Enterprise PCs are unreliable, unpatched, and unloved compared to Macs
- Reference: 1774423752
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/03/25/omnissa_digital_workspace_report/
- Source link:
Omnissa’s State of Digital Workspace report suffers from the same problem as all research published by vendors in that its authors conclude its findings demonstrate many fine reasons reason why you should consider the company’s products.
We’ll ignore that and consider some other findings instead, such as data that shows users of Apple devices update software faster than owners of other machines. Omnissa found macOS devices are updated 1.5 times faster than Windows hardware, while iOS machines get updated 8.1 times faster than Android. “OS update controls for macOS are centralized, less obstructive, and more reliable than the bifurcated Windows Server Update Services (on-premises) and Windows Update Client Policies (cloud) approach for Windows patching,” the company opined.
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The report also found “industries that house the most sensitive data are ironically the furthest behind in basic OS patching” and that “Critical industries like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and retail and wholesale consistently let their operating systems languish.” Healthcare, pharmaceutical, and retail outfits are the worst offenders.
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Omnissa also assessed the age of endpoints it manages, and found 90 percent of Windows machines in its care are under three years old, and just two percent make it into a sixth year of operation. By contrast, 65 percent of Macs are less than three years old, and 11.5 percent are in use six years after purchase.
The company also considered reliability and found Windows users experience 3.1 times more forced shutdowns than Mac owners, 2.2 times more app crashes, and 7.5 times more app hangs.
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Plenty of the Macs Omnissa can see still run Intel processors, and Chipzilla provided the processor in 93 percent of PCs. AMD had just six percent of the observable fleet, leaving a sole percentage point of market share to the likes of Qualcomm.
Omnissa thinks the strong presence of Apple silicon in the corporate fleets it observes means the House of the Snapdragon may yet claim a throne. “The rapid adoption of Apple silicon seems to indicate a strong enterprise appetite for ARM-based architecture,” the report states, because buyers appreciate better performance-per-watt.
[5]Omnissa brings VDI-style app packaging to physical PCs
[6]Omnissa, VMware’s old end-user outfit, moves to manage servers and … Apple Watches?
[7]Gartner warns Omnissa – formerly VMware's end-user compute biz – represents new risks
[8]Omnissa, VMware's old end-user biz, emerges with promise of 'AI-infused autonomous workspace'
The research also spotted 36 percent year over year growth in virtual desktops and concludes that’s “a likely indicator of organizations pivoting to VDI driven by Windows 10 end-of-life and the need for newer OS-ready hardware.”
The report did have some welcome news for Microsoft, in the form of growing market share for its Edge browser which Omnissa found accounted for 41 percent of browser use, just two points behind Google’s Chrome. Research firm StatCounter’s analysis of a far larger user population suggests Chrome has 68.9 percent market share, ahead of Edge’s 5.4 percent. Apple’s Safari doesn’t rate a mention in Omnissa’s report, which found “Other” browsers enjoy 16 percent share and a statistically significant presence for emerging enterprise browsers Island and Talon.
“The presence of niche enterprise browsers suggests IT is attempting to regain control over this ‘last mile’ of data presentation, moving security controls from the device level to the browser level,” Omnissa suggested.
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Another finding is that government buyers can move markets. Omnissa found 99 percent growth in adoption of desktop computers among body politic buyers, and suggested much of the 988 percent year-on-year growth in the presence of Google’s Pixel handsets in its data to the US Department of Defense Information Network’s inclusion of the machines on its Approved Products List (APL).
The report concludes that bad things can happen if you don’t understand what’s going on with your hardware fleet, or it’s hard to manage, so you should spend money with someone to avoid finding yourself in that situation. And guess who sells stuff that can help? ®
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Re: Edge
Also because more and more enterprises are just enforcing the use of Edge for browsing - just as they used to do with IE about 20 years back.
There was a period of time when IE was on the way out and original Edge was so rubbish that IT orgs rolled out Chrome across their estates. However now that Edge is also just a Chromium browser and installed by default on Windows, many IT orgs are feeling there's no need to deploy, manage and patch a second browser, so Chrome is often being removed leaving Edge as the only option.
Re: Edge
"Chrome is often being removed leaving Edge as the only option."
Yes we do this but, because Healthcare Applications tend to get updated once every Solar Cycle, a lot of sites are in I.E. Compatibility mode with all the lovely security "features" that come with it.
Re: Edge
I suspect that if you are producing patches at a rate of at least one a day (at least that's what it looks like at the moment) there isn't much space for pesky QA, and testing is as usual left to the user.
Honestly, the amount of updates that Edge has had over the last few weeks is staggering. It appears Chrome truly is a match for Microsoft's colander approach to security.
Re: Edge
Ironically - or maybe not - another Chromium patch arrives while I was on this thread. There's a reason why it's one of my last choices for picky web sites.
Stating the bleeding obvious.
"Critical industries like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and retail and wholesale consistently let their operating systems languish.”"
Wow, could that be be because they are a gizzilion times more likely to be running obscure, niche or bespoke software than Mac or ChromeOS user's? That they don't want to rush out and patch some PC's that may costs them millions of lost revenue per day? If you think that is hyperbolic, the last phone system I looked after, if that went down, it was roughly £1,000,000 per HOUR in lost revenue and penalties. So yes, we were very slow and careful to roll out patches, be they Windows, Linux or BSD.
As regards speed of patching of iOS versus Android, it's worth pointing out that updates to iOS devices are available as soon as Apple releases them, whereas Android updates go through the phone manufacturers who may or may not release them in a timely manner.
And as regards ARM, I can't see how use of Macs demonstrates that business customers are keen on ARM chips, given that Macs are now only available with ARM chips! It's far more likely that they just want Macs and aren't interested in the CPU. This is borne out by the fact that ARM Windows machines are still niche and most businesses avoid them.
Edge
The Edge usage figures can probably be explained by Windows constantly, mysteriously resetting user-chosen default browser, insisting on opening links in err, Edge even when the default is something else etc. etc. It's like IE all over again.
TBH, I don't particularly have an issue with Edge in terms of usability (though its default alt tab behaviour is a pain in the erse) but all of MS' tricks to make me use it just make me actively act against it.