Microsoft has detailed some of the business and enterprise features coming to Windows 8.1. “We built Windows 8 to bring the most powerful and modern computing experience to businesses and to help professionals stay connected to their colleagues and clients from anywhere, anytime. Windows 8.1 advances this vision and introduces new manageability, mobility, security, user experience and networking capabilities that will be available later this year.”
Will anyone really use a tablet-based OS in an enterprise setting? One that will only lose its desktop/workstation heritage mostly or even entirely as time goes on?
Nope!
There is a really good reason why the desktop has stayed the same since the 1990 or so, possibly earlier, and that’s because it works and it makes sense! Most people in the business environment do not care about touchscreen as it removes them further from the keyboard where most input is still done. Businesses tend to like it this way and will be reluctant to change!
I can however see environments where touchscreen is great, interactive kiosks for example, early learning environments, information booths to name 3 off the top of my head, just not in the typical office.
Yes, because as it stands, they have Desktop functionality, and will likely continue to do so for a long time spanning multiple releases of Windows.
These are full blown Windows 8 computers in a tablet form factor which can be managed by the same tools and run the same enterprise apps.
Windows 8.1 makes the new stuff in Windows 8 easier to manage, for example the smart remote wipe keeps personal data while wiping private data.
Basically everything that the enterprise is asking for.
Tablets that do real work.
It’s funny that some people seem to think that the desktop on Windows is going to disappear over night, like MS is going to yank the rug from under us. Considering that a lot of businesses are still running apps that were built with VB6, it’ll be a long, long time before that happens. And even when it does, it’ll be like the death of the compact disc… it’s a very slow process that happens over many years, and by the time that judgment day comes, nobody but a select few will care.
Indeed, strawmen tend to be generally hilarious…
Its the only scenario where that complaint would even make sense, you’re not going to magically wake up one day and not be able to find the Desktop Tile.
Walk into an enterprise in a Windows XP era time warp and ask them how much has changed.
An enterprise evaluating tablets at all usually has a BYOD forward facing culture already in place, and generally appreciates the strong management capabilities of Windows PCs.
So lets cut the disingenuous strawman card, especially when the OP is being purposely ambiguous.
I have no idea what your comment has to do with what I wrote…
Oh no, it won’t disappear overnight. But it is destined to be gradually and artificially screwed up in an effort to force people into the “touch” interface of Metro. This is already confirmed and proven with Windows 8/8.1 and Microsoft’s insistence that they “think” when people ask for the Start button, they really mean just a button to launch the tablet-oriented Start screen, which is honestly bullshit–they are careful to never, ever say those dreaded words: Start menu. Which means that if you are in an enterprise and choose to continue to base your organization on Microsoft products, your fate is already determined. It is clear that Microsoft wants to rid the world of “classic” Windows desktop interface once and for all. The traditional Start menu is just the first step (and intended pain in the ass).
If anyone really chooses to stick with Microsoft for the long-term future, they really better not care about the desktop too much themselves. But of course, that brings me back to the original question I asked: would anyone seriously consider a touch-based tablet interface for such a setting? I seriously think not. But, no doubt some people will only think “short term” and “compatibility” and not even consider the virtual road Microsoft has paved for the future of its operating systems.
Yes, I think they’ve probably even said as such. And they should, for the reasons I stated in my previous post in this thread. Classic desktop is WAY past its prime.
But it’s going to be 8-10 years at a minimum before they can do it. That gives Metro plenty of time to evolve. Am I saying it’s going to rock in the year 2020? Who knows. Just saying that when the classic desktop goes away, it’s not like we’re going to have Metro as it exists in 2013. As Doc Brown said in Back To The Future, you’re not looking at the situation 4th dimensionally
Thus, it’s probably better to encourage Microsoft to evolve Metro in the way that we want, instead of this ‘bring back the Start menu’ backwards thinking.
Edited 2013-06-04 06:29 UTC
You bring up some good points; I just disagree with this one. Why not have both? Maybe not in the same OS, but two separate OSes? You might say, well why would a company want to waste their resources, and I would say, why would they have to? Why not license some company to use Windows Classic/Desktop to release a desktop operating system based on the classic Windows desktop, and Microsoft can continue releasing bleeding-edge Metro-based operating systems as “Windows?”
Well, right now, we do have both
So why not continue to develop both independently?
Because Win32 is a huge ass burger with a side of fries
It has served its purpose well, but there is really no future in it. Maybe they’ll license it out once it reaches the status of DOS, but who knows.
And how is this a problem for an enterprise adopting Windows today? Should they stop adopting Windows 7 over what a client version of Windows will do years (many years) down the road?
I don’t see them dumping their XP boxes over this either. The fact of the matter is that Windows 8 as it stands today has a Desktop and strong management capabilities afforded due to this Desktop support. This is a selling point of Windows Tablets in the enterprise.
Because it is premised on the dangerous assumption that between then and now WinRT won’t have matured enough to pick up the slack that a lack of Win32 left behind.
Microsoft isnt going to dump the Windows legacy any time soon, maybe deemphasize it, but not drop it. I don’t think you need to be reminded that Windows runs apps written decades ago , and that Windows emulates OS amd API level defects in order to maintain compatibility. Microsoft’s bread and butter is its legacy, its their strongest asset.
Given the BYOD revolution currently going on in the enterprise, the answer is a resounding yes.
Yeah, compatibility is definitely a short term consideration. /s
One day people like you will get tired of thinking up random, unsupported bullshit just to bash Windows 8.
I almost hate to admit it but they’re innovating and pushing boundaries here.
Printing from mobile devices. Not just that, printing by shaking your device around teh printer to autoconfigure where the paper comes out… great!
Is the open source world really only ever catching up with functions useful for most business users?
Not sure if you’re being facetious/sarcastic or not.
You’ve been able to print from mobile devices for awhile now. From the proprietary AirPrint on iOS, to Google’s CloudPrint on Android, to mobile printer support in CUPS, to several for-pay apps in the Android Play Store.
He was. I for one thought the NFC pairing for printers was cool, but to each his own
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Did you happen to see the stuff they’re doing as part of Azure/Server? That stuff which took up the lionshare of the time at TechEd was the most impressive.
The Server&Tools division really knocked it out of the park.