Former Microsoft Windows President on his full-time use of an iPad

Steven Sinofsky was President of Microsoft’s Windows’ division from 2009 to 2013. From his blog post about moving to an iPad as his full time machine:

Unlike many “use a product for month” tests this is not an experiment. For me this is a deeply held belief that the rise of smartphones (specifically starting when the iPhone launched) would have a profound impact on the way we all use “computers”.

The transformation spans hardware (thinner, lighter, smaller, cheaper, longer battery life, instant on/off, touch, sensors, connectivity, etc.), operating systems (more: secure, reliable, maintainable, robust, etc.), and app software (refactored, renewed, reimagined, etc.). It is the combination of these attributes, however, causing a change as fundamental as the leap from mainframe to workstation, from character-based to graphical OS, from desktop to laptop, from client/server to web — perhaps equal to all rolled into one shift if for no other reason than the whole planet is involved.

And:

Note: This is not a Mac v. Windows or iOS v. Android discussion, so no snickering please. This is about a shift to a “modern mobile” computing platform from hardware to software and the cultural changes that surround that.

I find it fascinating when folks move to a tablet as their full-time machine. I can’t imagine doing that. A big issue for me is the fact that Xcode only runs on my Mac. Add to that my frequent use of a large screen for both editing (multiple windows open side by side) and for development (side-by-side code listings and complex storyboards).

Sinofsky’s post is compelling and worth reading. Interesting that he made the choice to use an iPad and not a Surface solution.