Windows 8 Compatibility

[Alhanelem]

There's been a huge trend lately where people are moving away from traditional computers (especially in businesses). There's a large shift in the industry where people are bringing their own devices to work (largely iOS devices) and hooking them up to corporate networks. The phenomena is known as consumerization of IT and it's catching on quick. It's to the point where Microsoft is actually a bit threatened by this, as some businesses are considering throwing out the "traditional" PC all together. Granted, this isn't across all companies in all industries, but it certainly is an alarming trend.

I must be living under a pretty massive rock then, because I don't know one business within at least 50 miles of me that is doing this.

At work (retail) all of the managers have desktops in their offices, all of the vendors stocking shelves have laptops to order and track inventory, and there are no signs that this is changing. Even our registers are powered by Windows (lolz).

There is a simple fact that when you aren't forced to make everything as compact as possible, you can create more powerful hardware. Desktops will always be used in many industries because handheld touchscreen devices can not provide the same performance. This has been true for decades with laptops vs desktops, is true today with any laptop or desktop vs smart phones, and is true today with traditional desktops vs tablets.

The biggest worry for IT organizations today is the ability to secure and manage these devices. Right now, there aren't really any great solutions and the ones that are out there require a lot of implementation and administration. While this is less of an issue for the regular worker, how do you deal with your CEO's iPad if it gets lost? Do you have the ability to wipe the device remotely? How do you keep all that confidential information from falling into the wrong hands?

This is another reason why desktop hardware will never completely go away. It is no small part because desktops are not ultra-compact that they are more secure. It is easier to secure a building than a device that fits in the palm of your hand.

Microsoft can look to the future while recognizing that desktops are not going to die overnight or anytime soon, and retain the user interface that people are familiar with for desktop computers. Couldn't the OS easily detect the type of device it's being installed on and just configure the UI appropriately? And as I already said, tablets are by nature not practical for certain kinds of applications.

I will not pay $200 for windows 8 to power my desktop PC when it's going to be clearly inferior for my purposes.

[Maneki]

I must be living under a pretty massive rock then, because I don't know one business within at least 50 miles of me that is doing this.

At work (retail) all of the managers have desktops in their offices, all of the vendors stocking shelves have laptops to order and track inventory, and there are no signs that this is changing. Even our registers are powered by Windows (lolz).

My job involves working with IT admins at various business (some big, some small, and some recognizable). My portfolio has about 14 customers in it and ALL of them have some semblance of this occurring. They represent a wide variety of industries, ranging from retail to mechanical engineering firms to manufacturers. When the CxO comes in with his iPad (and more commonly iPhone) and says "make this work," the IT guy can't really say no. The people I work with are pretty much full Microsoft shops, with Windows Servers, Active Director, Exchange, SQL, etc. and they can fully manage any Windows based device that walks in the door.

Problems start happening when people start bringing things in. Sure, you can block access to the devices through corporate firewall and at the network level via MAC verification, but if the "big" boss comes to your office and says "I want my email on this new iPad," then you find a way to make it happen and start worrying about securing the one device. Once that precedent is set, then the floodgates have opened. The IT folks start bringing things in because they know how to make it work and eventually the helpdesk starts getting calls from all the desk workers wanting to hook up their devices so they can "better work remotely and away from the office." We already know how to secure Windows based laptops, but non-Windows devices are a completely different story. They weren't built with the business user in mind, but they're winding up in more and more peoples' bags when they travel.

In this scenario, the desktop never truly goes away, but people rely more and more on their handheld devices. Sure, they can't do everything with them (like do all the number crunching in Excel and stuff), but it'll do 90% of what they want. At some point, someone will figure out how to address these shortcomings and that will be the "next great thing." From a business perspective, Microsoft wants this platform to be Windows and not iOSx. As we all know, most people who buy an iOS device will not want to give it up.

The desktop PC isn't dead and Win8 is far from killing it. It works on both platforms and there may be some imperfections to the way it's implemented. Sure, there's an argument to whether or not it was a good implementation and you'll always find people on both sides of that argument. I guess the question is, are you going to stay stagnant and not change (while everyone changes around you) or move forward (and potentially shape the future of the industry?)

[Delsus]

My job involves working with IT admins at various business (some big, some small, and some recognizable). My portfolio has about 14 customers in it and ALL of them have some semblance of this occurring. They represent a wide variety of industries, ranging from retail to mechanical engineering firms to manufacturers. When the CxO comes in with his iPad (and more commonly iPhone) and says "make this work," the IT guy can't really say no. The people I work with are pretty much full Microsoft shops, with Windows Servers, Active Director, Exchange, SQL, etc. and they can fully manage any Windows based device that walks in the door.

Problems start happening when people start bringing things in. Sure, you can block access to the devices through corporate firewall and at the network level via MAC verification, but if the "big" boss comes to your office and says "I want my email on this new iPad," then you find a way to make it happen and start worrying about securing the one device. Once that precedent is set, then the floodgates have opened. The IT folks start bringing things in because they know how to make it work and eventually the helpdesk starts getting calls from all the desk workers wanting to hook up their devices so they can "better work remotely and away from the office." We already know how to secure Windows based laptops, but non-Windows devices are a completely different story. They weren't built with the business user in mind, but they're winding up in more and more peoples' bags when they travel.

In this scenario, the desktop never truly goes away, but people rely more and more on their handheld devices. Sure, they can't do everything with them (like do all the number crunching in Excel and stuff), but it'll do 90% of what they want. At some point, someone will figure out how to address these shortcomings and that will be the "next great thing." From a business perspective, Microsoft wants this platform to be Windows and not iOSx. As we all know, most people who buy an iOS device will not want to give it up.

The desktop PC isn't dead and Win8 is far from killing it. It works on both platforms and there may be some imperfections to the way it's implemented. Sure, there's an argument to whether or not it was a good implementation and you'll always find people on both sides of that argument. I guess the question is, are you going to stay stagnant and not change (while everyone changes around you) or move forward (and potentially shape the future of the industry?)

Even if the CEO comes in and wants something working you can tell him no and give reasons "its too insecure" "if it gets stolen YOU have to deal with the lawsuits for being in breach of the data protection act" (emphisize that one) etc etc or even "sorry our policies state that we cannot do that, we have procedures in place" if I was a network manager and someone did that even for the CEO they would be in the dole queue because they are putting company information at risk. The risks are even that great that companies tend to disable USB ports that arent needed incase a rogue employee attempts to steal database info (imagine how much cusomer info you can store on a 1TB external HDD) The IT department should never do this they are at risk, and if customers knew that data was at risk the company would go bust in no time.