Vista last OS from MS stable, says Forrester chief

MUMBAI: Many people have predicted Microsoft’s doom. But when it comes from a thought leader, widely respected across the globe, one needs to sit up and take notice.

“Windows Vista will be the last Microsoft desktop operating system we will install on our PCs,” predicts George F Colony, chairman and CEO, Forrester Research. He was speaking at the CIOL Boardroom Event held in Mumbai, recently.

Colony is widely regarded for his tech predictions in the industry. For instance, he had talked about the dotcom burst, or the rise of Steve Jobs, all these much before any one else could have imagined. Of late, he has been talking extensively about BT or business technology. Colony is of the opinion that IT (Information Technology) as a term has outlasted its use and should be replaced by a niftier BT.

At a CIOL organized ‘Boardroom’ meet here, Colony spoke about the tech cycle that repeats every few years. The first wave was mainframe computers that lasted from 1956-`76, the second was personal computers stretching from 1976-`92 and the third is networked computing, enterprise applications and Internet from 1992-2008.

“Now, we are just nearing the onset of another wave that will dramatically alter the whole of computing world, it is called as the fourth wave,” he said with a dramatic effect.

According to Colony, the fourth wave will be driven by technologies like social computing, and what he refers to as “executable Internet” or X-Internet. “The future will be driven by Google,” is another prediction that he makes. He also had great things to say about India and Indian organizations.

“India can play a big part in the supply chain of innovation,” he said. He also predicted a tech slowdown in the U.S. before the onset of the “fourth wave”.

CIOs from leading companies across different verticals attended the Boardroom event.

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