Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Investing Simplified
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Campaign Polling
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
Nicholas Wapshott
Bethany McLean
Anatole Kaletsky
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Reihan Salam
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Mark Leonard
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (4)
Counterparties: Today's Best Links
Who are America's "47 percent"?
Mitt Romney has taken a lot criticism for his comment on the percentage of Americans who depend on the government. But "the 47%" are mostly American workers. Read more at Counterparties
How Morgan Stanley made risk vanish
"We must deliberately set financial forest fires"
Get Counterparties by email!
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Analysis: Most companies won't be early adopters of Windows 8
12:11am EDT
Gunman kills three and himself at Wisconsin salon
|
2:57am EDT
Putin flexes muscle in big test of Russia's nuclear arsenal
20 Oct 2012
Asian shares fall after disappointing U.S. earnings
1:36am EDT
Google says RR Donnelley filed draft earnings statement without authorization
18 Oct 2012
Discussed
174
Obama gets second chance in debate rematch with Romney
118
Obama talks Libya and Biden’s swimsuit on ”Daily Show”
91
”I take responsibility” for Benghazi, Clinton tells CNN
Sponsored Links
Analysis: Most companies won't be early adopters of Windows 8
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Mobile revolution, economy trip up tech giants
Fri, Oct 19 2012
Microsoft profit slips as PCs fizzle; Windows 8 awaited
Thu, Oct 18 2012
Instant View: Microsoft's profit falls as PC sales shrink
Thu, Oct 18 2012
Instant View: Nokia Q3 in red, sees tough Q4
Thu, Oct 18 2012
Analysis: How long can Google's shares stay airborne?
Wed, Oct 17 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Motorola loses bid to reshape crucial trial on essential patents
Q&A with Silicon Valley “Godfather†Steve Blank
Related Topics
Investing Simplified »
Tech »
Media »
iPad »
A variety of logos hover above the Microsoft booth on the opening day of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas January 10, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking
By Bill Rigby
SEATTLE |
Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:11am EDT
SEATTLE (Reuters) - There was once a time when the launch of a new Windows operating system was a huge deal for the technology departments in many businesses. Not anymore. Microsoft Corp's release of Windows 8 on Friday is likely to be a non-event for most companies -- and some experts say many may never adopt it.
The system may appear to offer something for everyone: touch-screen functionality for tablet enthusiasts, a slick new interface for the younger set, and multiple versions to make it compatible with traditional desktop PC software.
Many businesses, though, say there is no compelling reason to adopt. Indeed, a large number have yet to make the transition to Windows 7 from Windows XP.
"Windows 8 is, frankly, more of a consumer platform than it is a business platform, so it's not something that makes any sense from a business perspective at this juncture," said Doug Johnson, head of risk management policy at the American Bankers Association, whose members are among the world's biggest technology buyers. "There is really no additional business functionality that Windows 8 gives you that I see."
For most of the past two decades, that sort of comment about a new version of Windows might have set off panic in Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Not now. Windows 8, in a stark reflection of how the technology business is changing, will rise or fall on how it is received in the consumer market.
That doesn't mean Microsoft executives are publicly saying they won't be going after enterprise customers with the radical new version of its flagship product.
"The lines between the consumer and the enterprise are blurring," said Ron Markezich, head of Microsoft's Enterprise & Partner Group. "Business customers are looking forward to Windows 8 because they don't have to compromise between tablet and PC."
But Microsoft's main goal is to show it can master the new touch-optimized, mobile forms of computing pioneered by Apple Inc and Google Inc. Its colorful, action-packed advertising for the system are aimed at a young, free-wheeling audience, and its new Surface tablets are being positioned squarely as consumer devices.
LUKEWARM
Corporate customers have been lukewarm about the product even after test versions have been available for more than a year.
Car maker Volkswagen, which only last year moved 60,000 PCs onto Windows 7, is not planning to make another drastic shift anytime soon.
VW's head of IT, Martin Eickhoff, said his team was "excited to evaluate the new tablet features" but would wait until Windows 8's release to assess its potential benefits.
That's not unusual, as corporations generally test a new system for 12-18 months before planning to adopt it, meaning enterprise take-up of most versions of Windows -- except for the unpopular Vista -- have only usually happened two or three years after launch.
This time even that pattern might not happen.
Michael Silver, an analyst at technology research firm Gartner, expects minimal corporate adoption over the life of the new system: "We believe 90 percent of large organizations will not deploy Windows 8 broadly, and at its peak, we expect about 20 percent of PCs in large organizations will run Windows 8," he said.
WINDOWS RECEDES
This may not be a huge problem for Microsoft.
For one thing, the company gets 40 percent of its overall revenue from multi-year licensing deals with enterprises -- companies, government departments and universities -- which typically give customers rights to the newest version of its software.
Essentially, Microsoft gets paid regardless of what version of Windows many big customers actually use.
And Windows is also declining in financial importance for Microsoft, although the sales of PCs often determine the strength of Microsoft's earnings. Five years ago, it accounted for almost 30 percent of Microsoft's sales. Last year it was 25 percent.
Microsoft's success in selling to businesses, in the short term at least, depends less on Windows than on its Office products and its fast-growing server and tools division.
One institution that has made an early move to Windows 8 is Seton Hall University in New Jersey. The school has already deployed tablets and laptops running pre-release versions of Windows 8 to its freshman and junior classes -- with help from Microsoft, which subsidized the effort with free consulting time.
"The benefit of the upgrade to Windows 8 for me is that it's touch friendly. Lots of the devices that we have in the community could benefit," said Stephen Landry, Seton Hall's chief information officer.
Landry said his students overwhelmingly liked the new system, after a brief training session, but he acknowledged that many of his peers in higher education were not ready to move so fast.
"Talking to a lot of CIOs, they are not ready to jump into Windows 8 with both feet yet. They are taking a wait-and-see attitude. They are thinking 'That's a lot of work, I need to upgrade System Center (Microsoft's IT management platform), I need to have a little different process for managing the back end.' A lot of CIOs I've talked to, they are saying I'm not really seeing a benefit."
Steven Hanna, chief information officer of Kennametal Inc, an industrial parts and tools manufacturer based in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, said his company has only just moved onto Windows 7, and has no plans to introduce Windows 8 broadly in the near future. But he may deploy it selectively for employees who can make use of the touch-screen, such as traveling sales reps.
"The mobility for the sales force, to put all the material and the ability to do basic transactions in their hands, is going to be a phenomenal driver for us," said Hanna. "We're doing some piloting with iPads, but I'm excited to see the Windows stuff come out."
This appears to be the most likely route for Windows 8 into the workplace. But even this will not be simple because Windows 8 is really two operating systems.
The standard Windows 8 for devices with Intel Corp x86 chips will run old Microsoft applications and generally fit seamlessly into companies' networks and security systems, just like any Windows PC. But Windows RT, the version for devices powered by ARM Holdings chips -- such as Microsoft's new Surface tablet -- will not run legacy applications and require more work to integrate.
MOVING FROM XP
Even as it launches Windows 8, a key priority for Microsoft is to get customers off the decade-old Windows XP -- which still runs on 41 percent of the world's 1.5 billion PCs. For the last three years, it has urged enterprise customers to move to Windows 7, and it has said it does not expect organizations to drop those plans because of Windows 8.
That effectively means many companies will downgrade new PCs to run on Windows 7, not 8, over the next few years.
But if people start bringing Microsoft's new Surface tablet to work, or any of the other new Windows 8 devices, Microsoft is hoping corporate IT managers will welcome them with open arms.
"Some organizations, when they look at Windows 8 Intel tablets, they are going to like them because they are manageable," said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent consultancy that helps customers understand the company. "When they look at RT they are going to be disappointed, because it's no easier to manage than an iPad."
(Reporting By Bill Rigby; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Martin Howell)
Investing Simplified
Tech
Media
iPad
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (4)
cyke1 wrote:
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.