Warning: none of my post is on topic.
Datacenters? You would have a hard time finding one which used MS for anything important - most DCs run on custom Linux. I don't understand why you want to implement VDI. Just give everyone laptops (no whiny "I want to use my iPad for work!!" users then) and BYOD/issue phones. That's it. And as to your last paragraph,
And "small percentage"? You call the US Gov. SA small? Good for you. And realise that at most companies, almost everything happens in the browser anyway. Apart from specialised fields like CAD and similar, I'd wager that the average worker spends a good 80% of their time in a browser. And "databases, file servers" and the like should preferably run a more stable platform than that from MS...
You need to stop running your mouth about things you clearly know nothing about. Every one of your statements is inaccurate. As I said before, I work in IT as a database administrator and a programmer. I spend plenty of time in datacenters. 85% of the hundreds of servers in my company's datacenter are running Windows Server. About 10% are running Red Hat Linux and the rest are running HPUX and AIX. I think you are taking datacenters that specialize in web hosting and applying it to every datacenter. However, even you help to make my point which is that Google and Apple have no foundation in the enterprise world.
The "whiny users that want to bring their ipads to work" are physicians in my case. They want to have direct access to all the systems that store the patient's medical record while standing at the bedside, which is a valid goal. We already have hundreds of mobile computers, but for what they want to do at times, a tablet is a better form factor. Unfortunately, while the iPad is a great tablet, it does not fit well into an enterprise environment and it is not conducive to doing "real work" which was my original point. Anyway, not every industry has systems that are well suited for web browsers and the cloud.
I didn't say the US Gov. SA is "a small company." I said "a small percentage of companies". Stop twisting my words.
Your comments about "databases and file servers should not be run on MS" is absurd. I'm a certified DBA for both Oracle and MS. Those two companies have the two most capable database server platforms available. I'm not talking about MS Access here, I'm talking about MS SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS, and SSBI. MS also has the best file server option going for most enterprise environments because it ties directly into Active Directory centralized security. We are talking enterprise technology where security is a concern, not some little 5 person office that just shares everything in a single folder somewhere.
Stop acting like an expert in topics you know nothing about and listen instead. You might actually learn something.
I'm assuming you haven't been paying attention to this thing called Consumerization? If you don't see the millions of iPad's, iPhones and Macbooks invading enterprises all over the world, then you have your head in the sand..
Let's not forget about consumer APPS that are being used daily be employee's (Evernote, etc)..
The days where users go to IT to get word installed on their computers is soon to be behind us.. The sooner that Microsoft figures that out, the better.
You give an example of someone using Evernote to replace a paper scratch pad as an example of the future of enterprise technology? Do you really think that businesses are just going to dump their infrastructure in the future and let employees run amok with whatever apps they enjoy from iTunes?
So I guess in the future some departments will write their policies and procedures in Evernote and store it on Dropbox, others will store theirs on Skydrive with documents written in Notes+, other employees will handle customer data using MonkeyDocs and Amazon Cloud storage. Corporate email servers will be replaced with whatever personal free online account the employees feel like using. Maybe internal quarterly financial reports can be posted to Facebook instead of having a corporate report distribution system. I'm sure this business will be super efficient and their data will be very secure. After employees quit or are fired I'm sure they will turn over all of the company data that has been stored in their personal iPad/iTunes/Cloud storage accounts and stop using any other corporate data that has been shared out by others.
I guess I better start looking for a new career. IT is dead (which is odd considering that IT positions are among the most in demand for the next decade according to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics).