Build 2016 Developers Conference was the brightest technological event of the past week. There, Microsoft showed the world what it is working on and how the future of technology sees. The new version of Windows 10, Skype updates, bots as the basis of the web and HoloLens. All this is undoubtedly interesting, but Windows Ink stands out among the company's announcements - a set of products for all users who still prefer a pen and paper.
For more information about the great importance of this technology for the entire high-tech industry, see Max Slater-Robins' article “Microsoft is really gunning for the iPad Pro with Windows Ink” published by WinBeta. Of course, the point of view set forth in this note is only one of the possible ones. In addition, today it is impossible to say anything definite about the convenience of Windows Ink, you can only make certain assumptions.
Windows Ink is a suite of products for Surface Pro and for any other stylus-compatible tablets that provide a range of features that can be very useful for creative people.
Microsoft notes that with Windows Ink, the stylus is at the center. The company announced Ink Workspace - a set of applications that allow you to use the stylus as efficiently as possible for various tasks. For example, among these applications there is also a note-taking program that, using intelligent technology, is able to recognize words such as, for example, “tomorrow” and, based on the understood text, perform certain actions.
First of all, the stylus and its features are interesting for artists and designers. But the circle of users of the stylus is not limited to representatives of creative professions. Indeed, in the world there are many people who still prefer pen and paper to digital input. Thus, the new development of Microsoft may appeal to very many, almost every user. Those users who find it important to have freehand input can start looking seriously at Surface tablets.
It should be noted that the new iPad Pros from Apple, which were recently introduced by the company, are aimed primarily at the same audience - users who constantly and intensively work with the tablet.
iPad Pro - a tablet with a 12.9-inch screen running the iOS operating system supports an additional accessory - the Apple Pencil stylus. Like the Surface Pen, this stylus can be used to enter notes and draw pictures. Apple has sought to focus the public on this opportunity and even launched an advertising campaign showing the work of artists on the iPad.
But Microsoft, with its Ink technology, has managed to do something previously unprecedented. The workspace, which can be activated in Windows 10, has a ruler that can be moved with your finger while drawing with the Pen. In addition, the company offers other tools that artists find very useful in their work.
As is characteristic of Microsoft technologies, this functionality can be embedded in third-party applications such as Adobe Photoshop. For this, as the company itself has informed, it’s enough only “two lines of code” (it remains unclear whether in fact only two lines of code or these words were some exaggeration of the ease of integrating new functionality into third-party applications).
Microsoft has changed its approach, and now the company seeks to attract as many users as possible to use its software. Even those who are not Windows users. Suffice it to say that on the same iPad Pro can run all the main applications of the Microsoft Office suite.
It turns out a bit strange situation - Microsoft at the same time strengthens the position of the iPad Pro and competes with it.
Ink technology will draw the attention of people with creative professions to the Windows platform. It turns out that using OneNote on the iPad is certainly a great solution, but it's even better to use Surface.
Surface is becoming an increasingly attractive device, especially when compared to the iPad. After all, the version of Photoshop, which is the most popular Adobe product that is available to iOS users, is characterized by limited functionality. Surface, thanks to Windows 10, allows you to run the full version of this software product.
iOS is an unusually popular operating system, because it is under its control that the iPhone works. But it is it that impedes the success of the iPad Pro. Unlike Windows 10, only Apple-approved applications can be installed on the iPad Pro, which is somewhat inconvenient for users who use third-party proprietary applications, and there are many such people.
The openness of the Windows platform and the willingness of Microsoft to share their inventions and software can be a real advantage of the Surface Pro in the eyes of those people who will compare it with the iPad. After all, Surface supports all the software that the user may presumably need. Meanwhile, the iPad supports only the latest and brightest software, but this does not mean that every user needs just such a set of programs.
Those tasks for which you can only use Surface Pro will require the user to have iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. This is not the only and in many cases insufficient, but for a number of users a very significant argument in favor of Surface.
When Surface was first introduced, many doubted its prospects. But now it’s becoming clear that Microsoft has managed to create an excellent device with a wonderful set of software. And all this thanks to the universal platform Universal Windows Platform, which is getting better every day.
Despite the many advantages of Windows 10 and the inevitability of switching to it, Windows 7 remains the most popular operating system for PCs. Of course, this inevitability is not absolute, and users have alternatives in the form of OS X and numerous versions of Linux. And not every user will consider the advanced features of using the stylus as such a significant advantage.
Will Windows Ink be a significant argument in favor of Surface Pro for artists and designers?
The article is based on materials .
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