Microsoft knows that it has some work to do to make its desktop users happier with Windows 8. Despite this, the company is hoping to see a rapid uptick in Windows 8 adoption next year when it officially ends support for Windows XP. BusinessKorea reports, however, that some Korean IT departments are considering truly desperate measures in a bid to forgo upgrading Windows 8 once Windows XP support ends — including adopting the Linux-based Ubuntu platform.
One of BusinessKorea’s sources says that although “Ubuntu does not support as wide an array of programs like Windows,” it is still “easy to install, and has evolved into a highly sophisticated program.” What’s more, the source says that “PC users today do not need clunky packaged software” because “in a desktop environment today, users can perform most of the tasks with the aid of a simple browser.”
There’s no chance we’ll see IT departments move away in bulk from Windows, of course, largely because there is simply no way to enforce the broad array of security policies that you can get on Microsoft’s platform with a brand-new open-source platform like Ubuntu.
What is interesting, however, is the notion that more PC users can get a lot of what they need at work simply through a web browser. If this kind of chatter is percolating throughout IT departments then it goes a long way toward explaining why Microsoft is spending its time bashing Chromebooks, the little-used browser-based computers that have reportedly started making inroads in at public schools.
