Windows won't dominate enterprise in a decade, says outgoing Jamf CEO
William GallagherDean Hager of Jamf
Dean Hager of Apple device management firm Jamf predicts Windows will no longer be the dominant enterprise platform, and Apple will take its place.
Hager has previously praised Apple's competitor to Jamf, Apple Business Essentials. Now that he is about to stand down, he's predicting Apple will topple Windows in corporations.
"No matter which way you look at it, Windows is a declining ecosystem and has been for 20 years," Hager told ComputerWorld. "That's not a knock at Windows, it's a statement of fact."
"In 10 years' time, Windows will not be the dominant ecosystem," he said. "Apple is coming up because it already dominates the mobile enterprise."
"When I joined Jamf in 2015, I thought some pretty special things were going to happen with Apple in the enterprise," continued Hager. "But I think even my predictions would have fallen far short of what has actually happened in the last eight years."
Hager's point is partly that he says Windows has no mobile device to equal the iPhone, and so can't be what he calls an "endpoint leader." It can't dominate because it isn't competing across the platforms enterprise users want.
But it's also that issue of the customer and their needs.
"We live in an environment where people using the technology have a stronger voice than they've ever had in the history of the corporate world," he said. "And ultimately that voice will prevail."
"[Users] will choose the technology that they want, and this just wasn't true 20 or even 10 years ago," he continued. "But the world has changed, employees have a choice, and those organizations that don't allow that choice are falling behind today."
Following the launch of Apple Business Essentials, aimed at smaller firms, Jamf has added a Jamf Fundamentals plan for the same market.
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22 Comments
I wish my company would let me use a MacBook Pro over the shitty Dell they force on everyone…
No way?
MS Windows PCs may not be the majority of PC computers in Enterprise/Corporations 10 years from now, but it's going to be an MS ecosystem of Azure, Outlook, Office, Teams, etc. There are uncountable bytes of documents in Office formats. As long as those are around, everyone in business is using Office. From there it branches to Azure backends for Teams and Outlook. Teams and Outlook should merge into one app. Tired of have multiple ways to communicate to people.
I have to say that this is a load of B.S. Apple is not going to take over in Enterprise in 10 years. They want low-cost computers to give everyone and Apple isn't that. We have 1 person at work who is using a Mac Mini, but for use the software we use, he as to Emulate Windows. because there is no Mac version of the software. That is the biggest reason. Lack of Mac software versions. I don't see that changing.
Trying to compare what is happening in enterprise to what has happened in Mobile. Well, that would mean Chromebooks would be taking over the world right? Just like Android has 80% of the global market? I don't see Chromebooks going anywhere either.
Windows is here to stay unless there is a move to Linux. When I was first working at my current job, I was using a Linux computer. it was a few years before moving over to a Windows computer. I see Linux far more likey than Windows or Apple if there is some major charge in the workforce computer.
JBdragon gets it right. Corporate I.T. Is still conservative, reluctant to change, penny pinching and in general, still Apple adverse, although they make exceptions for “creatives”.
It wasn’t all that many years ago that I was fighting with clients because they didn’t even want to replace 800 X 600 monitors.