In the last 6 months, I have been socializing an idea around my office to offload some of my team’s laptops in favor of tablets in 2011. I estimate that we collectively wasted a few weeks in 2010 messing with random computing issues related to Windows, drivers, and other computing headaches that plague the windows OS and hardware. Because Centigon Solutions’ entire operation runs on cloud-based services, it is not an off the wall idea for me to consider alternative computing devices. Some have suggested that I buy Macs, but that is a band-aid for me to accomplish the following:

- Not spend $2500 every two years to replace our Dell PCs that seem to fall apart after 10 months.
- Eliminate wasted time trouble shooting windows or hardware issues.
- Enable a mobile, connected workforce
- Still have the PC-based computing power accessible anywhere for desktop work (where internet is available)
- Have information available at my fingertips at all times, and not when I am sitting at a desk.
- Retain central control of employee’s computers via virtualization and not expensive hardware.

My first test subject will be our sales director, Lisa, who will shortly get to throw her Windows 7 enabled Dell into our computer graveyard.

As an PC user who heavily relies on desktop programs for design and development tasks, having lots of computing power is critical. This raises the question if off-loading my PC computing power to a hosted environment like Rackspace Cloud would work. I am still not sure that RDP is the most effective and secured method to harness remote computing power. My expectations for performance are extremely high so perhaps there is a company somewhere in cyberspace who has solved this problem? With my hardware up for replacement in July, I hope to give it a shot and report what happens.

I would love to hear your thoughts and findings in this area.