Microsoft Surface and Enterprise Dual Standards

Well… It happened. Microsoft officially became “hardware company”. Keyboards, mice, even XBOX and Kinect… All these devices are in a history. Microsoft Surface was officially announced few days ago and Microsoft became an official manufacturer of Microsoft branded table computers.

. Navigate here to see detailed technical spec. I put few video links below:

You can watch another video with some technical details and comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av8NlAbPZi8

Speaking about CAD / PLM community reaction, I had a chance to screen SolidSmack post – Microsoft Surface. The age of CAD on a tablet is upon us. Josh Mings is asking few important questions. Here is the relevant passage:

The big question. I don’t like small screens, but I don’t like not being mobile either. Given the choice right now, I’d be inclined to choose the Microsoft Surface with it’s 10.6″ display over a larger laptop. You? Oh, another thought on this. A lot of companies have been racing to bring out iOS apps, Autodesk having the most CAD/Design related. Could it be that other 3D software companies are holding off, thinking that regular software will be able to run on tablets before the demand for professional level mobile devices picks up? I believe so.

Let’s speak about PLM tools. Today, the majority is standardizing on browser experience. To develop tablet or mobile app is quite complex tasks. Nevertheless, we can see how almost all PLM vendors delivered at least a single iPad or iPhone app to show a presence in iOS space. It looks like iOS is a preferred enterprise choice today, in my view, mostly because of management preference. To accommodate multiple tablets will be a complicated task for most of IT department. The strategy to run applications using a browser can be preferred short term. You probably remember my post – PLM: mobile optimized sites vs. mobile apps.

What is my conclusion? The big question I’m asking myself in the context of Microsoft Surface – what will happen when /if it comes to enterprise organization? I’m not sure about how Surface will compete with iPad in the consumer market. It doesn’t matter for this post. At the same time, Microsoft can use its heavy enterprise presence to supply Surface devices with enabled Microsoft enterprise software stack on it. Will it become an attractive offer to develop “dual enterprise IT standard”. Welcome back to a multi-platform decade. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg