The newer generation seems to be bypassing Microsoft and desktop tools. Many do their school reports using Google's online "office" tools or a custom site set up (or rented) by the school. When they get into the work-place, they'll be more comfortable with "cloud" tools. They don't have to carry thumbdrives or laptops around as often, and see being "hardware bound" is old-fashioned. The desktop may die fairly soon in the work-place when this generation gets into management. I guess the HtmlStack won, even though its a pain the [bleep] to develop with. -t ''I've noticed that over the past couple of years, StartUp businesses increasingly eschew desktop MicrosoftOffice in favour of cloud-based "SoftwareAsaService" applications (including Office365), even when they have sufficient funds to purchase sufficient copies of desktop MicrosoftOffice.'' Most schools find Microsoft's prices too high. Sometimes Microsoft gives educational discounts, but it seems hit and miss. Plus, Microsoft has a reputation for yanking out the carpet once a school is "hooked" on Office, and/or having convoluted licensing rules. It would take years to clean up their reputation. ---- While it may be convenient, inexpensive (comparatively), and the thing everybody new (and young) may be tending towards, It is the new (and young) that investigate things not only by such parameters, but also from the standpoint of independence, security, and reliability that Desktop based (which can also utilize the vapors of the cloud) users may end up with a decided advantage when the wind blows in the Cloud Theft cloud and the Identity Theft cloud into their place in the cloud. A price is always paid when one opts for the least expensive, convenient alternatives over Due Diligence ones. That price may determine survivability, and far exceed the savings enjoyedby minimizing in initial costs and increasing the perceived convenience. Perhaps you can have both! See considerations in the ParallelProgrammingModel environment. (Desktop in parallel with Cloud)-- DonaldNoyes.20141117 ''(The one RunningSixYearsBehind and a user of Microsoft Products, including Desktop MicrosoftOfficeProfessional)'' ''Existing desktops have been quite porous such that it's difficult for the cloud to do worse. Even if "the cloud" gets kicked, the "fix" may be to shore it up rather than switch back to desktops. Having a second "backup" vendor may reduce the chance of data loss from hacking and bankruptcy, for example. Bigger companies may make their own local (company) copies and/or host their own "cloud" (mainframe redux).'' Hosting your own cloud, Peer-toPeer Encrypted connectivity, paralleling processing with synchronization , results checking data (cloud-apps/desktop-programs, sychronized data (cloud (internet) with desktop(intranet), are components which can be utilized in a (you can have your cake and eat it) to the user, transparent environment. They could and probably will become the way things are done and the way things are stored and will be utilized with full confidence. (within five years or less from now (2019). -- DonaldNoyes.20141117 ''And virtual pigs and monkeys will fly out of my data port and pass out healthy candy to all the smiling children and munchkins.'' {Uh... Ok. It's easy to host your own private cloud. I've done it; you can too. See http://devstack.org and/or http://www.stackgeek.com/guides/gettingstarted.html } A single individual testing it versus a large organization are very different things. {How so? Many organisations, large and small, are successfully using private cloud infrastructure like OpenStack. I set it up for my department. ItJustWorks.} I have no way to verify that claim. I don't personally trust your word at face value. You are a spinner in my opinion. {Do you think it's difficult? I installed Ubuntu Server on seven machines, and followed the instructions at http://www.stackgeek.com/guides/gettingstarted.html Here it is, running:} http://shark.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/Horizon.jpg Mere running is hardly a thorough road-testing. For example, Windows ME ran, but was one of the crappiest OS's released by MS by many accounts. {It's more than running. It's in daily use. It hosts some of our infrastructure, including a semantic search engine, multiple Web sites, and an assortment of industrial and student projects.} You are missing the point. Anyhow, this is not the proper topic to talk up such a tool. {What point am I missing? I'm hardly "talking it up" -- it's just a virtualisation tool and we use it. It's nothing more than a way of getting thirty or more servers for the price of seven.} {What does Windows ME have to do with it? Are you suggesting that virtualisation in general is as bad as Windows ME was? Or are you disparaging private cloud infrastructure in general, or OpenStack in particular?} ---- CategorySoftwareProduct CategoryOrganization CategoryInternet CategoryFuture CategoryBusiness ---- NovemberFourteen