Microsoft Turns Everything into a PC
As much as Redmond talks tablets, phones, clouds and Xboxes, Microsoft is still a PC-centric company. And the focus is on its PC apps -- the core of which are Office, SQL Server, SharePoint, Dynamics... Well, you get the picture.
What is changing a bit is the hardware delivery mechanism. We are seeing, under certain circumstances, PC apps running on non-PC hardware. Microsoft doesn't mind so long as you keep running licensed and paid copies of its PC software.
And sometimes it can even get paid extra. It can make money from the software itself and extra money from selling the virtual software to run the software you already paid for on other devices. Pretty slick.
If you want to be connected to your enterprise from your phone or tablet, it is probably well worth the extra coppers.
Here's a product that puts this theory into practice: the new "User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) tools for Windows 7 and 8." These, when finished, will come with the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) which itself comes with Microsoft's highest-end licensing deal, Software Assurance. So, in a sense, it is free -- so long as you've already paid for it.
The idea behind user experience is to offer the same app experience no matter what device you're using.
There are two key uses: One is for users who switch from device to device. The other scenario is where someone loses their device or it simply putzes out.
The software right now is in beta. We'll keep you posted on its progress.
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/09/2012 at 1:19 PM