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.