In “What the Windows desktop will look like in 2015: Brian’s vision of the future” Brian describes his vision of the Desktop in 2015.

A couple of small comments:

1. Three months ago I posted something similar: See here: “VDI and its future”
2. With the Backend DC Apps becoming “virtualized” (no more need for an OS, running natively on a Hypervisor, see here: “Oracle WebLogic Suite Virtualization Option”), why not simply assume, that every Desktop app also will be running natively on the hypervisor?
3. As these Apps then no longer require an OS, there might not be a need for Windows Apps any longer.
4. The “old OS discussion” will then become a “hypervisor discussion”.
5. If we assume also, that APIs for deploying apps “into the cloud” will become homogeneous and compatible with “deploying to run on a hypervisor” (we could call a cloud a “hypervisor of OS functions”), we might then enter paradise, as we no longer need to care, which app runs where or how to access it.

So, from all these thoughts, OSes will get irrelevant. That’s why MS et.al. are starting to invest into the cloud game, as they need to transform their business model from “paying for owning apps” to “paying for getting a specific service”.

Even your “user workspace” idea might shift, as it might become a part of: “IT Futurology and the Terabyte iPod”.

Yes, your article might be “real” in that it keeps in mind, that things change slowly, still, other posts of yours do miss opportunities, as you still seem to be to windows-bound… ;-)

Still, it’s a good reading! Thanks for that!

Matthias

One Response to “Answer to Brian Madden’s 2015 Desktop article”

1. Jack says:

   October 24, 2011 at 14:40

   This model of running applications native on the hypervisor, together with whatever libraries of OS-like functions they require, is called an exokernel.
   I agree, it is the future. You are able to mix dedicated special-purpose app-os instances with traditional multipurpose OSs on the same hardware.