In my piece titled, The Migration Threshold back on March 31, 2006, I wrote:
But for the big corporates who consider the computing devices used by their employees to be part of the overall asset management system, it's less obvious. The iPad did more to disrupt the Microsoft desktop monopoly than Novell ever did, aided and abetted by Google, the major Telecom carriers, and Mozilla. Those big corps will still attempt to standardize, but the options provided to their workers will involve more than just Big Blue options.
I think Novell is doing some good in providing alternatives to Windows, but we're still a decade away from any serious chinking at the armor. Vista will provide a migration point for Windows shops, but that'll be soon enough that the Microsoft gravity-well won't have been diminished all that much.It's 6 years later, not a decade, but Windows is definitely the minority desktop in my office right now. Only it isn't Linux that's providing the alternative, it's Apple. We are a Nimble Startup with a culture of providing the tools you need to do your job and not obsessing on standardizing those tools across people. So yes, we got to this state first.
But for the big corporates who consider the computing devices used by their employees to be part of the overall asset management system, it's less obvious. The iPad did more to disrupt the Microsoft desktop monopoly than Novell ever did, aided and abetted by Google, the major Telecom carriers, and Mozilla. Those big corps will still attempt to standardize, but the options provided to their workers will involve more than just Big Blue options.