think Windows 8 is doomed to failed on the desktop. But,  much as I dislike Windows 8 and its Metro interface, I thought it had a chance on the business tablet. Oh, forget about Intel and Microsoft’s dream that the first wave of Windows 8 tablets will push the iPad’s global market share to below 50 percent by mid-2013. That’s not happening. But, Metro’s designed for tablet-sized displays and, I presumed, IT would be able to deploy and manage them with their existing Active Directory (AD) tools. Guess what? Microsoft won’t be supporting AD on Windows 8 on ARM (WOA).

When I first heard that Microsoft wasn’t enabling AD on Windows RT–the ARM-specific version of Windows 8–I thought there must be some kind of mistake. AD isn’t just a directory service, it’s the heart of business Windows authentication, authorization, security, and management. Every Windows system administrator, since Windows NT’s domain system was put out to pasture, knows AD.

Windows 8 tablets: Not open for business. More >