[Ben]

GSMA Mobile Briefing 15 October 2010


InformationWeek reports that despite their closeness at this week’s Windows Phone 7 launch, AT&T and Microsoft are in the midst of a difference of opinions over the best operating system option for tablet devices. Apparently, while Microsoft is pushing its desktop Windows 7 platform for use in tablets, AT&T prefers tablets to be powered by a mobile-oriented platform. The benefits of a mobile platform include faster responses, energy efficiency, and 'lightweight footprint' – leading to lower prices due to reduced hardware and software demands. Despite the significant amount of interest in the tablet device market, the number of devices actually available is relatively small, although one trend is evident – Google’s Android is largely the platform of choice. Perhaps the most vocal supporter of Microsoft in the tablet market is HP, although this company also has a product in the works based on its own webOS platform – which also grew from the smartphone market, where it was developed by Palm.

I never thought US mobile news would be as relevant as it is since the iPhone. Sigh. Finns, what have you done to us?!

What are your thoughts? Desktop OS or mobile OS on a tablet?

A poll? Oh go on then, it has been an age.

[Ben]

I'm going mobile.

A tablet does need a variant of the vanilla mobile OS, I believe, but it's the mobile OS that should be at the heart. Optimised for quick access to information on the move, not to mention for frugality, a mobile OS seems to make sense for a device where the user shouldn't be bogged down by things like startup, shutdown, restart, anti-virus etc. Everything needs to be taken care of as automatically as is tolerable, even if it restricts some of the things the user can do.

I'm yet to see any examples of desktop tablet computing that really work, so I doubt shoehorning a desktop OS into a low-powered hand-held 'pad' is going to improve upon that.

[Hands0n]

Mobile:

We have already seen what the adaptation of a desktop OS can do in the shape of Windows Mobile up to and including the latest version 6.5. The analogy of the desktop simply does not carry across to the smaller device. Start menus, drop downs, pull ups and suchlike just do not transport at all well.

Instead, looking at iOS and Android, two OS that are designed for the mobile device from the outset and you have a much better fit. These scale up to from the mobile handset (smartphone) to the tablet or "pad" style of device very well and with minimal adjustment. I believe that the reason for this is that the same point and click device is used in both, that being the human finger. And so the entire paradigm is designed for the next size up, the tablet.

Microsoft are barking up the wrong tree.

[Ben]

I think you've got a good point there; it's as much, if not more, to do with the design of the whole UI of the OS as it is what goes on behind the glass.

iOS and Android created finger OSs, and they naturally scale up to tablets from mobiles. They take with them their share of restrictions, though. But when I think about it... would I want to run a full-blown Mac OS X or Windows application on a tablet, given that it wouldn't have been designed to be anywhere near usable? I'm not just talking about UI elements too small to touch, here, I'm talking about things like keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures (rollovers, anyone?) that just don't exist on a tablet.

Microsoft are being to Windows as Intel are being to the x86 architecture. They continue to push that they're the best for all things, when in reality they should've accepted that different problems need different solutions and worked with that in mind years ago.

I think even Intel are shocked that they haven't got their silicone in the iPad. The iPhone was perhaps a given, as the whole smartphone market is that way, but the iPad? It shows massive weakness in mobile, despite their current gargantuan strength in PC and server. Apple A4 FTW :)

[The Mullet of G]

Desktop.

I'd rather have the flexibility of a full blown OS than the restrictions of a mobile one, I can barely put up with it on a phone never mind anything else. Currently for me iOS really isn't an option and would be more of a toy than anything else, it lacks the connectivity and functionality to satisfy my needs. Android tablets fair better here, but I dislike all things Linux and no matter how much you polish a turd, its still a turd.

I haven't used Windows 7 on a tablet, but I believe Windows 7 is touch compatible out of the box, so it would be interesting to see how well Microsoft have implemented it given how awesome Windows 7 is in general. The only problem I see with Windows based tablets is the companies responsible for producing the hardware, instead of simply trying to shoehorn the hardware and the OS they need to instead tailor both to fit, if the OS doesn't work well in some areas then its upto the hardware vendors to make it work well, if need be in conjunction with Microsoft. There needs to be a closer bond between the OS and the hardware, as the early tablets with XP and the like on them were terribad, the OS and hardware seemed to be fighting each other every step. I would say that Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 demonstrate that eventually Microsoft will produce the goods, albeit with some ropey encounters along the way. :)

[Hands0n]

Talking of polishing turds. Isn't it rather odd how the world and dog got into a lather about Windows Phone 7 that has arrived bereft of precisely the same core functions that the original iOS did on the iPhone? Oh, you know, stuff like Cut n Paste. I'm sure that M$ will play catch up, as they usually do.

Horses for courses though - mobile and tablet OS should not be confused with full blown desktop OS. I think that is where the most tears are going to be as the two hand portable device paradigm are being squeezed into every possible function. Convergence has its limits.

[The Mullet of G]

So besides copy and paste which has already been announced for the next update, what core functionality is it missing? I seem to recall iOS was missing quite a few things.