Microsoft to offer 80-inch Windows 8 tablets for offices
“Steve Ballmer has an 80-inch Windows 8 tablet in his office. He's got rid of his phone, he's got rid of his note paper. It's touch-enabled and it's hung on his wall.” — This description of the Microsoft CEO's workspace …
Context & Ripple Effects
Two years after Microsoft and H.P. teased a slate PC racing Apple to market with the Slate PC reveal, the company is sketching the other end of the touchscreen spectrum: an 80-inch, wall-hung Windows 8 device pitched at offices rather than laps. The pickup was broad for a single executive-workspace anecdote — eight outlets including GeekWire, VentureBeat, PC World and LAPTOP Magazine ran the story within days.
First-order effects
- Windows 8 OEM partners gain a new large-format hardware brief alongside tablets and laptops, while Microsoft's push to get developers writing Metro-style, touch-first apps extends to a screen class that barely existed in Windows before.
Second-order effects
- Vendors selling conventional boardroom displays and projection setups face a competitor that bundles touch input and a full Windows OS into the same panel, pressuring them toward interactive or app-capable products of their own.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the boundary between television, whiteboard and PC dissolves: meeting rooms become Windows endpoints, and Microsoft's platform reach stops being defined by desk-bound machines.
The trend: Windows 8 marks Microsoft's attempt to carry touch interaction across every screen scale — from slate to desktop monitor to wall-sized office display.