Businesses Don't Want Windows RT, Lenovo Says

According to a prominent member of the Lenovo team, Microsoft made a big mistake with Windows RT. In fact, Simon Kent, Lenovo's Think PC and visual category manager, doesn't believe any businesses want to use the slimmed-down version of the Windows 8 operating system.

Major PC hardware manufacturer Lenovo has been critical of Windows RT before. In fact, the firm has mostly passed on the operating system (OS), which is specially designed for mobile devices like tablet computers.

Windows RT Not "What Businesses Want"

Even though Lenovo has released a number of tablet devices, it has repeatedly chosen to include Windows 8 Pro on those systems, including the ThinkPad Helix, rather than Windows RT.

"We don't believe that Windows RT is what businesses want," Kent said. "This is particularly true for a premium products such as Helix, which gives you the performance and capability of a full Ultrabook as well as a business tablet."

Kent went on to suggest that Windows RT represented something of a "shortcut," and that business users recognized this and therefore have avoided purchasing hardware running the OS. (Source: pcworld.com)

If you haven't heard of it, the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix is a hybrid tablet-ultrabook combo targeted at business users. It features a slide-out keyboard that gives it the portability of a tablet but the functionality of a larger laptop computer.

It also boasts some of the rugged durability that the ThinkPad line is known for. (Source: digitaltrends.com)

Kent says Lenovo never even considered using Windows RT for the Helix and that "even Microsoft has started to review the RT path they have gone down."

Lenovo, Microsoft, Have Butted Heads Before

This isn't the first time a prominent Lenovo figure has ripped a Microsoft product. Last August Lenovo chief executive officer Yang Yuanqing tore into the then-unreleased Surface tablet, which appeared to pose a competitive threat to Windows-based Lenovo devices.

The Surface RT runs Windows RT.

"[They're] just one of our many competitors," Yuanqing said of long-time partner Microsoft. "We are still confident that we are providing much better hardware than our competitors including Microsoft."