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Windows 8: The channel verdict

What do some of Oz's resellers, disties and retailers think of the new OS?

By Chris Jager on Oct 31 2012, 10:10AM

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Microsoft last week officially launched its touch-friendly operating system, Windows 8. It's a vastly different interface to previous versions of the OS and as such received a mixed reception. We took to the Australian channel to find out whether local businesses would jump aboard Microsoft's big push into BYOD.

Jay Miley, Ingram Micro managing director

“We’re living through a fascinating period in technology evolution with the emergence of cloud, smartphones and tablets, always-on connectivity and converging consumer and enterprise technologies. As a company instrumental in delivering the technologies we all use every day, Microsoft is at the very forefront in driving this technology evolution. These changes are enabling not just completely new ways of working, but new business opportunities and even whole new businesses. We’re very excited about the new opportunities that Windows 8 will offer and looking forward to helping our vendor and reseller partners leverage this important new platform.”

John Grant, Data#3 managing director

"We were one of the first organisations in the country to roll out Windows 7 and we intend to do the same with Windows 8. The thing about Windows 8 is that you get the same interface and operating system environment from the phone through to the tablets, laptops and PCs. So I expect we'll be purchasing examples of all of these devices."

Kee Ong, Synnex Australia managing director

"From what I can see the channel will embrace Windows 8 quite well, we’re seeing a lot of demand. It’s quite hot. Based on what Synnex sees as the pickup rate, it’s quite positive."

"I think it will be easier for consumers to migrate, but business considerations are different to the consumers. Businesses tend to look at the whole solutions as a package, so they might take some time to upgrade. I think it’ll happen, but it takes time - we can see that from XP to Windows 7, it won’t be immediate."

Gerry Harvey, Harvey Norman executive chairman

"It's got longer battery life, touch screen, fast start-up, thinner and lighter devices, fully powered devices for mobility. Windows 8 will allow manufactures to create new technology devices that otherwise would not be possible. The greatest battle in the world between Apple, Google and Microsoft is now on."

Nick Verykios, Distribution Central managing director

"The conversations we are hearing about Windows 8 are mainly geared towards technology, such as core infrastructure and some applications, but not so much around business strategies like cloud, big data or mobility.

"Given Windows 8 covers everything from the phone to the desktop, you would expect the conversations to mature into business strategy rather than the typical technology upgrade or migration discussion. However, because many resellers are still working on migrating their customers to Windows 7, Windows 8 is not on their schedule for the moment."

Sydney Borg, PCS Australia managing director

"The only thing I'll say about Windows 8 is that I'm looking forward to throwing down the gauntlet against Apple and giving them a serious product that will finally challenge them. Because those guys have had it too good for too long."

David Henderson, Westcon managing director

"From my viewpoint, anything that stimulates demand and discussion around IT has got to be a great thing."

Joel Dawson, Southern Cross Computer Systems technology solutions director

"We see Windows 8 as an innovation and in our industry any innovation's a good thing. It's optimised for touch which is where everybody's heading. We're not seeing a lot of uptake straight away in our enterprise customers but what we are seeing is a lot of people looking very closely at Windows 8 tablets and laptops. So there's plenty of interest for what I call the PC tablet, as opposed to your traditional iPad."

David Gage, Express Data CEO

“I’m excited by the launch of Windows 8. I’ve had the chance to use the new OS, and while the UI takes some adjustment, there is little doubt in my mind that Microsoft has produced a winner.

The biggest criticism of Windows 8 seems to be that it is a significant shift in the UI, however I think users today are so conditioned to change over the past 10 years that it won’t be a huge issue. The new touch enabled OS is more engaging and personal and in my view will win users over from the competition. I anticipate success in the consumer segment will drive adoption in the corporate environment during the next 12 to 18 months."

Angelo Millena, CMS IT CEO

"Windows 7 was never designed to be put in a tablet, which is why it failed as a mobile OS. Windows 8 is a big improvement in that regard; it integrats your desktop and keeps the same interface on your smartphones and tablets.

I'm not saying there's going to be a sudden shift to Windows 8 in the corporate environment -- in fact, we don't have one client asking about it -- but [Microsoft] is definitely doing the right thing from an end-user perspective."

Martin Wildsmith, Sable Systems sales director

"The introduction of a Microsoft touch interface is fundamental to us in changing we can now deliver business solutions and allow customers to have an end-to-end experience from tablet and phone all the way through to the business system.

"An example for us is we can now release Microsoft's Dynamics Point-of-Sale and CRM and back office functions like expense entry on a common interface throughout."

Pat Devlin, WatchGuard Tecnologiesregional director

"I think the largest potential for Windows 8 is in the mobile space. Desktop users will take a while to get around it. It's such a big shift visually for them to wrap their heads around. And because Windows 7 is so good, I don't think many corporates are going to jump on board until they find a killer app.

"With that said, I reckon the tablet market is where is could take off. I think the killer app for the tablet is handwriting recognition and I haven't seen anything that replaces OneNote functionally yet. As soon as the Pro version of Surface is out, I'm going to buy one just for that."

Chris Munro, Kiandra IT director technology infrastructure

"We're really excited about the opportunity to deliver a consistent experience across desktop, tablet and phone and we're looking forward to seeing how that plays out. I think once our clients get used to touch in Windows 8 it will feel pretty seamless moving between platforms.

"We also love that some of the security features like BitLocker are more readily available across the versions."

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Windows 8: The channel verdict

What do some of Oz's resellers, disties and retailers think of the new OS?

Jay Miley, Ingram Micro managing director

John Grant, Data#3 managing director

Kee Ong, Synnex Australia managing director

Gerry Harvey, Harvey Norman executive chairman

Nick Verykios, Distribution Central managing director

Sydney Borg, PCS Australia managing director

David Henderson, Westcon managing director

Joel Dawson, Southern Cross Computer Systems technology solutions director

David Gage, Express Data CEO

Angelo Millena, CMS IT CEO

Martin Wildsmith, Sable Systems sales director

Pat Devlin, WatchGuard Tecnologiesregional director

Chris Munro, Kiandra IT director technology infrastructure

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