20 May Why you need to be considering Windows 10?
The latest evolution of Microsoft operating system has arrived, and unlike the launch of Windows 8 which was reported to have cost an estimated $1.8 billion in Marketing spend alone, the new king has silently risen to the throne without pomp and ceremony. That said in 2014 Microsoft spent a non-insignificant amount of $10.4 billion in research and development only topped in the spend list by Samsung, Intel and VW.
So what’s it all about and why should we be interested? Firstly in my view, Windows 8 was a launch too soon, and confused many people, (including me with my traditional desktop) with its new interface and way of working. It was designed for touch devices and launched into a market that was still migrating to see the benefits of tablets and smarter phones. Microsoft clearly learnt some lessons, and the 100,000 engineers and scientist across Microsoft global labs have been working to create the natural evolution and to enhance the user experience.
So with Windows 10 adoption growing exponentially below are a few of the benefits of how Windows 10 can help your help your business.
Designed for the new generations and the way we work
Windows 10 successfully bridges the gap between the desktop and the touch based device/tablet. With 30% of all enterprise end user compute devices forecast to be tablets by 2016, it makes sense to have a single platform that works and communicates across all the technology businesses are using. By 2016 18% of the global tablet market will be business users. Apart from being designed for touch the he interface also allows the latest apps to run on the window on the desktop, delivering greater flexibility than ever before.
Enhanced management capabilities
Windows has always delivered device management capabilities that businesses required utilising Active Directory and Systems Centre to afford good levels of control. In Windows 10 this has been extended to include mobile device management. This helps users to respond to the movement towards mobile first, and cloud environments allowing these capabilities/apps to be better deployed on the traditional laptops and desktops.
Delivering protection against cyber threats
In the past enhancing security often meant adding layers of complexity. Windows 10 has been mindful to enhance the security and protection, but make these easy to manage without compromising our user experience. These also afford extra protection when moving data from device to device making Windows 10 a more secure platform than previous versions.
One platform, simplifying management
XP, Windows 95, Vista, Windows 8 all of these variants presented differing management challenges, The aim of Windows 10 is to deliver one universal platform the delivering simplified management. It has been designed to work seamlessly with small simple devices, through to giant conference room smart displays with the same management and experience. This approach helps companies ensure they are compliant and adhere to certain regulations as well as maintaining a standard across the company.
Designed for continuous update and innovation
For IT managers, the task of wiping and reloading software into devices was time consuming and Windows 10 aims to make this more efficient. The OS has wider compatibility, it works with all existing apps as well as delivering tools to test compatibility. By using Windows 10, you should be able to configure off the shelf devices without the laborious need to re-image and build.
A short summary from a user
Having been a user of windows 10 for a few weeks, my personal view is it is much better to work with than Windows 8. The return of the start menu (excellent!) And enhanced search facilities makes my life far easier. The Jury is out on Cortana, but then again my only use for Siri was to ask stupid questions hoping to hear an even stupider reply.
We cannot argue that the Beta testing of Windows 10 was huge with 1.7m people feeding back glitches and bugs. This means it is a pretty stable platform but we would recommend a phase deployment and testing before a full roll out across the business.
If you would like to know more about Windows 10 and how this can work for you please talk to a member of our team who will be happy to help.