A Brave, Scary New World On The Desktop

Big changes are inspiring, though sometimes what change inspires most is fear. And given that we could be on the verge of a desktop revolution, it is naturaly for system administrators to wonder what the future holds. Between the rise of Open Source software and other alternatives to Microsoft apps, companies and users now have a host of legitimate options beyond Windows.This is not to say that Microsoft's desktop rule is in serious question, but there are certainly legitimate threats from companies like Google to Windows absolute ubiquity. But what may be the biggest change is not what vendors provide in terms of desktop software but how they deliver applications.

TransMedia joins Google and Salesforce.com in offering applications as a service. The startup's Glide Effortless offering is aimed at consumers but is something system administrators need to keep their on as well as employees download applications onto corporate issued or even their own personal laptops that may be used in part for work purposes.

At least no one can accuse the desktop of being dull these days.