http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/09/30/delta-pilots-fough...
> "We fought hard for iPad," a pilot working for the airline told AppleInsider. He described the Delta deal as being about money, travel contracts, and Delta's Information Technology staff historically being "in bed" with Microsoft.
Read the rest of the article. It gets worse.
You do realise that Apple doesn't sell any corporate software, whereas Active Directory and other MS key server techs are a fundamental part of many company's networks. AFAIK, Apple doesn't make it exactly easy to remote manage devices - that's not their main target, while it is for Microsoft.
The deal is still probably more about PR, but it's not like IT being "in bed" with MS is anything new.
Apple's MDM suite is actually pretty robust these days, and iOS 7 made it better with silent OTA installs and even more controls. Of course, that relies on a device being online (as any remote management tool would), and I'm not sure if the FAA approved the trial iPads or the Surfaces to have any kind of wireless on during flight.
Actually, if these are the Surface RT 2 and not Surface Pro 2, then I think Apple's MDM would win for remote management. Last I understood, WinRT lacked basic remote admin things like joining a domain and policies.
Seems like people would want to use iPad just because it was the first to enter the market and has the mind share. I'd consider this to be a good way of garnering some of that.
but the airlines don't want the pilots using office software, that's not what these devices are for.
the reason many pilots prefer ipad, i would guess, is because of better/easier UI conventions for ios apps and possibly a better touch screen. that would actually be relevant in the flight related apps the devices are meant for.
As for better ui - I've heard very few complaints about Metro on a touchscreen. The biggest complaints I've heard are about using it with a mouse and keyboard, which isn't exactly the normal Surface 2 or iPad use case.
Until the new ones come out in two weeks?
Are you really arguing that there are no productive ways to use an ipad?
What? You realize you just said Pilots won't be using the pad just to watch netflix and then proceeded to applaud the free office suit for productivity, right?
In what way do you see Pilots using the office suit for productivity? I'm really interested in hearing this. Seeing as the main use for tablets is as an electronic manual for Pilots. So, all they do with it is mostly reading and referencing. Why on earth would you need a Surface for that? That is like you buying your mother a laptop with the highest specs you can find when she told you all she wants to do is write emails. Complete overkill.
Also, why would a pilot need the office suite in flight?
Microsoft B2B focus and history bending over backward for backwards compatibility gives it a clear market advantage. Having a full technology stack continuous from servers to phones doesn't hurt either.
The weakness of the iPad is that it is a thoroughly a consumer oriented product. In the long haul, it makes sense for enterprise as a BYOD option. It's a little harder to build a stable IT roadmap upon.
When it is supposed to replace paper manuals for pilots, all you need is a consumer grade tablet. Especially if it comes in a build quality like the iPad. And with the now free iWork suit it is not even exclusively a consumer device. But again, if you just use it as an alternative to paper manuals, where exactly is the need for a Surface? What feature of the Surface would be of use for the Pilots that they don't get with an iPad?
In addition with their Office Suite cash cow not running on iOS or Android, their earnings with be impacted even more.
Maybe there's a more extensive deal; limited free wifi on Delta flights for Surface users? Plane-local wifi with access to movies via a Surface app?