Windows Desktop Destined for Long Slide to Oblivion, Says Gartner

Computerworld: A new report from analyst firm Gartner says that by 2020, users will spend only 10 percent of their time interacting with traditional Windows applications. The firm predicts that the introduction of Windows 8 will mark a major “technology shift”–the first such shift in two decades, when Microsoft made the change from from DOS to Windows. “Sometimes a new version of Windows represents more than a major upgrade,” wrote Gartner’s Michael Silver. “We call these ‘technology shifts.’ We don’t see technology shifts too often.”

Silver added, “Microsoft is not forcing anyone to eliminate Win32 applications or preventing developers from writing them, but Gartner believes that Win32 and the Windows Desktop will become less strategic over time.”