Windows' Future in the Enterprise
Windows' intentional compatibility across decades of software makes it slower versus a comparable Linux system, along with the fact that NTFS does very poor with small files and fragments easily. Microsoft doesn't work on making the code for the NT kernel faster if it doesn't bring them more revenue, and this is one of the problems with their business model. Also, I've heard a lot of the good programmers have left Microsoft or retired. In the open source world, there's a concerted effort to make the code run as fast and efficiently as possible. Even though Windows (and Linux) wasn't built to be what it has become today, at least with Linux they make the effort to optimize the bits. Microsoft really needs to open source the Windows kernel, but I bet this would be a big embarrassment as they don't even understand what's going on anymore. It probably has been added to over and over again so much so, that it's one big cryptic mess. When you have transparency, some really good things can happen. When you hide everything behind closed doors, an "Embrace, extend and extinguish" philosophy, mixed with the intention of extracting the maximum amount of profit out of every person who uses your product, this type of business model only lasts so long. It's starting to fail now, as we have reached the tipping point.
When people had an opportunity to leave Microsoft for another platform, they went in droves to iOS and Android. The Linux desktop I believe will increase in market share as soon as more computers start coming from the factory with Linux pre-installed, and consumers are aware of the savings reaped from a free (as in beer) OS. Expect to see Microsoft do everything in their power to prevent this from happening -- although their old tried and true tactics aren't really working very well any longer. The future also remains untold now that support for XP has ended, which means that the Linux desktop will most likely get a market share bump. More governmental agencies will start shifting to Linux, as has been a trend in the news as of late. It just takes awareness for users to break out of the eternal prison that Microsoft wishes the world would stay in. This isn't the 90's any longer, and Microsoft is cleaving to old philosophies along with the hope that their feudalistic and totalitarian Windows store will be a big hit. On one hand I understand the goal to kill off the Win32 desktop, but the worries developers have creates a point of contention. For instance, many developers currently sell software without giving any cut to MS. Another major issue developers have is if their software gets blacklisted or completely locked out of the store due to some type of dispute. With Microsoft being the gatekeeper and by locking down Windows to a point where they own your machine and you don't, you cannot trust in the Windows store just because of their recent Herbalife brainwashing meeting featuring teleprompters.
I cannot see Windows 8.x being very suitable for the enterprise. I mean, for fuck's sake, you have to pay MS to buy a damn key to sideload software onto a computer. MS is incapable of getting a clue, and I recommend businesses and everybody else dump Windows and move to a platform which actually has a future.