Windows of Opportunity

To have a Techie Life is not limited to using any or all of the MAC or Apple products. 

It does not mean that you should no longer look at or have a second look at the latest Windows-based tablets.

The advantages of MAC products were always the service aspect due to the number of Apple stores located worldwide, the design and the number of applications that are available for download.

According to the latest count, the number of downloads of MAC applications are now getting close to 25 Billion.

As of today however, there are still more PC or Windows-based computers being used worldwide. Which means that there are still more people individually or in the enterprise using them. Many are used to the Windows-based applications embedded or downloaded on their computers.

When the competition became a battle of tablets and smart phones the MAC and Android products were suddenly beating the Windows-based ones. This is because of the birth of mobile operating systems installed in these tablets and smart phones.

Realizing this, Microsoft decided to install its Windows 7 and 8 operating systems in tablets and ultra books. This means that these devices have become fully operating PCs as well. It further means that all applications and files in your old PCs are transferable and usable in the new tablets or ultra books.

As I told my barber, I use an iPad 2 because of the many applications available to me, the service I get at Apple stores and, of course, the beautiful design of my device.

As exhibited at the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) last January, the Windows-based tablets, ultra books, and Windows 8 phones, have been designed to compete with those of MAC and Android.

To be more competitive, Microsoft also decided to put up Microsoft stores worldwide. One of these stores is located in Tysons Corner Mall, which is about a 10 minute drive from my house.

I visited the store yesterday and it looks like they are serious in providing better service to Microsoft/Windows users.

Like the iPad, the latest tablets and ultra books I saw are also touch screen. They are competitively priced and beautifully designed. The advantage I see is the fact that they are fully operating PCs.

Over the years while I was attending the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) I was always seeking a tablet that had an off-line search engine. This is because there are people like me who store libraries of documents, music, video, photos and other files in their computers. For security and easy accessibility, they prefer to keep them in their tablets.

Since they are stored off-line, they should also be retrievable and searchable off-line. As a lawyer, for example, I store all the laws and court decisions in my computer. I would like easily searching and retrieving them.

I can do this with the built-in search engine of my PC and my downloaded Google Desktop search engine. I cannot do it in my iPad 2. It cannot be done in Android tablets. It could not be done in earlier Windows tablets.

In the latest Windows 7 and 8 tablets, all Windows applications are downloadable. This includes the Google Desktop search engine, which then allows the tablet to index all the files in the internal hard drive and in the external hard drives that you connect as well.  Of course, this makes them searchable too.

I cannot do this in my iPad 2. I do not know yet if the iPad 3 would have that capability.

Regardless, this presents some Windows of opportunity for Microsoft.