With Windows on your iPad, laptops may soon be history

There is something very touchable about the tablet computer. It’s vulnerable, loves to be touched and changes character just with a swipe. But the main problem tablet owners face is the lack of software they are familiar with - the software they use on their personal computers and laptops.  This major hitch is likely to be solved for iPad users from 12 January when Windows software, including the familiar MS Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), becomes available on the tablet. The application (app) that allows this is made by Onlive. It is currently free and legal and can be downloaded to the tablet desktop. What the app does is stream an image of a remote Windows desktop to the iPad, according to reports out on Wednesday in various journals. Since it is streamed to your desktop, you don’t actually own that Windows edition and so you will not have to pay for it. Later on, though, you may have to pay for the app. All the files you create with the Office suite, like Word or Excel, will be stored or hosted in the cloud on Onlive’s servers. So the limited memory of many iPads will not be a big issue. Soon 50 GB of cloud storage will be on offer for a professional model of the Windows app. Tablets so far have not been used for professional jobs like writing out proposals or PowerPoint presentations. The iPad uses Apple’s proprietary software. Neither Word, which most PC or laptop owners use, nor Excel or PowerPoint, three of the most used software, are available on the iPad and most other tablets. The iPad also does not have a USB port, making it impossible to add memory or even use other hardware to push programmes into the tablet. [caption id=“attachment_179088” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“There is something very touchable about the tablet computer. AFP”] [/caption] With the Onlive app, many experts believe that the iPad will become an Office-friendly computer.  If this app works well and is accepted by the public, then Apple’s famed “walled garden” will be gatecrashed by other popular software apps too. Apple will also benefit because they take a 30 percent commission on all priced apps available on the iTunes store, the one-stop shop for all purchases on Apple computers. It, therefore, looks like the beginning of the end of the laptop, assuming the app becomes popular and if iPad and other tablets work  well with this interface.  People will definitely prefer to carry a tablet instead of a laptop. So far it was presumed that the personal computer would take a hit if tablets become popular, but it is increasingly becoming clear that it is the laptop that will face the brunt of the rise of the tablet. In India, the iPad is used either as a plaything by those who can afford it or by lawyers - who use it as a working tool. Huge documents can be stored on the iPad and easily accessed by touch and swipe in the courtroom. You can even go to the exact page number by touch. For example, the huge battery of  lawyers in Delhi working on 2G scam cases now carry iPads to court. The reason: the chargesheet is 80,000 pages long. This chargesheet, in PDF form, can be uploaded on the iPad through the iTunes store in your personal computer. Once the iPad is connected to your PC through the jack, the iTunes store automatically opens up. So, clearly, if the Word too is available in tablets, then other professionals can use it like a laptop, though it is not clear how easily a file can be attached through this app or what the weight of such files can be. Windows and Apple have had a running battle over control of computer software worldwide. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had a love-hate relationship though they also formed a mutual admiration society. Apps are the newest things in software with hundreds of software companies trying to develop apps  which will integrate various software into the iPad and other devices. “Apps allowed the Apple platform to be sort of open, in a very controlled way, to outside developers who wanted to create software and content for it—open, that is, like a carefully curated gated community garden,” writes Walter Isaacson in his biography of Steve Jobs. Jobs initially was not in favour of apps, which most of his think-tank were advocating. He wanted quality control and that became possible when it was suggested that all apps could be downloaded only from the iTunes store. Apple checks out software before it can be made available on the iTunes store. Which is how it will happen with the Windows app as well. If the  streaming app works well, then  tablets are set for a major boost and could cut into the laptop market - if it hasn’t already. So far people with the iPad could not do without a laptop due to Windows software. Tablets are also set to take over the e-reader market in India. E-readers are not big in India because reading is not a national obsession while talking non-stop is. An Amazon app for PCs makes it possible for books to be bought and downloaded on your PC or tablet. The big advantage of an e-reader is that it is not back-lit and hence very good for reading books without hurting the eye. Also, an e-reader battery can last for a whole week as many programmes do not run at the back. In India so far, tablets have been bought as gadgets where reading books is not the main purpose. Digital libraries have not been making big sales in India. With tablet sales soaring, that should change. (Binoo John was till recently vice-president of Wink e-reader )