Analysts predict slow enterprise adoption of touch, Windows 8

Enterprises may see little need to buy a touchscreen enhanced OS like Windows 8 just yet, analysts told Computerworld Australia. The new Microsoft operating system, set to debut 26 October, has more touch-friendly features than any previous Windows, but analysts said enterprises are likely to limit adoption to tablets, at least for now.

Windows 8 with its Metro interface “represents the most significant interface change that we’ve seen from Microsoft in quite a long time,” Telsyte analyst Rodney Gedda said. “It could be seen as a radical shift in user interfaces for many enterprises who might not want to have their staff using Metro with standard PCs.”

“The way that we operate the desktop and notebook is still relying on the keyboard and the mouse,” Gartner analyst Tracy Tsai said. “The Metro interface wasn’t designed for the mouse and keyboard.”

Ovum analyst Richard Edwards said he doesn’t “see mass adoption of touchscreens [by businesses] because I don’t see mass adoption in the enterprise of Windows 8.”

Microsoft argues that Windows 8 take-up does not rely on touchscreen adoption. “Windows 8 works great on existing, non-touch Windows 7-based hardware,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “As with any operating system rollout in an organisation, start small with pilot programs.”

Asked if Microsoft had any numbers on demand for touch, the spokesperson said Microsoft doesn’t break down adoption figures locally.

“Microsoft has gone to great lengths to ensure the Metro interface still can be controlled with the mouse and keyboard,” said Gedda. And if necessary, IT managers “can still use the older interface” with the traditional desktop, he said.

But Edwards said there still is a “high learning curve” for enterprises with Windows 8’s new interface. “We have to remember that 99 per cent of people aren’t interested in technology per se; they just want to get the job done.”

It typically takes 12-15 months for the enterprise to pilot and migrate to a new OS, Tsai said. “I wouldn’t expect the enterprise would be so hurried to upgrade to Windows 8.” If enterprises find that Windows 7 is easier to use and enables more productivity, they may stay with the older OS, Tsai said. “They still always have the option to stay with Windows 7.”

“The enterprise is never the best place to trial a new operating system,” Edwards said. “We’re probably looking into beyond the midpoint of the decade before organisations start seriously and in volume start rolling out Windows 8.” For now, enterprises are likely to opt for the road-tested Windows 7, though some could add a few Windows 8 tablets and laptops, he said.

Enterprises could take a mixed approach whereby they use Windows 8 on tablets but not desktops, Gedda said. “It’s quite possible that the new range of Windows 8 tablets coming onto the market will be purchased alongside existing assets.”

Edwards agreed it is unlikely touchscreens and Windows 8 will make their debut on desktops in the workplace, he said. “We’re much more likely to see organisations looking at Windows 8 tablets as they come up to refresh their fleet of laptops.”

Greater touchscreen use is likely at the point of sale, for example in retail, he said. Aerospace, construction and engineering are other industries that may be quicker to adopt touch, he said.

Tsai predicted there would be enterprise interest in the Windows Surface tablet with Windows 8 Pro.

Page Break

Death of the mouse?

While perhaps slow to adopt, businesses may not be able to resist touch interfaces forever, the analysts said.

“Enterprises aren’t particularly out there looking for touch,” Gedda said. “It’s just coming to them.” There’s “not so much demand for touch but demand for a new range of devices like smartphones and tablets both from staff and business managers,” Gedda said. “Touch itself is a side effect of technology change.”

“We’ve been stuck with the keyboard/mouse interface for a long time now, and it was only a matter of time before it was going to be modernised,” Gedda said. “Touch is just one change” coming to software interfaces; greater use of voice and video gestures are also on the horizon, he said.

However, it may be too soon to say the mouse is on its last breath. The mouse “has a long life left,” said Edwards.

Touch and voice are still just “complementary interfaces” to the mouse and keyboard on the desktop, Tsai said. They’re helpful in certain cases, “but I wouldn’t think that would become a primary interface” for productivity tasks, “because at the moment, most of the applications that we are relying on for office are still very mouse-and-keyboard driven.”

“Touch is still more for content consumption,” she added.

Adoption of touch will be driven by operating systems and killer applications using the interface, Edwards said. Ease of use could also be a factor, as touch may be more intuitive than the mouse, he said. “I can remember seeing people in the early days of Windows reaching out and wanting to touch the screen.”

Edwards predicted there will be “a definite group of users within the workplace who do find [touch] appealing, and those will be the new entrants to the work force.” It will come down to whether business “wants to incur that additional expense for that.”

Ultimately, it will be “the consumer experience that drives all of this,” he said. “Not every consumer is an enterprise employee, but every enterprise employee is a consumer. We are taking our consumer habits into the workplace along with our consumer expectations and our consumer experiences. This is driving the use and adoption of a wide range of technologies into the workplace and has given birth to the phrase, consumerisation of IT.”

Follow Adam Bender on Twitter: @WatchAdam

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia