lef 2012windows8
TRANSCRIPT
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WINDOWS 8A NEW ERA FOR MICROSOFT
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ABOUT THE LEADING EDGE FORUM
LEF TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM LEADERSHIP
CSC-MICROSOFT ALLIANCE
William Ko
Vice President and Chie Technology Ofcer,
Ofce o Innovation
A leader in CSCs technology community, Bill Ko pro-
vides vision and direction to CSC and its clients on
critical inormation technology trends, technology inno-
vation and strategic investments in leading edge tech-
nology. Bill plays a key role in guiding CSC research,
innovation, technology leadership and alliance partner
activities, and in certiying CSCs Centers o Excellence
and Innovation Centers.
Paul GustasonDirector, Leading Edge Forum, Technology Programs
Paul Gustason is an accomplished technologist and
proven leader in emerging technologies, applied research
and strategy. Paul brings vision and leadership to a port-
olio o LEF programs and directs the technology research
agenda. Astute at recognizing how technology trends
inter-relate and impact business, Paul applies his insights
to client strategy, CSC research, leadership development
and innovation strategy.
CSC and Microsot collaborate globally across CSCs
major businesses and Microsots enterprise product
lines. This alliance combines the strengths o Micro-
sots leading sotware, services and solutions with
CSCs knowledge and experience in consulting, sys-
tems integration and managed services.
Using an end-to-end delivery model, we help clients
gain strategic advantage through business and IT
transormation, process automation and inrastruc-
ture optimization. Visit csc.com/microsot.
In this ongoing series o reports about technology
directions, the LEF looks at the role o innovation
in the marketplace both now and in the years to come. By
studying technologys current realities and anticipating
its uture shape, these reports provide organizations with
the necessary balance between tactical decision-making
and strategic planning.
The Windows 8 report has been produced in collaboration
with CSCs Microsot Global Alliance. The CSC-Microsot
Alliance leverages consulting, systems integration, man-
aged services and application development with Microsot
to deliver world-class technology solutions. The Windows
8 report provides a perspective to accelerate IT strategy
and planning, with emphasis on cloud computing and the
consumerization o IT.
As part o CSCs Oce o Innovation, the Leading Edge
Forum (LEF) is a global community whose programs
help participants realize business benets rom the use
o advanced IT more rapidly.
The LEF works to spot key emerging business and tech-
nology trends beore others, and identiy specic prac-
tices or exploiting these trends or business advantage.
The LEF draws rom a global network o thought leaders
and leading practitioners, proven eld practices, and a
powerul body o research.
LEF Technology Programs give CTOs and senior tech-
nologists the opportunity to explore the most pressing
technology issues, examine state-o-the-art practices,
and leverage CSCs technology experts, alliance pro-
grams and events. The reports and papers produced
under the LEF are intended to provoke conversations in
the marketplace about the potential or innovation when
applying technology to advance organizational peror-
mance. Visitcsc.com/le.
The LEF Executive Programme is a premium, ee-based
program that helps CIOs and senior business executives
develop into next-generation leaders by using technol-
ogy or competitive advantage in wholly new ways.
Members direct the research agenda, interact with a net-
work o world-class experts, and access topical coner-
ences, study tours, inormation exchanges and advisory
services. Visitle.csc.com.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.csc.com/microsofthttp://csc.com/lefhttp://lef.csc.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://lef.csc.com/http://csc.com/lefhttp://www.csc.com/microsoft -
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CSC LEADING EDGE FORUM Windows 8: A New Era for Microsoft
CONTENTS 2 Blurring the Lines o IT
5 Reinventing Windows
8 Reshaping Applications
14 Redening IT
19 About the Author
19 Notes
You can access this report via the LEF RSS eed (csc.com/lepodcast)
or the LEF website (csc.com/lereports)
WINDOWS 8:
A NEW ERA FOR MICROSOFT
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the new Metro-style user interace (UI) has received much
media attention, the Metro UI is only the tip o Microsots
strategy iceberg. This report describes how, with Windows
8 as its next salvo, Microsot is working to:
ReinventwhatWindowsis
Reshapewhatapplicationsare
RedenehowITsolutionsarecreated
By working to accomplish this trio o reinvent (Windows),
reshape (apps) and redene (IT), Microsot is showing a
strategic vision that is unmatched in the industry and will
have long-reaching eects on how enterprises and soci-
ety use computers. Understanding Microsots new scope
and direction or Windows is critical or enterprise IT man-
agers, who need to look beyond the question o when to
upgrade desktops and examine what role Microsot may
play across all o IT.
IT SPECTRUM AND IT STACK
To more clearly see what Microsot is working towards,
one needs to examine the spectrum or breadth o IT, plus
the depth o IT as seen in the IT stack. These two dimen-
For the past 20 years, the lines o inormation technol-
ogy (IT) have been relatively clear. Fundamentally, IT
was split into two camps: enterprise servers and desk-
top clients. Even with the arrival o browsers, Web serv-
ers, hypervisors and multi-tier applications, the two-
way split remained the same. However, over the past
ve years the lines between what is where in IT have
been blurring signicantly. Peer-to-peer networking,
tablets and cloud-based services have taken what was
traditionally IT and smeared it across a more complex
landscape o technologies.
Many analysts in the IT industry think Microsot is at a cross-
roads, where it needs to make a undamental decision as
to its uture, similar to what IBM went through in the 1990s.
However, the reality is that Microsot already made that
decision awhile ago, even as ar back as Windows Vista.
As described in the CSC LEF Executive Summary As Vista
Emerges, Think Platorm, Not Operating System, Micro-
sots eort with Vista, even though it was perceived as a
market ailure, planted the seeds o the companys eort to
dominate the IT sotware space consumer andenterprise
well into the next decade.
Microsot has been a dominant player in the personal com-
puting space or almost three decades. During the past
decade, however, many more alternatives to Windows
have appeared. Furthermore, the PC market though
still large has matured and leveled o. Growth in the IT
industry has shited to a broader spectrum ueled by mobil-
ity (Android and iOS), virtualization (where the operating
system becomes more fuid), viable desktop alternatives
(Linux and Mac), and an increasingly diverse set o net-
worked ecosystems powered by cloud computing.
As the IT spectrum has broadened, Microsot has been
working to not only maintain its dominance in traditional
markets, but to leaprog and challenge its new competitors
across the entire IT spectrum. In the next and possibly most
signicant step in its history, Microsot is about to introduce
the newest version o its core product: Windows 8. While
BLURRING THE
LINES OF IT
Understanding Microsots
new scope and direction
or Windows is critical or
enterprise IT managers,
who need to look beyond
the question o when to
upgrade desktops and
examine what role Microsotmay play across all o IT.
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CSC LEADING EDGE FORUM Windows 8: A New Era for Microsoft
sions help show the scale and potential impact o the new
Windows by mapping the core elements o IT.
Historically the spectrum o enterprise IT was limited to two
key areas: servers and end-user computers (i.e., the point
where users access their computing resources). As shown
in Figure 1, IT has evolved over the past decades rom enter-
prise IT at the center to extra-enterprise IT at one end o
the spectrum and consumer IT at the other. Both ends
reach into (are enabled by) the cloud and refect the rise
o broadband networks, the Web, home PCs and mobile
phones. Thus, even though internal servers and PCs still play
an important role, enterprise IT is no longer driven solely
by internal needs but is increasingly driven by the external
orces o cloud computing at both ends o the spectrum.
Microsot has recognized this change in IT spectrum more
than any competitor and is trying to position itsel as the
dominant long-term player across the entire spectrum.
Underlying this spectrum o inormation technologies is
the IT stack how IT is delivered to provide business
capabilities and services. As shown in Figure 2, the IT
stack consists o three layers (starting rom the bottom):
Platorms & Systems The oundation o the IT stack
consists o the core systems: hardware and, more
importantly, the sotware that enables the rest o the
stack. This layer represents the increasingly sophisti-
cated plumbing o physical computing systems and
devices that run the core sotware platorms upon
which the rest o IT including applications runs.
Frameworks & Tools This oten invisible layer o
the IT stack is what enables the creation o the next
layer (Applications & Solutions). Frameworks & Tools
includes development tools, pre-built unctional com-
ponents, the environments used or UIs, and the tools
o IT that help keep the whole IT stack running.
Applications & Solutions The purpose o IT is to pro-
vide useul ways o conducting business and assisting
in lie (particularly or consumers). Solutions are oten
collections o applications (that, one hopes, work well
together), accessed through computing and network-
ing resources. Although some pre-packaged applica-
tions and solutions are available, most enterprises and
users assemble, and oten customize, their applica-
tions and solutions into unique combinations that are
applicable to business or personal needs.
Enterprises generally and justiably ocus on the top layer
o the stack, as the value o IT comes rom applications
and solutions and what they can do or the business. Tra-
ditionally, most enterprise applications and solutions ocus
on specic process areas, providing largely independent
FIGURE 1. THE IT SPECTRUM EXPANDS FROM TRADITIONAL ENTERPRISE IT TO EXTRA-ENTERPRISE IT AND CONSUMER IT
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CSC LEADING EDGE FORUMWindows 8: A New Era for Microsoft
points o unctionality. With mechanisms like Service Ori-
ented Architecture, Enterprise Application Integration/
Enterprise Service Bus and pervasive networking, applica-
tions and solutions have increasingly become more inte-
grated, particularly rom the users perspective.
O course, the top layer cannot exist without the lower
two layers. The need or Platorms & Systems is obvi-
ous; you cant have applications without computers. The
Framework & Tools layer, in contrast, is requently hid-
den within IT organizations and companies, which use
this layer to create elements o the top layer. Oten a
neglected stepchild o IT, the Frameworks & Tools layer
can instead drive innovation and undamental change in
the Applications & Solutions layer.
An example o the potential o the Framework & Tools
layer is with Apples iOS not the operating systmem
(OS) itsel, but rather the new touch-centric UI model
o applications. iPhones were based on well-established
hardware (ARM processors) and OS sotware (iOS was
based on MacOS X, which in turn was based on a long-
lived variant o Unix). What dierentiated the iPhone
rom all that preceded it was how applications used
a new interaction model, where the ramework o iOS
enabled a new generation o applications.
Microsots history shows that it has a deep understanding
o the role o rameworks and tools operating on a common
set o cost-eective platorms. With Windows 8 at the bow
o Microsots long-term technology strategy, the company
is now taking this even urther, not just providing a new set
o platorms, systems, rameworks, tools and applications,
but integrating them in a manner that is blurring the dis-
tinctions between the IT stack layers, as well as broadening
the reach o Microsot across the IT spectrum.
Oten a neglected stepchild
o IT, the Frameworks &
Tools layer can instead drive
innovation and undamental
change in the Applications &
Solutions layer.
FIGURE 2. IT STACK
Source: CSC
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The Windows OS has been at the heart o Microsot since
beore 1995. Although Oce makes up a signicant por-
tion o Microsots business, Windows remains the core
platorm or desktop and server applications. (What would
Oce be without Windows, anyway?) With Windows 95,
Microsot solidied its dominance in the personal comput-
ing industry. Desktop computing is arguably synonymous
with Windows PCs, particularly in the enterprise. Linux
and MacOS still play only a minor role in the enterprise PC
market, even as the numbers have shited rom desktops
to laptops or notebook computers.
Over the past 20 years, Microsot has also become a major
player in the enterprise server market, where the server ver-
sions o Windows have steadily become a major component
o corporate data centers. Combined with Windows on the
desktop, Windows servers have, through mechanisms like
Active Directory, become a core and mission critical part o
enterprise IT. With the possible exception o highly special-
ized high-end systems like mainrames and large enterprise
Unix servers, Windows has been at the core o the enter-
prise IT part o the IT spectrum.
However, as seen in Figure 1, the IT spectrum is no longer
limited to enterprise IT or PCs. The current extremes o the
IT spectrum are now the consumer and business ends o
cloud computing, where the use o computing resources
is invisible, mobile and seemingly limitless.
A BROADENING PRESENCE
Microsot has made many attempts to broaden its pres-
ence across this growing spectrum, including tablets 10
years ago, the Zune product line, and cable television set-
top boxes. Some attempts, like Windows Mobile, were
successul until new entrants (specically the iPhone)
appeared. Several times Microsot came late to the mar-
ket (e.g., search and social networking). Meanwhile, some
new product areas are still evolving, such as Microsots
eorts in cloud computing.
Looking at Microsot today, the company has coalesced
much o its technology (starting with .NET and Windows
Vista), displaying a spike in aggressiveness not seen in
many years. With the announcement o the Surace tab-
lets, the innovation started with Windows Phone, and an
increasingly cloud-enabled Microsot Oce suite, Micro-
sot is attacking the market with a new-ound ervor that
has led to descriptions o the company such as the most
exciting company in tech.1
With Windows 8 at the core, Microsot is working to estab-
lish a technology oundation that it never really had beore.
Microsot has turned Windows rom a patchwork o largely
disconnected OS implementations unied by brand into a
single, common core o technology that Microsot plans to
use across the entire IT spectrum.
MANY FLAVORS FOR A POST-PC ERA
In other words, Microsot has been reinventing Windows
or the expanded IT spectrum. Although nearly all media
attention on Windows 8 is ocused on the desktop and
anticipated Surace tablet, Microsot has been expanding
the notion o Windows beyond a single desktop, tablet or
server. With the upcoming Windows 8 release, along with
existing platorms, Windows will come in many favors
across the IT spectrum (see Figure 3):
Windows 8 or x64 (and x86 32-bit) - With several
hundred million PCs and laptops as possible upgrade
targets, the traditional platorm or Windows 8 to run
REINVENTING
WINDOWS
Microsot has been
reinventing Windows or the
expanded IT spectrum.
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CSC LEADING EDGE FORUMWindows 8: A New Era for Microsoft
on remains the desktop computer, including notebook
computers and high-end tablets.
Windows Server 8 - With the same code base as Win-
dows 8, the server versions o Windows have become
even more scalable, particularly with the signicant
expansion o Hyper-V, Microsots hypervisor.
Windows RT (Windows 8 on ARM) Windows RT is
the version o Windows designated initially or tablets,
which Microsot hopes will stem the tide o iPads and
other tablet devices, particularly those showing up in
the enterprise. The rst known tablet to be running
Windows RT is Microsots own Surace RT, essentially
Microsots rst fagship device or Windows 8.
Windows Phone 8 The next version o Windows
Phone will be based on the same Windows oundation
(kernel) as Windows RT and Windows 8. As smart-
phones are essentially pint-sized mobile PCs (rom a
computing power perspective), Microsot now is able
to run the same core OS, enabling the vision o a single
code base or applications across the IT spectrum.
Windows Azure - Azure is Windows in the cloud,
where the OS has been transormed to run applications
in a massively scalable, redundant manner. Although
Windows Azure started o as a new application run-
time platorm, dierent rom traditional internal appli-
cations, Microsot has since expanded Azure so that
traditional Windows server applications even entire
systems can run more easily in the cloud. Windows
Azure also includes toolkits that make it easier to build
cloud-enabled Metro applications, as well as integrate
Android and iOS apps with the Microsot cloud.
Windows Live - Although not a traditional OS, Windows
Live both extends the notion o Windows into the Web
and is rapidly becoming an integral part o the Windows
ecosystem. For example, people who use their Windows
Live user IDs with Windows 8 will automatically have
their conguration settings replicated between any
Windows system they log into. Another example is the
seamless integration o SkyDrive, the Live le storage
system, into Windows 8 applications. Microsot is tak-
ing steps to eliminate the Live brand and integrate the
elements o Windows Live transparently into Windows
and Xbox, which is rapidly becoming Microsots pri-
mary brand or its media and entertainment services. It
is even rumored that the next Xbox gaming and media
device will be based on the Windows OS.
Windows Embedded - Oten not seen as real Win-
dows, the embedded version o the OS is driving many
FIGURE 3. THE MANY FLAVORS OF WINDOWS
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CSC LEADING EDGE FORUM Windows 8: A New Era for Microsoft
specialized variations o Windows, such as Microsot
Sync oered in Ford cars, POSReady, thin clients and
even wind turbine controllers.
This increased diversity o Windows is actually a result
o a consolidation and modularization o Windows.
Starting with Windows Vista, Microsot has been slowly
deconstructing and reconstructing the core o the Win-
dows OS into more modular components, ocusing
on enabling a broader range o platorms, such as the
increasingly common mobile ARM processor. With Win-
dows 8, Microsot hopes to have ound the next balance
o a single shared core that can be reassembled to t
into the broader IT spectrum.
In short, Windows 8 isnt about just tablets or ultrabooks.
As Hal Berenson, president o True Mountain Group,
points out in his posting Windows 8 is not all about
Tablets, its about the uture,2 most o the decisions
underlying Windows 8 occurred beore the iPad came
to market. Microsot already knew it had to reimagine
much o Windows to make it in the new Post-PC era
even on PCs.
SERVING SERVERS, VIRTUALIZATION
As it turns out, many signicant improvements and
additions to Windows 8 are happening at the server
level. Facing tough competition rom VMware and oth-
ers in large-scale enterprise virtualization, Microsot has
upgraded Hyper-V so it can support host servers with
160 cores and 2 terabytes o RAM, with new reliability
and perormance eatures that directly compete with
the high-end enterprise hypervisors. Improved storage
virtualization, support or advanced graphics or remote
desktops, and aster networking perormance options
are just a ew o the elements Microsot is throwing into
its bag o new server tricks.
Although Windows Server 8 and Windows Azure are not
yet interchangeable, Microsot is working to bring them
closer together. Windows Server 8 will purportedly sup-
port online backup to Azure, while extended eatures
like WIndows Azure Active Directory and SQL Azure
Data Sync bring the in-house world (private cloud?)
closer to Microsots cloud options.
Microsot has also expanded the virtualization options
within the desktop version o Windows 8, where Hyper-V is
available or use to support older versions o Windows and
things like creaky old Visual Basic 6 applications. Although
its not meant to scale as Hyper-V would on a server, the
bundled hypervisor or Windows 8 will depending on the
age o the processor take virtualization on the desktop
much arther than previous Microsot products. However,
Windows 8 will not include an additional license or Win-
dows XP; i you need to run Windows XP apps under Win-
dows 8, youll need more Windows licenses.
Although Microsot has spent enormous eort expanding
the core plumbing o Windows, much o the reinvention
o Windows is in the UI. The new Metro UI has received a
range o reactions, rom condemnation to accolades. With
early versions o the UI styles seen in Windows Phone 7,
the Metro UI introduces a visual interaction style that is
ar dierent rom the traditional Windows desktop and
windows. With the Metro UI, Microsot seeks to establish
a new common user interaction model that can be shared
and reused across devices and systems.
Although Microsot hasspent enormous eort
expanding the core
plumbing o Windows,
much o the reinvention o
Windows is in the UI....With
the Metro UI, Microsot seeks
to establish a new common
user interaction model that
can be shared and reused
across devices and systems.
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The Metro UI is seen as Microsots response to the new
growth area in user devices: tablets. Metros touch-
centric is about making touch screens the primary
(but not the only) means o interacting with computing.
With most o the growth in end-user computing com-
ing rom tablets and smartphones, the shit to touch is
largely seen as a necessary evolution o Windows. Not
that Microsot is new to touch screens or other input
devices. Microsots previous and relatively unsuccessul
attempts include the original tablet PCs (pen-centric)
and early touch-screen phones. It took Apples iPhone,
and now iPad, to make touch a mainstream reality and
spark companies and consumers to start realizing the
potential o touch-based mobile systems.
Seen as a radical change that many view as problematic
(especially within the enterprise), the Metro UI is only a
step to cutting the cord with the past 20 years o the
Windows visual UI. Microsot seems to have realized
that the traditional desktop metaphor interacting with
paper-ish windows and olders on a virtual desktop via
a mouse and keyboard is no longer a universal meta-
phor that can be stretched to support other orm actors
and interaction methods.
RESHAPINGAPPLICATIONS
TABLETS: THIRD TIMES THE CHARM?
Although Microsot has been work-
ing on Metro-style designs or years,
many analysts view the new Win-
dows 8 UI as a direct response to
the meteoric rise o tablets in the
past two years. Theres no doubt
that the new UI is now heavily
ocused on the growing market or
tablets, especially as Microsot has
announced that Windows will run
on ARM processors, the current
leader in mobile processors or both
phones and tablets.
Ater the past market ailures o the
original Tablet PC and the subsequent
Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs), Microsot
can no longer and no longer wants
to plow its own path in the mobile
space. Rather, it now has to (hopes
to) build upon the new market cre-
ated. As with browsers and game
consoles, this would not be the rst
time Microsot has entered a market
late only to become a major player.
I this authors experience is any
guide, Microsot must go ater the
tablet market, as within the enter-
prise desktops are increasingly
being supplemented i not outright
replaced by tablets (currently most
oten the iPad.) Part o the rising
BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology)
trend, middle managers and business
executives with their own iPads are
becoming a common sight in coner-
ence rooms; as these decision-mak-
ers spend much i not most o their
time in conerence rooms and trav-
eling, the convenience o tablets will
continue to drive tablet purchases,
even i these managers spend their
own money on them.
In a move that surprised much o the
IT industry, Microsot is going beyond
its traditional model o relying on
hardware partners to bring Windows
tablets to market by announcing a
set o uniquely styled tablets called
Surace. Although its still unclear
i Microsot wants to get a share o
hardware revenue with Windows,
through Surace Microsot is demon-
strating its commitment to not just
supporting tablets but expecting
that Windows and the Metro UI are
indeed the uture o the company.
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THE OS SHOULD BE INVISIBLE
Driven by the growth in tablets and smartphones, Micro-
sot seems to have learned three recent lessons:
1. The traditional desktop metaphor doesnt extend to
handhelds. Microsot was the rst major technology
company to bring tablets to lie, extending the existing
Windows to support limited pen and touch interaction.
Although mobile hardware wasnt quite up to the task,
the main ailure o Windows tablets came rom how
cumbersome the system was to pick up and use. The
limits o the traditional Windows UI showed even more
with Windows Mobile and Pocket PC, Microsots initial
attempts at UIs or small handheld devices.
2. Touch that is intuitive can work. With the iPhone and then
the iPad, Apple showed how rich touch can work well on
a handheld mobile device. The combination o simple
gesture-based user actions, multiple touch points and
common touch interaction patterns (e.g., swipe) make
iOS devices nearly intuitive to use, especially compared
to other electronic devices. However, the undamental
transormation with iOS was in creating a platorm or
consistent touch-centric applications, where the actual
underlying OS is not important to the user.
3. People ocus on Web pages, not the browser. Paul Gus-
tason, director o the Leading Edge Forum, Technology
Programs, points out, People work with inormation
and processes inside Web pages, not the browser that
encompasses them. It is really about aligning the inor-
mation and processes with the right delivery vehicle.
The one-size-ts-all approach o the traditional browser
is rapidly becoming pass. Demonstrating this shit is
the successul adoption o AJAX, a browser technol-
ogy that allows Web pages to change while staying
up (without switching to a new page), and the rise o
integrated views o many sources o inormation, such
as on Facebook, which shows that individuals want to
interact with inormation in a people-driven context.
Arising rom these lessons is a key observation: The OS
needs to be invisible to the user, who is only interested
in using applications. For an OS to be successul, it must
simply disappear and not interere.
The Metro UI is Microsots attempt to do just that: Make
Windows less o an OS and more o an app delivery and
access mechanism. Metros approach is similar to that o iOS,
where each application is a complete experience in itsel.
Users work with apps, not with window rames, scroll bars,
browsers and other artiacts o the desktop (OS) metaphor.
Microsots Metro UI goes signicantly urther than
Apples iOS, as the start screen is not simply a set o app
launch points but is actually a set o live tiles each
a real-time view into an application. Rather than having
people open up individual applications to see important
inormation, the Metro start screen is a new approach that
brings applications into a single, customizable, dynamic
user dashboard. (See Figure 4.) Although good examples
o advanced, integrated, live tiles are currently ew and ar
between, its easy to envision a day when the start screen
is also the main, multi-app screen, and going into an
application in ull screen mode is less common.
With Metro, the applications or their view as a set o live
tiles become the centerpiece o the user experience.
Hence, the notion o a start button becomes a relic o the
past. Thus, Microsot has eliminated the start button, to
the chagrin o many. With the Metro UI, Microsot is taking
a bold step one even bolder than it took with Windows
95 to move Windows beyond its past. As Don Norman, a
long-time expert on human-centered design, commented
about the Windows 8 Metro UI in an interview with Tab-
Times, Im impressed that Microsot said lets look at
how one works with gestures and not copy Apple. Thats
whats so brilliant. The same principles will work on the
Windows 8 desktop with a mouse or touch or a stylus. I
think people will end up using all three.3
Not surprisingly, the new UI design has been criticized or
introducing too much change. With its near elimination o
all chrome (the visual artiacts o Windows and the OS
itsel), the Metro UI o Windows 8 is a radical departure
rom the general desktop look-and-eel (task bar, start
menu and overlapping windows) that enterprises have
seen or nearly 20 years. As a result, Microsot has stated
that the traditional desktop will continue to be supported
in Windows 8 (although in a secondary manner). Still, the
death knell o the desktop UI metaphor has seemingly
been struck. To Microsots credit, it is willing to make
that leap rom its past. The question remains: Will Micro-
sots customers ollow Microsot in the process?
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THE APP IS EVERYWHERE
In addition to the UI, applications are being transormed
in another radical manner as applications are built using
a combination o cloud computing, wireless networking
and mobile devices. Although applications are still seen as
installed components or started in a browser, the traditional
notion o an application a set o programs, modules and
data running on a client machine or a server (or perhaps a
tiered hierarchy o multiple servers) no longer accurately
describes what an application really is.
What we have, particularly in the consumer space, are
apps that defne one or more points where a person
interacts with a set o integrated services and data or a
specifc purpose. From the persons perspective, Facebook
is an application that can be accessed via multiple chan-
nels, including dedicated smartphone apps, websites, or
integration points exposed by other apps or other Web
pages. From a technical perspective, the persons view o a
single application is actually realized by a set o integrated,
interacting components across multiple systems perhaps
across the entire IT spectrum. Part o the application may
be running in a cloud, part in an enterprise data center,
part on a tablet, or part (in the case o peer-to-peer com-
munication) on another persons device.
To support the creation o these new applications made up
o spread-out, integrated, interacting components across
the entire IT spectrum, Microsot has extended the notion o
what Windows is by bundling it with a ramework and tools,
blurring the lines between the bottom two layers o the IT
stack. Although the .NET-based Windows Communication
Foundation (WCF), a common ramework or building Web
services and other integration points between systems, is
FIGURE 4. METRO UI START SCREEN CONCEPT DESIGN FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICSERP APPLICATIONS
Used with permission rom Microsot.
WHAT WINDOWS 8 REALLYMEANS
Enterprise Users: Change (adapt) your view o
computing beyond a single device.
IT Developers: Use more o the ramework to build
better apps.
IT Managers: Take it slow but steady; dont stop
upgrading ever.
Business Managers: Is it time to build new apps
that actually do more?
CFOs: Technology change happens. Get over it.
CEOs: Look beyond your iPad.
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not ormally part o Windows, WCF is Microsots primary
mechanism to build modern Web- and cloud-enabled
applications running on any Windows system, be it Win-
dows Azure, Windows Phone or Windows Server.
Microsot is ar rom being the only technology company
enabling these new generations o applications that, as
Figure 5 shows, live everywhere across the IT spectrum.
Applications are no longer simple, but rather complex
interactive sets o components where no single device or
system hosts the application.
Microsot is, however, in a better position than any other
company to support these applications because:
Microsoft has key offerings across the IT spectrum
to build and run highly-distributed applications, rom
cloud inrastructure (e.g., Azure) to pre-built cloud
application components (e.g., Bing, Windows Live).
Microsoftscommondevelopmenttools(e.g.,VisualStu-
dio) and rameworks (e.g., WCF) can be used to develop
and integrate components across the entire spectrum.
MicrosoftisrapidlyextendingitsSystemCenterandother
operational tools to manage systems and applications
across the spectrum, including app components running
on VMware, Android, iOS and other non-Microsot systems.
Many,ifnotmost,enterprisesalreadyuseActiveDirectory
or user/identity management and access control, which
provides a common mechanism or extending enterprise
control or apps deployed across the spectrum.
Even with Microsots increasing number o tools running
in Windows 8, the challenge remains to eectively build,
deploy and operate these new applications that live across
the IT spectrum. The rise o cloud computing, along with
the prolieration o user devices, is making application
architecture and development much more complex than
traditional enterprise applications that ran on a handul o
servers or only on desktops.
BEYOND THE APP
The rise o smartphones with iOS and Android started
the app revolution, which has spread to the desktop
and even the enterprise. App stores arent simply a way
o nding new applications; they are a new ecosystem
approach to applications, where the entire deployment
lie cycle is managed in a consistent manner; installation,
upgrades and, most importantly, integration all happen
automatically and consistently. No one asks how to install
FIGURE 5. RESHAPING THE APPLICATION: APPS LIVE ACROSS THE IT SPECTRUM
Source: CSC
App stores arent simply a way
o fnding new applications;
they are a new ecosystem
approach to applications.
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or upgrade an application on a system; the app ecosys-
tem simply takes care o it.
One emerging trend with these new apps is the ability
o the apps to integrate transparently with each other.
This includes automatically detecting each other, allow-
ing or shared authentication and authorization controls,
and using common cloud-based resources. For example,
in Windows 8 Microsot is making SkyDrive, its consumer
cloud storage oering, the deault location (at least or
consumers) or saving documents rom their apps, rather
than the local disk drive. As a result, that saved document
is automatically synchronized and available on all other
Windows 8 devices (tablet, phone, etc.). This automatic
cross-cloud integration will allow people to transparently
access the same data and documents rom a set o apps
running on all devices.
CONTEXT IS KING
Even with all this ocus on apps, Microsot has been dem-
onstrating what could be seen as the rst post-app UI,
where the app actually disappears rom the users view
(or interaction space). Windows Phone 7 introduced the
concept o user hubs, context-specic areas o unctional-
ity accessible through the Windows Phone UI. Rather than
have individual apps or interacting with people (e.g., one
or Facebook, one or Twitter), Windows Phone established
a People Hub, where the users attention is ocused on
the context and tasks associated with his or her contacts,
regardless o which app is used. Facebook, Twitter and
other apps are integrated directly with a persons contacts
or photo album rather than the person having to access the
Facebook and Twitter apps manually and directly.
With the Hub approach, Microsot is working to create a
UI and computing experience that transcend the notion
o applications with clearly dened borders. Instead,
Windows Phone with the Metro style interace is the rst
serious attempt to create a computing experience that
is driven by an individuals contexts ocus o attention
rather than the articial contours o traditional appli-
cations. The result is a richer, more powerul user experi-
ence. (See Figure 6.) Microsot has been working on simi-
lar concepts integrating around a context rather than a
single app in other areas, particularly with SharePoint.
Even though the Metro UI breaks rom the sea o app
icons,4 the hub and live tile concepts have yet to take
hold. Not only are these new UI approaches radically di-
erent rom those well-engrained into people over the
years, but these new mechanisms change the way appli-
cations are built and integrated. Independent sotware
vendors, used to having their own products and brands
up ront, may be reluctant to diuse their unctionality
into and behind a user-context-centered UI.
Because Metro UI has the potential or changing how
people think about applications, Microsot is putting
signicant eort into explaining Metro UI and getting
developers on board to start a new chapter in com-
puting. Microsot isnt stopping at the Metro UI either.
New, potentially powerul areas o user interaction with
applications are just being explored, including the use
o embedded sensors and human
body motion through the relatively
low-cost Kinect. Even voice recogni-
tion may become more prevalent, in
part driven by Apples Siri. (Although
voice recognition has been part o
Windows since XP, the use o voice
remains a largely unrealized promise o
UI technology.) Microsot has already
begun to show what the uture UI may
look like beyond Metro with research
projects like DeskPiles and a uturistic
video showing how Oce would look
in 2019. (See Figure 7.)
With the Metro UI, Microsot more
than any other single player in the IT
FIGURE 6. HUB INTERFACE
This example o the Company Hub, a eature o Windows Phone 8, brings together
apps, news, alerts, employee data and other company-related inormation.
Used with permission rom Microsot.
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industry is working to redene what
applications are and how they get
used. Microsots new Oce 2013
products are representative o this
new style o applications, where one
can no longer clearly dierentiate i
Oce is a set o PC applications or
cloud apps. Adding to the blurring,
with Oce 2013 Microsot is acceler-
ating the shit rom purchasing sot-
ware or a single PC to subscribing
to integrated app services accessible
rom any device. Applications are
likely to become ar more diverse and
harder to dene in the uture.
FIGURE 7. FUTURE UI? THE OFFICE SUITE AS
ENVISIONED IN MICROSOFTS OFFICE 2019 VIDEO
Used with permission rom Microsot.
MICROSOFT FACES THE NEW IT GIANTS: APPLE AND GOOGLE
Two companies have been at the
oreront o change in how we use
IT. With the iPhone, iPad and even
the Macbook Air, Apple has realized
a powerul vision o how people caneasily use touch-based interaces
and access sophisticated computing
capabilities rom anywhere. Google
has brought search, online video and
productivity applications to any sys-
tem mobile or otherwise via the
now ubiquitous browser.
As a result, both companies have
disrupted and redened the current
technology agenda o the IT indus-try, which includes the rise o tablets,
smartphones and the cloud. Apple is
the innovation leader in mobile tech-
nologies, while Google is the dominant
player o the Web. Microsot remains,
in comparison, ar behind these com-
panies in these key areas.
Apple and Google are also infuenc-
ing the enterprise IT space. Google
has encroached on one o Micro-
sots most lucrative areas: oce
applications or enterprises, only
delivered via the cloud. Apple and
Google have also been major driv-
ers o the Bring Your Own Technol-ogy (BYOT) trend, where IT depart-
ments are being asked by executives
and employees to support access
to email and corporate applications
rom their personal phones and tab-
lets. Although signicant concerns
remain with the security impact o
these BYOT devices, enterprises
are quickly being orced to extend
corporate IT to the privately owned
mobile devices o employees.
Despite these developments, however,
the adoption o Apple and Google
technologies by enterprise IT remains
limited to the edges o the enter-
prise. While it chips away at the large
installed base o Microsot Oce,
Google Apps has yet to put a signi-
cant dent into the massive deploy-
ment o Oce in companies. And as
iPads continue to invade the corporate
conerence room, usually via the BYOT
trend, and although Apple has added
limited support to iPads or enterprise
IT, Apple essentially has not commit-
ted to designing or tuning its productsor the large enterprise.
As Windows 8 (including Windows
Server 2012) incorporates a pleth-
ora o tools and capabilities or the
enterprise, Microsot looks to limit
the impact o these two new giants,
even as they try harder to encroach
on Redmonds original tur. It remains
unclear i Microsot can catch up with
Apple and Google in consumer mobiledevices. Nevertheless, with Windows
8, Microsot looks to use its existing
dominance to not only remain the
market leader in its traditional markets
but also become relevant in new tech-
nology spaces. Microsot will continue
to be a strong orce in the IT industry,
infuencing how enterprise IT operates
or many years to come, despite the
company no longer owning much o
the IT spectrum.
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Changing the nature o applications through the Metro UI
is the most visible way Microsot is trying to redene IT.
Like other major companies in the IT industry, Microsots
span across IT continues to expand. What Microsot is
doing dierently compared to any other company
hardware not withstanding is attempting to play in all
areas o IT across the spectrum and the stack. All other
major industry players have limited themselves to only
part o the IT spectrum and stack. (See Figure 8.)
SPANNING THE SPECTRUM
Oracle, IBM and HP have largely ocused on enterprise IT,
which puts them at a potential disadvantage as the lines
blur across the spectrum. Is a smartphone or tablet part
o enterprise IT? Do consumers depend on large data cen-
ters? Yes and yes. Apple and Google have concentrated
their eorts in the consumer space, but they are begin-
ning to extend into the enterprise given that consumer
technology has been a driver o innovation in enterprise IT.
This leaves only Microsot working across the entire spec-
trum. What it is doing with Windows all versions is
to establish a common platorm, a new common UI/app
model and, as well see, a common ramework or building,
running and using computing systems. Even i Microsot
cant ever become the dominant player in IT, it is rapidly
becoming the most omnipresent technology provider.
From enterprise cloud to consumer cloud, and every-
thing in between, the only market area Microsot does not
directly build or is computing hardware and devices, but
it seems Microsots lack o direct investment in hardware
has worked out well so ar. However, in a change rom
this past, Microsot has announced the Surace tablets
REDEFINING IT
FIGURE 8. PLAYERS ALONG THE IT SPECTRUM AND STACK
Source: CSC
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CSC LEADING EDGE FORUM Windows 8: A New Era for Microsoft
its rst personal computer hardware products. It seems
Microsot has decided its uture with Windows is too
important to leave entirely to its hardware partners.
INTEGRATING UP AND DOWN THE STACK
Although Microsot oers a growing number o specic
applications, both traditional and cloud-based, the real
impact o Microsots approach to IT is its ocus on enabling
new, integrated applications. Even as the company makes
most o its revenue rom seemingly separate products,
Oce and Windows, Microsots long-term approach
involves blurring the layers o the stack so that the Frame-
works & Tools layer permeates both Applications & Solu-
tions and Platorms & Systems.
This approach is signicant, as Microsots uture is not
based on the licenses it sells today but rather on the cre-
ation o newapplications going orward applications
that run on its platorms, built using its tools, and inte-
grated with its basic applications. With Windows 8, Azure
and the Metro UI, Microsot gets closer to this goal as it
begins to establish a common core platorm OS and
UI across the IT spectrum.
Microsots Visual Studio (along with .NET) is another
common element a single, integrated development tool
or building new applications and solutions integrating
components rom the entire spectrum. Are you building
apps or phones, using enterprise databases, and running
in the cloud? It all goes through Visual Studio.
O course, the ability o Visual Studio to become the primary
point or application development is raught with dangers.
Even though .NET is a popular ramework and runtime plat-
orm, other platorms, particularly open source options like
Eclipse, have a signicant oothold in the IT industry.
Microsot is also blurring the IT stack by incorporating
what traditionally would be separate rameworks and tools
directly into applications and platorms. SharePoint has
seen phenomenal adoption rates over the past ew years, in
part because it provides a near instantaneous collaboration
solution a pre-built, pre-integrated set o applications,
with no programming needed. As it turns out, SharePoint is
also one o Microsots most used application rameworks,
allowing new and highly custom applications and solutions
to be built within and by extending SharePoint. Many o
Microsots oerings have this multi-layer characteristic. As
FIGURE 9. REDEFINING IT: PRODUCTS THAT BLUR THE IT STACK
Source: CSC
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Figure 9 shows, Microsot has several such hybrid applica-
tion-rameworks, including PowerPivot, Microsot Dynam-
ics CRM and even Oce (exemplied in the Duet or Enter-
prise product by SAP and Microsot). The blurring becomes
even more visible as Microsot brings its applications into
the cloud, including Oce 365.
In addition to adding pre-built solution components like
SharePoint to the ramework layer, Microsot has expanded
its product process capabilities across the ramework layer,
including a broader set o application lie cycle manage-
ment support unctions (via Team System) and integrated
IT operational process tools (via System Center).
Although Figure 9 still shows the layers separately, Micro-
sot has made it harder to view and manage them as sepa-
rate elements o IT. As such, Microsot is taking the next
step in IT, working to support and integrate it across all its
major dimensions. The question remains whether or not
enterprises will approach IT in the same manner, including
looking at building new solutions and applications to drive
competitive advantage rather than riding out the tried-
and-true systems already in place.
MICROSOFT STEPS OUTSIDE
ITS COMFORT ZONE
With Windows 8, Microsot could have easily kept Windows
more or less the same, leaving the desktop metaphor intact.
The company could have also copied the Android and iOS
interace rather than reinventing it in Windows Phone. Micro-
sot could have, like IBM, ocused solely on the enterprise
IT product or services markets. There are many sae ways
Microsot could have continued to make massive prots going
orward while keeping things more or less the same. Instead,
it chose to step outside its comort zone, in part driven by the
disruption created by Apple, Google and Amazon.
It also seems that Microsot has become comortable with
the nature o its installed base, particularly in the enter-
prise space. Businesses have only just started upgrading
to Windows 7; it would be unrealistic to expect these com-
panies to immediately switch to Windows 8. What matters
is that they keep moving in the direction o Windows 8.
Microsots main challenge is to keep enterprises on Win-
dows, regardless o the actual hardware being used.
Microsot is taking the next
step in IT, working to supportand integrate it across all its
major dimensions.
CHALLENGES AND RISKS OF WINDOWS 8
Reluctant to change? Old versus new high-
lights resistance to change, which may be a real
problem or Microsot. Many people are already
uncomortable about a desktop without a start
button.
Conused by all the versions o Windows?Many
are. Desktop applications will not run on ARM-
based tablets, while developers have to get used
to yet another change to development on Win-
dows (rom .NET to Windows RT).
Too late? iPad is already setting roots in the
enterprise. How many managers do you see
walking around with iPads? Also, open systems
continue to oer an increasingly viable option to
Windows and other Microsot products.
Too soon? Windows 7 just came out, didnt it?
Many enterprises have just started their multi-
year migration rom Windows XP to Windows 7.
For them, Windows 8 may be too large a change
and unnecessary at this time.
When will desktops cease to be in the enterprise?
Tablets could become the dominant orm or
personal computing and quickly displace exist-
ing PCs. I that happens, Microsot could be in
trouble; the company is not the dominant player
in other areas o the IT spectrum.
What about security? With the rise o mobile
devices, the BYOT trend and cloud-based inte-
gration, the complexity o security has increased
ar beyond the simple days o XP. Can Microsot
keep up with the new security challenges as
Windows 8 enters a world very dierent rom all
earlier versions o Windows?
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The success o this technology strategy is not a certainty,
however. The IT industry is ar more diverse than beore,
with the lines between enterprise and consumer blurring.
(How many senior managers at your company are bring-
ing iPads to meetings?) Microsot does not have an exten-
sive set o vertical oerings, is still playing catch-up in
the Web space, is still struggling with phones, and largely
missed out on social networking. In addition to the highly
visible competition o Apple and Google, Microsot must
continue to battle it out with open source and the large
installed base o companies like VMware, SAP and Oracle.
Microsot does seem to have learned some lessons rom
the past, though. Open source is no longer a banned word
in Redmond; Microsot is actively working to incorporate
open source projects, like Hadoop, and has established an
open source portal, CodePlex, or Microsot-based sot-
ware. Microsot Oce applications have started appear-
ing on iOS, Android and cloud platorms, while System
Center has been extended to manage non-Microsot plat-
orms, including VMware and Linux systems.
Even though Microsot oten seems to be in chaos, Micro-
sots whole stack and whole spectrum approach, with
Windows 8 at the center, has the potential to not only
make and keep Microsot the single player that spans
the IT stack and spectrum, but also change how people
dene, build and use computing applications.
LIVING WITH MICROSOFT
The business world has always had a mixed relationship
with Microsot. Despite its many faws, Windows XP was
a success, providing computing power and a rich set
o applications to nearly everyone working in business
today. With Windows 8, enterprises are aced with a set o
changes, some potentially ar reaching, to their comput-
ing inrastructure. As the IT spectrum has broadened ar
beyond the traditional enterprise space, companies also
need to adapt to a new market o consumers, competi-
tors and computing resources when the companys data
center will no longer suce.
Unless they have a viable alternative that will make it pos-
sible to jettison all existing desktops and laptops, busi-
nesses must learn to live with Microsot and its changing
technology. However, with Windows 8 at the oreront,
Microsot is presenting options beyond simple accep-
tance o Microsots new system. By understanding how
Microsot is driving changes in the way people view
applications and IT in general, businesses can nd new
opportunities to anticipate, leverage and benet rom the
upcoming changes driven by Windows 8, as well as deal
with the inevitable limitations and deciencies that come
rom continuously changing technology.
Here are our suggestions that will help enterprises live
successully with Microsot going orward, starting with
Windows 8:
1. Make upgrading an IT liestyle. Dont look at upgrades
as a discrete point-in-time eort but rather as a contin-
ual process regardless o versions. Fortunately, theres
no rush, particularly at the desktop level, at least until
Metro becomes the dominate UI. As long as Windows
remains the dominate user platorm, Microsot doesnt
really care when you upgrade to Windows 7 or Win-
dows 8 as long as license ees are paid.
With the ability to run XP in virtualized orm, your
upgrade path should no longer be completely depen-
dent on your old apps having to be modernized prior
By understanding how
Microsot is driving changes
in the way people view
applications and IT in general,
businesses can fnd new
opportunities to anticipate,
leverage and beneft rom the
upcoming changes driven by
Windows 8, as well as deal
with the inevitable limitations
and defciencies that come
rom continuously changing
technology.
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to rolling out new versions o Windows. Also, with
Windows 7 and Windows 8 both able to run on many
aging platorms, businesses can take a slow and steady
approach to Windows upgrades rather than trying to
accomplish upgrading in big jumps.
However, updating and upgrading Windows is partially
driven by the aging Windows XP platorm, whose sup-
port ends in 2014 and which lacks a viable alternative
or the enterprise (at least or the desktop). Microsot
may have a more dicult time convincing those enter-
prises already on Windows 7 to step up to Windows 8.
2. Examine all virtualization options. I you have a large
or growing number o Windows servers, Hyper-V may
provide a more cost-eective and well-integrated
option to enterprise virtualization. With much better
enterprise scalability, the hypervisor in Windows Server
8 is mature enough to consider, or at least compare to
the main enterprise hypervisors on the market.
In addition to server virtualization, business should exam-
ine Microsots other virtualization oerings, particularly
or desktop and application management, including
App-V, UE-V and MED-V. By looking at how virtualization
including the many variations oered by Microsot
is used across the enterprise rather than looking at point
solutions, IT managers will be better able to prioritize
and plan what makes sense or the business.
3. Search or the best integration and lie cycle sup-
port. As many enterprise have ound, simply apply-
ing best o breed when building solutions can lead
to problems with integration (worst o integration)
and long-term operational eectiveness o applica-
tions and systems. When looking to deploy new appli-
cations or capabilities, IT leaders should nd options
that not only deliver unctionality but do so in a man-
ner that improves long-term integration and supports
the overall IT lie cycle.
With a common set o rameworks and tools, Microsot
products may oer a better level o integration and long-
term operational control, especially when considering
customization and extension o applications and solu-
tions. By combining solutions, applications and rame-
works into integrated, expandable platorms like Share-
Point, Microsot seeks to give companies a longer-lasting,
more fexible option to traditional enterprise applications.
However, taking advantage o some o the expanded
integration capabilities o Microsot platorms oten
involves a commitment to those platorms. Although
.NET-based applications can theoretically be deployed
on non-Windows systems, the use o .NET is pretty
much a ull commitment to deployment on Microsot
platorms. Obviously, Microsot is working to make sure
such a commitment still gives enterprises the ability to
use technologies across the entire IT spectrum, rom
cloud to phones.
4. Start thinking about true application modernization.
Many enterprises are investing in modernizing their
systems and applications, oten to get o obsolete
and unsupported platorms. However, modernization is
oten interpreted as simply rehosting or replatorming
existing capabilities.
Instead o ocusing on modernizing individual appli-
cations or systems, IT managers should look at the
overall computing experience they can realize, espe-
cially when considering how applications will change
under Windows 8, the Metro UI and the growing set
o cloud-based options or building and deploying
applications. In this new IT environment, applications
need to be driven by the user and business experience,
enabled by a coherent architectural approach.
Enterprises should take the many changes coming
through Windows 8 and other Microsot develop-
ments and nd opportunities to not just keep IT going
but leverage the new technologies as a starting point
or true modernization i.e., or new capabilities and
competitive advantage.
With Windows 8 the tip o the iceberg, Microsot has put
a powerul strategic technology vision in motion. How
much it will succeed is unclear, but its impact will be
important nevertheless. Given how Microsot products
permeate nearly ever enterprise, businesses cant ignore
Windows 8. Better yet, they can turn Windows 8 into a
launching point or transormation.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LEF Associate Rick Muoz is a senior technology architect at CSC. Rick designs
advanced enterprise solutions and provides deep knowledge and expertise in
Microsot platorms and related solutions. Since his work on symbolic computation
systems and articial intelligence in the early 80s, Rick has been developing
technology strategies or large companies, building complex enterprise business
systems and explaining the implications o emerging technology to IT leaders.
@MunozRick(Twitter)
1 Microsot Is the Most Exciting Company in Tech, Hands Down, Gizmodo, 21 June 2012.
http://gizmodo.com/5889659/microsot-is-the-most-exciting-company-in-tech-hands-down
2 Windows 8 is not all about Tablets, its about the uture, Hal Berensons blog, 12 February 2012.
http://hal2020.com/2012/02/12/windows-8-is-not-all-about-tablets-its-about-the-uture/
3 Don Norman: Microsot has a real opportunity with Windows 8, TabTimes, 23 March 2012.
http://tabtimes.com/eature/ittech-os-windows/2012/03/23/don-norman-microsot-has-real-opportunity-windows-8
4 Windows Phone 7s Improved UI, PCWorld India, 18 October 2010.
http://www.pcworld.in/news/windows-phone-7s-improved-ui-38802010
NOTES
mailto:[email protected]://twitter.com/MUNOZRICKmailto:[email protected]://twitter.com/MUNOZRICK -
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The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CSC.
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