'Gartner believes Microsoft needs to make such a change, an idea we first suggested in 2006,' said Silver's report. Microsoft's bet on WinRT and Metro is, of course, huge, but it was necessary.
'Gartner expects Microsoft to include the Windows Desktop in future releases, but improvements will be relatively minor,' the research firm said, comparing future support for the desktop to the longtime inclusion of the DOS command line in Windows. That means Microsoft will likely spend little energy from this point forward improving the Windows desktop. By then, the browser and most applications, including what Gartner called 'OS-neutral' apps, will run in Metro using the WinRT runtime. Most enterprises that adopt Windows 8 will continue to use Win32 applications and a traditional desktop browser through 2015, said Silver and his colleagues, but by 2020, users will spend less than 10% of their time on that platform, and thus on the desktop.
'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,' said the firm.
