, giovanni wrote

This does not factor in upgrades (software and hardware), added complexity, and the cost of backups and hardware resources in case of: fire, thefts, water damage, lightening, etc.

Look, you always forget the case of rocky internet connections. Where is your cloud if "broadband" means barely above two-channel ISDN? What the heck is your answer to this?

In this case, you store your files offline anyway. And you need to backup them. Hardware resources and theft? Does the cloud put your PCs into a data center too? Unless your workers communicate telephathically with servers, you still need to secure the office and the equipment. By going "full cloud" (where even your office files are stored there) your business is completely dead if connection goes off. Most offices still can work offline for some time (it's still mostly about writing and printing letters), but without the documents itself?  

I love it how you cloud aficionados completely avoid this question. Just as like with Win 8 by the way (Desktop is legacy! Manually pin your tons of programs on the taskbar!)

Nu Microsoft and its fans live in a world where everyone works only with tablets, legacy programs get rewritten within two weeks for Metro, personell training is free, there are no legal issues with the cloud whatsoever and 100 mbit connections are available everyhwere for under one dollar.

Keep the shilling. It's just unbelievable how much goodwill Microsoft has lost from its most loyal base just within 12 months with its sci-fi outlook.