What might a post-Windows world look like?

We take for granted these days that Microsoft will always provide new versions of Windows and Windows Server, that Google will always provide world-leading search and that many other companies will just be there for us in perpetuity.  After all, look at the big names like Coca Cola, Ford and and more that have been with us for a hundred years or more.  Only when it comes to specific websites such as Facebook do we accept that their candle may burn out quickly.

But the technology market is different, and in the last three years we’ve seen it take on a whole new dimension where Windows is no longer the obvious operating system choice, and where comparisons are increasingly being made with IBM.  On tablets, a market that Microsoft invented back around 2003 they’re going to have a real fight on their hands, and in computing generally it’s no longer clear what devices and form factors we’ll be using in even five or ten years time.  What is obvious however is that the traditional desktop PC is well and truly on its way out.  Lastly new operating systems such as iOS, Android and WebOS have blown away the notion that people will resist a learning curve on new devices.  So what would the world be like if Microsoft stopped making Windows desktop and server products?

First of all it’s not very likely, Microsoft would probably drop Windows products last of all with their expensive research and development centres and other products such as Xbox falling by the wayside first, so there’s no need to worry in the short term.  Windows 8 is a big gamble though and if it fails then Microsoft will either have to backtrack with Windows 9, pull an immensely impressive rabbit out of their hat or face the consequences of poor decision-making.

There has already been talk that Google would like to bring Android to the desktop.  HP said the same of WebOS, which they are still developing or at least maintaining, and could put extra resources back into quickly.  Ubuntu Linux is now at least as friendly as Windows XP was, only the lack of big name software for the platform is holding it back now and Apple’s OS X is becoming more like iOS with every release.  So it’s already clear that there’s plenty of choice.

We might also expect an open-source upstart operating system to appear too and it might even be a reinvigorated WebOS.  Companies such as the Mozilla Foundation might see an opportunity as their Firefox browser begins to fade in popularity, and this is just one of several places where a new operating system might emerge.

In the business space, some of the GNU/Linux companies including Red Hat, might jump in with versions that will run Windows programs on the desktop.  This isn’t new and has already been done with operating systems such as Lindows (later renamed Linspire).  This product still exists today and could prove popular with businesses if Windows 8 and Windows 9 fail to deliver the working experience that they need.

Again it’s very unlikely that Microsoft will cease development of Windows in the next twenty years at least.  If they’d have done it even five years ago there would have been almost no alternatives to choose from.  Should they do it now though businesses and consumers would probably just shrug their shoulders and quietly move on to the next big thing.

Three Quarters of EU Firms Not Ready to Recover from IT Failures

Almost three quarters of companies and public-sector organisations across nine European countries might not recover all of their data if they suffer an IT failure according to a new report released by the IT group EMC.  For the survey a total of 1,750 European companies and organisations were quizzed across the UK,  France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux and Russia with each organisation ranging in size from 250 to 3000+ employees.

The research’s findings are worrying indeed.

• 74% of organisations are not very confident that they can fully recover after a disaster, according to a new survey of 1,750 European companies
• 54% surveyed have lost data and/or suffered systems downtime in the last year
• 61% report hardware failure as the primary cause of data loss and downtime;  natural disasters and employee sabotage being much less likely culprits
• 43% of organisations cite loss of employee productivity as the single biggest economic impact
• 28% point to lost revenue as a result of a disaster
• 40% of organisations still use tape for recovery and 80% of these organisations want to replace tape all together, highlighting the need for next generation backup and recovery

The fact that 74% of companies and organisations feel that they’re not prepared or equipped to properly recover data after an outage or disaster might be seen as very worrying for business overall.  We’ve all suffered data loss but the data losses suffered by business could affect us and them in many different ways.  They could lose customer orders, lose valuable employee details or details of current projects and so on.

The survey also details that more than half of the businesses and organisations surveyed said they had experienced data loss or systems downtime in the last year.  It’s common for companies to suffer from downtime and it’s a pity the research doesn’t go into more detail about what percentage of companies had actually experienced data loss, all we have is a corruption figure that in itself seems too high.

They say the most commonly reported causes of downtime are…

• Hardware failure: 61%
• Power failure: 42%
• Data corruption: 35%

One of the problems seems to be that 40% of the companies surveyed are still replying on tape for backup.  With the falling costs of hard disks and the increased bandwidth that dedicated phone lines can bring more and more companies are moving to secure and stable off-site backup solutions and indeed many business ISPs and server hosts now offer this facility as standard.  It is clear though that not enough companies are heeding the warnings of data loss and, more important of good security.

The research found that businesses are spending, on  average, 10% of their IT budgets on backup and recovery, and 29% of businesses  do not feel they are spending enough.   For backup and disaster recovery purposes, 40% of companies still rely  on tape, with an average annual cost of €74,000 on transporting, storing,  testing and replacing tapes. Where tape is used for disaster recovery purposes,  10% still have an employee take home a copy of the backup tapes with them.

The companies surveyed included manufacturing, retail, financial services and telecoms, among others and, frankly, it is disappointing that so many companies still seem unprepared for IT and data failures when computers have now been in business for over 30 years and have been on every desk for the vast majority of that time.

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© Mike Halsey (MVP) for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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