It looks like Microsoft is abandoning yet another market niche:
\r\n
\r\nMicrosoft confirms enthusiasts\' fears: No more versions of Windows Home Server
\r\n
\r\nSo just like the PDA/Smart Phone market was ditched for for a shot at the \'Tainment Phone (Phone 7) market instead, and Windows 8 will end their conventional desktop computing market to serve the masses... no more home and small-office servers.
\r\n
\r\nI\'m sure this headlong rush to failure is driven by Wall Street and shareholders more than any other factors.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nThe question is, in an era where every company that deals with the retail market at all is being pushed to produce nothing but "pap for the masses" where does everyone else go?
\r\n
\r\nI know that many outfits that used to be in the PocketPC (and then Windows Mobile) market have moved to Android platforms to build on. WinCE is being abandoned day by day for all sorts of embedded computing products. Yet Android churn is killing them too, perhaps part of the reason why Amazon did what it did with Kindle Fire.
\r\n
\r\nSo with Home Server going away and many of the low-end Server SKUs going to a semi-rental (hybrid cloud) model of operation that dies when your Internet connection dies... perhaps Linux has the opportunity of its lifetime?
\r\n
\r\nWith the death of desktop Windows (a.k.a. Windows 8) some stable Linux or BDS platform might even have a shot at picking up the slack in that market too. I don\'t see Apple filling the gap, they\'re driven along the same path as Microsoft by the same factors.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nEither computing will become a "fixed-function with limited expansion" universe for lame consumers ("smart" TV, game console, iPhone) or somebody else will step up. But there\'s a lot to overcome here. The Windows ecosystem has had a couple of decades to evolve in a stable manner and anything stepping in may have to recapitulate all of that effort Microsoft is choosing to throw away.
\r\n
\r\nI\'m not sure what business is supposed to do, but many are still reeling from the Phone 7 debacle. This will hurt a lot more since relatively few had a lot of "exposure" (investment) in Windows Mobile - something you can\'t say about servers and desktops.
\r\n
\r\n
\r\nWell at least this is a plus for all those who\'ve lobbied so hard for Microsoft to throw away backward compatibility. They\'ll finally have their wish: platforms that can\'t do much of anything but a few hard-wired mass-market functions based on low-bandwidth (touch & tiles) user interfaces.