NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Credit unions have been slow to embrace Windows 8, with a number of CU IT execs telling Credit Union Journal earlier this year they were holding off on purchasing the software in favor of additional releases from Microsoft. But several people during the Harland Connections conference here suggested those same IT execs had better get used to Windows 8, because it's here to stay.
The slow adoption of Windows 8 was due in large part to the introduction of a "tile" user interface (UI) that replaced the traditional "start" button. That led Microsoft to release Windows 8.1, which reinstated the start button, even as it retained the tile UI, which it is now using across multiple devices, including tablets.
"[Windows 8] is here and there will come a point when a corporate IT department won't be able to retrofit a new PC to the old OS," said Scott Hansen, EVP-business development with Harland Financial Solutions, during a meeting with media and analysts. "Our software will run on it. The real opportunity we have is to take advantage of some of the new functionality. We think this changes everything. It's phenomenal progression in the form factor of the hardware, and we believe the Windows 8 uniformity across multiple platforms is going to change everything. What mobility means is you take the screen with you and now it's a tablet, and with right capabilities, it's basically a phone."
Hansen noted a number of Harland solutions are already using as their UI/UX the "ribbon" users of Microsoft Office are already familiar with.
Harland President/CEO Raj Shivdasani noted Microsoft traditionally sticks with an OS for a long time. "We think as they announce a sunset (of other OS) people will start to move. A lot of enterprise computing is now on desktops and we think it's all going to move to Windows 8."
