[dc]I[/dc]n the coming weeks I will do something for experimental purposes that I have not done for over 10 years. I will be immersing myself in the Windows 8 ecosystem entirely. I converted from the Windows ecosystem to the Apple ecosystem in 2002 and I have never been happier. Apple products work the best for my computing needs and workflow, and as the saying goes, the best product is the product that works best for you.
However, I used to be fully in the Microsoft ecosystem. I started my career in this industry in IT for a semiconductor company and I could troubleshoot, diagnose, and keep Windows working with the best of them. In fact, back in those days, even after converting to Apple’s ecosystem, I was extremely loyal to Pocket PC, then Windows Mobile as my PDA and my smartphone choosing Microsoft’s mobile products over the popular Palm products. I have fond memories of those devices.
What I personally use for my computing ecosystem is irrelevant to the way I do industry analysis. To effectively understand the trends and long term market opportunities we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every platform and ecosystem holistically. This is why I did the 4 month test with Android by embedding myself in Google’s ecosystem as much as possible. I will be doing the same thing with Microsoft’s latest offering, Windows 8, in order to fully perform a platform analysis. And I am actually kind of excited about it.
Although, I have committed to Apple’s ecosystem, I am a fan of technology and innovation and I appreciate it no matter where it comes from. Just because I know what products work best for me does not mean I can’t appreciate innovative things about other products of ecosystems. And as mentioned before, this is key for us to assess the short and long term opportunities for those in the technology industry.
So for experimental purposes, for periods of time over the coming months, I will be using the latest HTC Windows 8 smartphone as my primary smartphone, The Acer S7 UltraBook with Touch as my notebook, Surface and the Asus Vivo Tab RT as my tablets, and a few X86 Windows 8 hybrids.
Besides my goal of an exhaustive platform analysis of pros and cons and short and long term opportunities within the Microsoft ecosystem for our clients, I hope to find specific things that I like or appreciate about Microsoft’s latest effort.
I’ve always believed that the most enjoyable computing experience will come when you commit to a platform or ecosystem and stick with it. Each platform and ecosystem looks for unique ways to make their products work better together. I believe that philosophy will yield the most valuable experiences in personal computing.
In my view Apple and Microsoft have the strongest platform and ecosystem stories to day. I say this because they have platforms that span every screen in personal computing. Apple’s is more mature in my opinion but Microsoft is not going anywhere.
Regardless of whose ecosystem you commit to, the future for personal computing is extremely bright.