Microsoft Surface, BYOD, and Laptops vs. Tablets

There's been lots of good coverage of Microsoft's announcement yesterday of Microsoft Surface, a line of Windows 8 tablets that will be available in the fall. (For a summary of analyst reactions, check out this article in the Guardian.)

Here are a few thoughts of my own.

Why Show the World Alpha-Quality Technology?
When Apple announces a new product, it's typically available within days or weeks.

Microsoft took a different tack yesterday, announcing a tablet that won't be available until some time in the Fall. Judging from the way Microsoft employees guarded access to the devices at yesterday's event (e.g., see this tweet of Danny Sullivan's), one can safely assume that the software and hardware are still in a pretty raw state. Why not wait until the device was ready to announce it?

Part of the answer, I expect, is a four-letter word:  BYOD.  About 70% of large organizations have adopted Bring Your Own Device to work policies, compelling IT departments to find ways to integrate consumer-class devices such as iPhones and iPads into the company's IT infrastructure without sacrificing security. The results have been mixed, but the BYOD juggernaut seems unstoppable. And now more businesses are re-thinking their IT purchases and wondering just how many users really need PCs or at least laptops when perhaps a $500 iPad will meet their needs for remote access. Even businesses that tend to be IT laggards--businesses like law firms, for example--are beginning to formally roll out tablet solutions built, typically, on the iPad. Users love the devices, so why not?

But now that businesses know that a Windows 8 tablet  is coming in the fall, I'm guessing that a lot of those internal iPad initiatives will be put on hold. Many IT organizations will consider it rash to move ahead with bulk orders of iPads until they've had least had a chance to give Microsoft's own offering a try. The Microsoft offering promises to be more familiar (unless the Windows 8 UI team creates an albatross like Vista) and will probably be easier to integrate with Microsoft business solutions like SharePoint.

My guess is a lot of iPad orders were just put on hold.

And the same goes for Ultrabook orders. Hardware vendors like HP are racing to develop new, ultra lightweight Windows laptops to compete with MacBook Air. But those buyers, too, will probably want to see how Surface turns out. Maybe a tablet is the best mobile solution, after all, if what you're after is an ultra-portable Windows platform.

And vendors like Acer and HP developing Windows 8 tablets of their own? Their coffee's probably tasting pretty bitter this morning.

This Isn't about Microsoft Office
Microsoft is reportedly preparing a version of Office for iPad that will be ready in the Fall. Which makes sense:  right now, there are tens of millions of potential users that don't have the option of buying the Microsoft programs they use most. And that's tens of millions of users who are getting used to alternatives like Pages and Google Docs.

Better stop that bleeding, too.

Will a Windows 8 Tablet Behave Like a Tablet?
That is, will it be fast and easy to use? Or will it simply be a Windows laptop in a different format?

I think the difference is important.

I have a decently powerful Windows 7 laptop. Lately I've had access to a low-end iPad.

If I want to sit down and check mail and such, I often need to wait 2-5 minutes for the Windows systems to collect itself and become fully responsive, even if it hasn't been put to sleep. The iPad, on the other hand, is always responsive immediately. Guess which device I find myself using more when I simply want to check email or headlines?

Substitute "Windows 8 tablet" for "Windows 7 laptop" in the passage above, and you see the problem.

All the Windows laptops I've owned have exhibited this same sluggishness. Will a Windows 8 tablet be different?

As with so much about this new platform, we'll just have to wait and see.