Windows 8 – The right choice for field auditor applications

The new Windows 8 platform is an excellent choice for field auditor based applications. Field auditors, in the field I am most familiar with which is Environmental Compliance, have a need for a “more than smart phone” interface need for them to perform their day to day duties on the field. It is also not feasible for them to carry a laptop along with them all the time. They are tasked with tracking standards like Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFRs, 29 CFRs, etc) set by the EPA and other governing agencies at various facilities on any given day. Their tasks include walking up hills, going into water bodies, walking through dense vegetation to take pictures, videos, collect samples and so on. A handy device like the new Windows Surface on Windows RT is a great solution to the problem. Windows also gives them a good connected platform to the rest of the firm’s auditors and managers keeping the machine on the network’s Active Directory with no additional software installs. This is highly applicable in the Government space as well with the right CONs given that Windows 8 devices can handle CAC authentication too. This creates a secure and collaborative environment for the entire audit team along with the managers in the central office location. The modern UI based application paradigm in WinRT is a very intuitive no nonsense interface into what the auditors want. I am watching this place very closely to see what else pops up in the new Windows 8 Marketplace with this use case.

Folks who are interested in taking parts of their auditors suite to create based handheld applications must read more about Windows 8, the security features Windows 8 has as against Apple’s iPad, Modern UI and Windows 8 apps marketplace and on the best practices around Windows 8 application development. Here are some useful links to follow –

•   Windows8.ilink-systems.com
•   windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/meet
•   blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/
•   msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/jj679957

Windows RT vs. WinRT vs. Windows 8!!

One of the things that I was confused about in the last few hours, and I am confident that many more people are going to be confused about in next few months is the difference between "Windows RT" and WinRT. Here is the simple version:

Windows RT:

1.  It's an OS.
2.  It's a variation of the Windows 8 OS that Microsoft has specifically    designed for devices running ARM devices.
3. (In case you are wondering) ARM is an architecture used by many processor companies to design their chips, including Qualcomm, nVidia, Texas Instruments and several others.
4. What that means is that when you go to the Settings -> PC Info screen of a tablet device running an ARM processor, it will show you "Windows RT" and NOT "Windows 8". So, it's a full-fledged OS that is branded and sold separately by Microsoft to tablet OEMs (aka manufacturers) who are using ARM processors in their tablet devices. In fact, it used to be called as "Windows on ARM" earlier but was later on re-branded as Windows RT.

WinRT:

1.   it’s a runtime.
2.  Conceptually, it's not very different from .net, java or any other        runtime in the sense that its main goal is to create a cross-platform application architecture on Windows 8 that supports multiple languages (C++, C#, JavaScript, etc.). 

Difference between "Windows RT" and "Windows 8":

     Now that we know that Windows RT is an OS, I am sure that some of you are wondering how it is different from Windows 8. Here it is!!

1.  Not much different from user experience point of view as both    support Metro UI.
2. Windows RT is not sold directly to consumers, and is meant only to be sold to device manufacturers (aka OEMs).
3. The goal behind Windows RT is to give end users consistent    experience across tablets being offered by various manufacturers (including Microsoft's own device called as Surface).  
4. Windows RT will come pre-packaged with MS Office, whereas Windows 8 users will have to buy (and install) Office separately.
5. There are similar differences in terms of applications shipped out of the box in Windows RT and Winodws 8, as well as the kinds of applications you can develop/install/uninstall on them. Windows RT seems to be more locked-down version of the two.
6.  You also cannot use Win32 and COM APIs on Windows RT, so you are pretty much restricted to using WinRT APIs. Although, over  next few days I am going to be closely working on a project that requires access to underlying System Information on a Windows RT "ARM" device. It seems that there may be a way to access a subset of Win 32 API on a Windows RT device. If it works, I will post my experience in a subsequent post. 

 
Please visit our Windows 8 application development page