General Electric Is Migrating 330,000 Employees Away from Windows to Apple

[Megalith]

Microsoft’s absence in mobile led to the removal of Surface tablets from Delta Air Line’s employee offerings, and now, there is additional evidence of the erosion of their dominance in the enterprise as companies increasingly work to simplify their platforms. Industrial giant GE has announced a partnership with Apple to bring Predix, GE’s software platform for the Industrial Internet, to Apple’s iPhone smartphones and iPad tablets, making them the preferred mobile devices for their workers around the world.

The new Predix-iOS software development kit will include tools that software developers can use to write industrial apps that will run on Apple’s iOS operating system. The new partnership means that a wind turbine mechanic in Oklahoma and engineers in New York City can use their iPhones to collaborate on fixing a problem that normally would require a trip back to headquarters — by launching, say, Apple’s FaceTime video chat — and make real-time decisions with instant visuals. GE will also be offering Apple’s Mac computers as an option for their 330,000 employees.

 

[MV75]

Business was supposed to be their safe haven. I suppose this is the result of not sticking with a platform and abandoning it, and the thing they stick with and shovel out is a total broken mess that business has no control over.

 

[bsbllclown]

If you have ever worked with GE as a vendor this makes complete sense. They are the most dysfunctional & incompetent company i have every been required to do business with. I work in Healthcare IT Security and its no wonder GE has been losing market share year over year in this sector. Wonder how the company is doing in other sectors when making decisions like the above...

 

[DPI]

If you have ever worked with GE as a vendor this makes complete sense. They are the most dysfunctional & incompetent company i have every been required to do business with. I work in Healthcare IT Security and its no wonder GE has been losing market share year over year in this sector. Wonder how the company is doing in other sectors when making decisions like the above...

I don't own or like Apple computers, phones or tablets personally, but going iPhone and iPad is the safest bet IT decisionmakers can make. Any corporation still holding onto Microsoft mobile anything - wphone or surface devices - is sitting on a ticking timebomb.

Delta also announced they're dumping Microsoft and Surfaces and going iPad. No brainer.

Expect more to follow.

 

[Jagger100]

This will likely have consequences that would be easily predicted but probably ignored. Like engineering software only available on Windows. Probably driven entirely by a Apple 'fanboi' getting to the top of IT or COE position.

 

[M76]

Microsoft's new customer care and QA policies introduced with Windows 10 hard at work.

 

[DPI]

This will likely have consequences that would be easily predicted but probably ignored. Like engineering software only available on Windows. Probably driven entirely by a Apple 'fanboi' getting to the top of IT or COE position.

It doesn't require an Apple fanboy, dude. When it comes to mobile, Apple is simply regarded as a safe IT bet because it's way more of a fixed and static platform with few devices than Android. And I say that as an Android owner.

Same with point of sale, or the hospitality industry (restaurants, hotels) - it's all becoming iPad.

 

[rudy]

Business was supposed to be their safe haven. I suppose this is the result of not sticking with a platform and abandoning it, and the thing they stick with and shovel out is a total broken mess that business has no control over.

I have been saying this for a long time. It is also pretty timely that this announcement comes around the same time MS tells everyone they are out of mobile. When you give up mobile you give up everything because the future is mobile. Slowly but surely apple will start pushing their way into corporate. But then a bunch of nay sayers will go oh but office! So what both apple and google have office products and they will start pushing more on those to kill off Microsoft. When users are used to a product they try to use it for all sorts of things even if it isn't really the best product, this is obvious with iphones and ipads people try to make them into everything, POS machines, etc..... Every CEO that uses an iPhone is now a new liability to force an entire company over to apple products. And at any point apple can just start screwing over companies that produce software for windows and iOS to give them a disadvantage over those that build exclusively for ios and osx.


Steve Balmer wasn't the best CEO but at least he understood the long term vision well enough to keep trying mobile. They just needed someone to come in with a real interest in mobile. Personally I think that MS should do something completely off the wall, like spin off a new company and give them the rights to launch a mobile product maybe its the only way to get someone who doesn't have too much conflict of interest to do it right. Satya Nadella seems to be really lost here, he's too busy making weird products like the $3000 computers that are too expensive to realize he is throwing out the entire future of the company. He seems to have no focus. Why would anyone develop for the windows store when even MS won first party applications do not run on it. They need to get fully functional office running like yesterday.

 

[bbqrooster]

"The new Predix-iOS software development kit will include tools that software developers can use to write industrial apps that will run on Apple’s iOS operating system." So GE is providing a software development kit for developers to write industrial apps to run on iOS. This has nothing to do with migrating GE employees to Apple. Even if it is, how long does it take for these developers to migrate these apps to iOS? Here's the kicker "GE will also be offering Apple’s Mac computers as an option for their 330,000 employees." I fail to understand how we can have this article titled "General ELectric is Migrating 330,000 Employees Away from Windows to Apple" when the Mac is being provided only as an option. Can you say "Click Bait"?

 

[nutzo]

I don't own or like Apple computers, phones or tablets personally, but going iPhone and iPad is the safest bet IT decisionmakers can make. Any corporation still holding onto Microsoft mobile anything - wphone or surface devices - is sitting on a ticking timebomb.

That might be an ok choice when it comes to phones, but dropping Microsoft for everything else will likely result in numerous failures.
There's way too many apps that require Windows.

 

[MV75]

That might be an ok choice when it comes to phones, but dropping Microsoft for everything else will likely result in numerous failures.
There's way too many apps that require Windows.

And plenty more that don't.

I can happily use either office or open office. I can also happily use myob or xero, which is browser based. Even our national tax returns are browser based. Platform independent, oh damn son. MS; that footnote in history.

What would really bury them? Apple releasing a AAA console that has free online and connects to every other I-device. X-bone themselves right in the A.

 

[nutzo]

What would really bury them? Apple releasing a AAA console that has free online and connects to every other I-device. X-bone themselves right in the A.

Never happen.
No mater how much Microsoft messes up, Apple will be even worse, locking down their systems and being too greedy on the prices.

As long as Windows remains open to other hardware manufactures, Windows will have the largest market share. Same as Android.
Apple will never be able to compete with dozens of other companies. They may be the single largest seller of cell phones, but they will never be able to out sell dozens of other companies.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

It's such a shame that Heatlesssun went and got himself banned... I want to hear some more about how enterprise will save Windows 10.

 

[Deleted member 126051]

Never happen.
No mater how much Microsoft messes up, Apple will be even worse, locking down their systems and being too greedy on the prices.

As long as Windows remains open to other hardware manufactures, Windows will have the largest market share. Same as Android.
Apple will never be able to compete with dozens of other companies. They may be the single largest seller of cell phones, but they will never be able to out sell dozens of other companies.

The main problem is that, while Apple likes that nice IT-sector money, they don't ACTUALLY want to provide pro-grade support (mainly because they can't, they're a "lifestyle option", not a b2b support provider). So, if it can't be taken to the nearest "Genius" bar so you can be told "It's dust", you're kinda SOL.

 

[gulguran]

If you have ever worked with GE as a vendor this makes complete sense. They are the most dysfunctional & incompetent company i have every been required to do business with. I work in Healthcare IT Security and its no wonder GE has been losing market share year over year in this sector. Wonder how the company is doing in other sectors when making decisions like the above...

I know for a fact you had them as a customer. I have too. spot on.

 

[lostin3d]

MS has created a void by not competently provided mobile alternatives. Android, I like it for light stuff but not about to use it professionally. That really only leaves one other provider.

As for the others talking about GE, yeah they've been tanking since the late 80's early 90's. I'm actually amazed they still exist. Probably has something to do government contracts.

 

[ZenDragon]

My personal opinion on the matter, as a MS platform developer/consultant. I do not believe they are or have any intention of exiting the mobile space. They are simply adapting, and admitting that they were late to the game in regards to mobile operating systems. But let me ask you this; Do you think a user of average to below average intelligence (a majority of them) cares or even has any idea what operating system their phone is running? All they care about is that their apps work, they can get on their social media platform of choice, etc etc. The operating system is really irrelevant, the important thing is the availability of software for the platform. This is where MS is aiming. With the purchase of Xamarin, and the open sourcing of the .NET framework, they have a platform that is robust and quite capable of running on both iOS and Android as well as Windows Desktop in many cases. These things can quite easily be integrated into Azure which is by far the largest and most powerful cloud service provider. All things considered, I would say they have made the proper strategic choice to drop Windows Phone and focus on the platform as a whole.

 

[viscountalpha]

If you have ever worked with GE as a vendor this makes complete sense. They are the most dysfunctional & incompetent company i have every been required to do business with. I work in Healthcare IT Security and its no wonder GE has been losing market share year over year in this sector. Wonder how the company is doing in other sectors when making decisions like the above...

I can believe this.

 

[viscountalpha]

My personal opinion on the matter, as a MS platform developer/consultant. I do not believe they are or have any intention of exiting the mobile space. They are simply adapting, and admitting that they were late to the game in regards to mobile operating systems. But let me ask you this; Do you think a user of average to below average intelligence (a majority of them) cares or even has any idea what operating system their phone is running? All they care about is that their apps work, they can get on their social media platform of choice, etc etc. The operating system is really irrelevant, the important thing is the availability of software available for the platform. This is where MS is aiming. With the purchase of Xamarin, and the open sourcing of the .NET framework, they have a platform that is robust and quite capable of running on both iOS and Android as well as Windows Desktop in many cases. These things can quite easily be integrated into Azure which is by far the largest and most powerful cloud service provider. All things considered, I would say they have made the proper strategic choice to drop Windows Phone and focus on the platform as a whole.

Microsoft should just get onto the android platform and call it good. Adapt word to work on mobile. Let me import documents onto my cellphone and make a nice package to increase mobile productivity.

 

[ZenDragon]

Microsoft should just get onto the android platform and call it good. Adapt word to work on mobile. Let me import documents onto my cellphone and make a nice package to increase mobile productivity.

They already are. They currently offer damn near the entire office suite on android, including all the standard office products and OneDrive, with integrations into Office 365. They even have Cortana on android and are working on bring Edge over (preview currently available). Just do a search for "Microsoft Inc" in the play store. There's quite a lot, and they've had most of this stuff for years. That is far more cross platform cooperation and integration than Google or Apple has ever attempted.

I may sound like a MS fanboi, and perhaps I am, but I wasnt always. I used to be all about FOSS and used linux extensively, I still do to a somewhat lesser degree. But MS isn't the same company they used to be, and neither are Google or Apple.