Will fulltime missionaries use Windows or Apple iPads

Promise this is the last post for while! My son will be serving a mission in April 2015 and he was wondering if he can use a Windows slate instead of an iPad? It seems that the Church may have settled for iPad Minis and I think that maybe Windows may be the best platform going forward- especially considering that Office 365 is available to the Church for free (see http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporat ... onprofits/) and a lot of good ideas associated with OneDrive for storage of Church data for wards and stakes. Apple and Google system are just not as mature. Ward PC's globally would benefit from compatible devices and systems - especially Outlook and other defacto standard offerings. Links could be made with the Gospel Library in substantial ways... just saying

We appreciate your concern and input. However, the forum is primarily user to user support. Those who make the decisions for the technology used by missionaries in the field seldom, if ever, visit the forums and post. Others with knowledge about the roll-out of technology to the mission field may be able to give insight into what they know or have witnessed.

From what I have read in other threads the iPad mini and the iPhone are the devices being used in those areas where technology is available. And considering the experience with the Church in using one operating system I doubt there would be a mix of devices since the support for multiple operating systems would be more than proportionately increased. Additionally there would be compatibility issues along with increased training necessary to support multiple operating system devices.

[Moderator note: The rest of your post addressing technology for ward and stake use should be made in other existing threads discussing those topics and not in this thread. We need to follow the Code of Conduct and keep threads to a single topic and in the appropriate forum.]

Thanks for clarifying everything! I am an information worker, consultant, with a background in community development and training for people aged 40+ and it would be useful for the Church to know what its members are experiencing in these matters and I do get the complexity of multiple operating systems. It may be wise for those that are making decisions about technology to get a sense about what people are saying here. I understand the hierarchical nature of the systems in the Church and a flatter model may in fact be more useful and economically sound in these matters. If you could provide a link, I would be happy to discuss these things in a more appropriate forum.

From my perspective what seems to a simpler richer experience should be driving policy and IMHO the Windows OS may provide that. I am delighted to see that the original OS is getting more attention now and that can only be a good thing. After all having to learn a different (not good or bard) set of rules between devices is what I hear is difficult that is what for end users. Each OS seems to do even the most fundamental things in a different way... and THAT is what people struggle with!