There are considerable benefits in investing in one platform for all your devices \u2013 the same mobile phone platform, the same platform for your tablet, your work notebook, and your gaming console. I have chosen Microsoft as my platform, and I will tell you why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a previous life, I had an Android smartphone, an Apple iPad, a Microsoft laptop, and playing my games on the Sony PlayStation 3. I thought life was good. I had all kinds of systems in place to synchronize content to the cloud and synchronize the content back to each of my devices. I would go to a customer meeting with my iPad, take notes, only to return to the office and not be able to work on those notes on my notebook. I first needed to synchronize the iPad to the cloud, and then synchronize the cloud back to my notebook. I thought I was being productive, but actually, I was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, I was buying the same apps for different platforms \u2013 especially apps needed for work between the iPad and the Windows notebook. I was paying twice for the same app, sometimes even three times for the same app on different platforms!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sat back, looked at this craziness and asked myself \u2013 will my work platform change to Android in the next two years? Will my work platform change to Apple in the next two years? No, and no in each case. My work platform for the last\u2026 uhmmm 15+ years\u2026 has been Microsoft. I do not see that changing in the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, I have consolidated all my devices and apps into one platform. Microsoft!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a Windows Phone 8<\/a>, a hybrid Windows 8 touch tablet\/notebook<\/a>, and Xbox 360<\/a> for gaming. In the process, I have eliminated one device \u2013 the Apple iPad – and vastly simplified my digital life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Come to think of it, the Apple iPad is pretty frustrating to use as a business device in a world where our office runs on Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have even taken it further into the applications I use \u2013 switching from Dropbox to Microsoft SkyDrive<\/a> and switching from Evernote to Microsoft OneNote\u00a0(the text editor in OneNote is far superior to Evernote). The Microsoft Office tools are fully integrated into the platform, and SkyDrive is fully integrated into Microsoft Office. I have *even* switched from Google Chrome back to Internet Explorer<\/a>! Yip, look at http:\/\/BrowserYouLoveToHate.com<\/a>. This \u201cChild of the 90\u2019s\u201d clip almost brought me to tears!<\/p>\n\n\n\n