchange. It was a big selling feature of Exchange 2010 that you can do this with phones other than Windows Phone.
2. Better recovery and reset options
Microsoft has built in some nice tools for recovering devices that are infected with malware or have become corrupted. However, this is for the consumer. IT has been the policy of IT shops for years to push user files (including their user profile folders) to a central server that is backed up nightly. In Windows Small Business Server it is automatically done when you connect the PC to the domain. This practice is unlikely to go away so for the most part IT departments simply wipe and reload systems that are damaged anyway. The use of cloning tools, like Symantec Ghost or Acronis True Image, are used to maintain exact copies of systems including applications in the event that a restore is needed. These tools will honestly not change that policy as it is also in place if a system is stolen or lost. IT departments also do not want users performing self-diagnostics or repair as that too often leads to even more time spect correcting the error.
1. Windows RT devices will have Office 2013 built-in
While we agree that having a limited version of Windows RT will make some happy, the fact is that the version that is included is also very limited. You will get Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You will be missing Outlook and Access. Outlook is a very big thing to leave out of Office. We were shocked when we heard this as Outlook is what many companies use to as their collaboration and tracking program. It is a central feature for far too many businesses and one that the built in Mail and Calendar apps are not going to replace. Our feeling here is that Microsoft is trying to be too much like Apple by only providing three productivity tools and forcing reliance on their built in apps for mail and the calendar.
So the list is very solid, but when you put them into a greater context you can see that Windows 8 is at a little of a disadvantage in the enterprise space which is where Microsoft makes most of its money.
Moving on from the Pros we will take a stab at the cons:
5. Windows 8 is basically for tablets
We cannot stress this one enough. Windows it is a very tablet oriented OS. It is very touch centric and can become very cumbersome to navigate on a desktop PC or older laptop. Even on a touch based system its accuracy is less than we would like on current hardware. We cannot tell you want it will be like on newer tablets, but we hope the accuracy improves. Still it is very important to remember that many companies just completed the refresh to LCD panels in the last few years and are not going to want to push to touch panels for a few more. Simply put if you have tried to do productivity or creative work on Windows 8 (Release Preview or after) you may find it problematic as the way you navigate through the OS has changed significantly. Metro (yes we know it is not called that) is terrible on a larger display and its full screen only apps remove the benefit from having more screen real estate on a desktop where most users will have multiple programs open at the same time for easier work flow (I currently have 8 open on the same screen for reference). The need to move back and forth between screens is a productivity killer even with snap; it is as simple as that.
4. It introduces too many changes all at once
Microsoft is trying to change too much at once. It will create confusion and reluctance in the market for consumers and for IT departments. It is like trying to paint a house at exactly the same time as you are rebuilding it. There is simply too much going on to work well. This massive change leads us to point 3.
3. Users may need a lot of retraining
Time spent training employees to use new software is a waste of company money. The massive changes to Windows 8 will make many corporations stay well away from it. This is one of the reasons that companies stick with older software and technology as it is, why throw so many changes that you will waste productivity time with training? No matter how you slice it making the shift to Windows 8 will cost you more than the licensing and hardware alone. The Total Ownership Costs of Windows 8 is massive.
2. Many firms are still in the midst of Windows 7 migration
We briefly touched on this one before. Companies have just finished refreshes to new systems. I know of multiple corporations that just finished moving to Windows 7 in the last few months. There is no way they will push for Windows 8 in October considering they are just feeling the effects of the move to Windows 7 and Office 2010. Once they recover the money they lost with that shift them might think about Windows 8, but do not count on many to start thinking about that until H2 2013 or later.
1. Apple already owns the tablet space
To this we will only say that Android and Apple own this space for now. We do know that many doctors like the idea of Windows based tablets because of their support for Silverlight, Flash and ActiveX. These items are currently used by many EMR (Electronic Medical Records) companies to display X-Rays, medical records etc. They also work well with many of the medical transcription and notes applications that are stock in Doctor’s offices. We are also seeing some attorneys look over Windows 7 based tablets for presentations and for a few other compatibility issues.
As we said before, we loved the balanced coverage the team at V3 did with this list. We highly recommend you read it and only wanted to add a few items as they related to the way IT works in the enterprise market and how that trickles down to the SMB (Small to Medium Business). We think that Windows 8 in its current form will have a very rough time in the market even at the consumer level. Microsoft has tried to do too much while trying to control the whole pie. This will make consumers, developers and IT departments very leery of getting the new OS. We also feel that as time goes on and more information comes out this will be even clearer than it is now.
We wish that Microsoft would have taken a different track with Windows 8. It would have been better for them to release a desktop and a tablet edition. The desktop edition should have the option to remove Metro and put a start menu in place as well as the option to remove some of the cloud based features that Microsoft has thrown in. Sadly they are trying to force a new ecosystem on the market with Windows Phone 8, The Xbox and Microsoft Cloud Services at the center.
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