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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.

[email protected]

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.

[email protected]

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
http://www.csc.com/lefpodcasthttp://www.csc.com/lefreportshttp://www.csc.com/lefreportshttp://www.csc.com/lefpodcast

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CSC LEADING EDGE FORUMWindows 8: A New Era for Microsoft

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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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

Source: CSC

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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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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

Source: CSC

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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.

7/31/2019 LEF 2012Windows8

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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.


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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


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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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.

7/31/2019 LEF 2012Windows8

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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.

[email protected]

@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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Windows 8: A New Era for Microsoft

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