La guerre des systèmes d'exploitation pour les tablettes (en anglais)
Commentaire que j'ai laissé sur le forum de l'ExoPC suite à un article au sujet de la guerre des systèmes d'exploitation pour les tablettes.
My perception is that the tablet market is wider than what we are looking at here. ExoPC is in a class like Wetab and like decent netbook.
My theory is... (!!)
The tablet market will cover many other form factors and applications. Like HP with a new control panel on a big multifunction printer driven by a full-OS tablet. Smaller tablets with less resources will also cover the space between smart-phones and netbooks. Depending on the resources (hardware) and the intended use, the preferred OS will vary. There is a lot of space between a smart-phone and a laptop.
Small-OS vs Full-OS
Android is cool if the device initialy does what it is required to do and addons are only "nice-to-have". But Android on a PC is not appropriate in my work experience, because it is limited to the app-store. I put Webos in the same basket here.
Linux is cool and cheaper but not ready for touch. Canonical is missing the action.
Windows is ready for touch and in a better position, at the moment, to keep up with what will happend in the next year or so. If the tablet is to be used professionally, Windows is better because it is compatible with the actual user's software collection and experience. But I also aggree that Windows is not designed for touch even if it will work. That is where ExoPC-UI comes into play.
The name of the game
The way I see it, mobility implies synchronization of contacts, agendas and files. This has less to do with an OS than with services on the cloud. I believe that a tablet offering a good solution for syncing will have the edge. This is why 3G comes into play. Windows has some advantages but as most solutions are based on Exchange, it is a little too narrow. Opensource solutions will surely shake this up with syncml, funambol and groupdav. Android being tied to Gmail is a drawback.
Appliances
When a tablet will be attached to a an equipement (car gps, boat sonar, printer control panel, tv remote...), the OS might not be very important but the interface will be. And users won't even (want to) see what is under the hood.
My conclusion
My understanding is that comparing OS's qualities without defining the intented use is futile. I think that OS and intended use must be analysed together to make a choice.
That is why I know that ExoPC is a good choice for me because I am looking at its hardware, its UI, its OS and at my intended use.
