Breaking the Cycle of PC Addiction

Whether you call it desktop virtualization, client virtualization, or that new device that the IT department just installed, as virtualizing desktops rises in prominence, their implementation is often at the expense of existing personal computer installations.  It's not uncommon for end-users to be inexplicably attached to their collection of plastic and circuitry, so with a generous heart and a modicum of self-interest I've prepared my Top Five Tips to help you break the cycle of PC addiction.

Admit That You Have a Problem

Those virus threats? Those constant patches?  That expectation that you need a new model every two years?  C'mon, is that really the way you want to live your life?  You should expect more from your computer than a drop in reliability and an immediate depreciation once the 90-day warranty expires.  You've been tolerating substandard performance for so many years that you've come to expect nothing less.  Sort of like being a Cubs fan.  The first step is always the hardest.  But look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself:  you're good enough, you're smart enough, and you deserve a computer that is efficient and trustworthy.  Besides, you really want the software the PC runs, and if there's a better way to deliver that, giving you easier, and more universal access - why get so hung up about having a noisy, heat spewing chunk of hardware in front of you all day?

And while the price of PCs keeps dropping, businesses are beginning to understand the hidden costs of PC ownership.  Research firm Gartner recently compared the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of personal computers versus what they term server-based computing (SBC).  According to their findings, the TCO of an SBC deployment is about 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment, and the direct costs of SBCs are between 12% and 27% lower than traditional PCs.

In fact, the esteemed personal technology guru Walt Mossberg recently wrote:  "There's no other major item most of us own that is as confusing, unpredictable and unreliable as our personal computers." So let's consider something better, a virtualized desktop stored and managed in the datacenter, accessed with a thin client - we'll call it a virtual client.

Need more evidence?  Like a toy on Christmas morning, the day your computer works best and fastest is the day you take it out of the box.  Unfortunately, it's downhill from there.  Over the lifespan of a PC, performance slows, while support and maintenance costs continue to grow.  The cumulative effects of craplets, viruses, malware, disk fragmentation and more render the benefit of PCs to a relatively short-term proposition. After a brief honeymoon, PCs become more expensive to support. Combined with the fact that the lifecycle is 2-3 years for a PC as opposed to 6-8 for today's virtual client, the problem is staring you right in the face.  Admit it.

Look in the Mirror