Apple's iPad is the runaway leader in tablets, but its influence within the enterprise has trailed its overall success. A March 2012 InformationWeek iPad survey shows corporate IT managers aren't overwhelmed by the new iPad but do see it as a worthwhile product. However, "when it comes down to it, people in IT are not only more conservative, they're more comfortable dealing with Microsoft, just as they always have," says Kurt Marko, a regular contributor to InformationWeek and an IT industry veteran.
Clabby says while he's not a fan of Windows 8, it's "a very modern, graphically driven type of operating environment" that has received positive feedback in beta tests. "I don't like it because the stuff I'm looking for, like device manager and ... resources, I can't find."
Clabby said he believes that down the road Microsoft will continue to do well where it started--in enterprise software. He says the company's products for the virtualization space are getting better, making them a contender with market leader VMware, already witnessed by growing market share. "In all the other ancillary businesses, like phones, I have no idea,'' he says. "It's a matter of: Will people like this new Metro [mobile phone] interface and will they adopt it?"
Microsoft will also do well with its business software, like cloud services and collaboration tools, Clabby says, and with home and educational software. He doesn't give high marks to the company's entertainment division, saying Windows Media Center "doesn't have enough channels and draw to get me to go there, as opposed to Apple iTunes or other sources."
"The question is, will they be able to spur that and make it stronger and gain more market share and acceptance? I don't see any indication. ... Maybe when they get phones working they will link it into the back end there." But, he adds, there's a lot of competition in the gaming space. "If you've got a hot game you'll do well; if not, there are so many other choices, and people will go elsewhere."
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