March 31, 2011
Gartner raises 2011 IT spending prognostications
Channel Register
Timothy Prickett Morgan shares Gartner’s predictions for IT spending this year.
“Gartner says that companies worldwide spent $9.6B on tablets last year, and guesses that they will spend $29.4B in 2011. If you back out those numbers from total hardware spending on IT-class gear (servers, storage, networking hardware, PCs, printers, and such), then hardware sales were only going to grow at around four per cent, to just under $380B, in 2011. But when you add fondleslabs to the tab and the effects of the falling US dollar, hardware sales worldwide (as reckoned in US dollars) will grow by 9.5 per cent, to $409B.”
Windows 8: Beta collectors waiting with bated breath for a leak
ZD Net
Mary Jo Foley writes about Microsoft’s Windows 8.
“Microsoft developers are working on M3, or Milestone 3, of Windows 8 at this point in time. Once M3 is done, which should/could be this summer, Microsoft is expected to make test builds of Windows 8 somewhat more widely available. I’ve heard from a couple of my contacts that Microsoft could show off Windows 8 to its partners at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in July in Los Angeles, if not before. And last I heard, the Softies are still planning to hold a Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in September (most likely in Redmond), and plan to make available around that time either a Community Test Preview or possibly a beta of Windows 8..”
Microsoft Launches Tech Preview for Windows Thin PC
The VAR Guy
The VAR Guy shares details about Microsoft’s Windows Thin PC.
“According to Microsoft’s Windows Blog, the company has released the community technology preview (CTP) for Windows Thin PC, its foray into the virtualization space. What implications could this have for the channel? Read on for a few thoughts: Windows Thin PC is a ‘locked down’ version of Windows 7 that has been built to run on old PCs and extend their lives as thin clients … Any number of vendors offer thin client apps. But now we’re talking about the entire OS that’s dedicated to delivering that virtual desktop. What’s more, the end customer doesn’t need a VDA license to access the VDI desktop.”
