[Editors note:  As the April 3 iPad launch looms we are featuring post from people around the web who have an opinion or "angle" on the iPad and future of computing.  Here is a post from Daniel Feller from Citrix who asks a provocative question.  What is your primary desktop?  With virtualization at the server and desktop levels this notion of edge device will constantly innovate and change.  Spuring many clones according to reports.  Thanks Daniel.  Please welcome Daniel to SiliconAngle.  – jf]

Fill in the blank if you will.  There are many people who are super excited about the upcoming release of the latest tablet PCs (iPad, Slate, etc).  I recently received a comment from someone on Facebook related to a previous blog saying that the iPad Will Not Replace Your Desktop.  The comment basically said

Does the iPad and like devices need to be fully functional to be successful?  How many people have more than one mobile device like a laptop and a netbook?”
That is an interesting question.  But I’m starting to wonder if we need a laptop and an iPad?  Do we need a laptop and a netbook?  Depending on what you do, the iPad or the netbook could potentially replace your laptop.  As I see it, most users have a smartphone and a main work computer, for many that is a laptop because they require a larger form factor device while not in their office.  But what if we did the following:

• Main computer: Thin client
• Mobile computer: iPad/Netbook
• Ultra-mobile computer: Smartphone

If we have Citrix Receiver on all of these devices, we access the same applications/data/environment.

Think about all of the problems we hear about with laptops: stolen, dropped, lost, expensive, etc.  If we went down the virtual desktop route, stolen, broken or lost laptops would not be a problem because your data would be in the data center with your virtual desktop.  So why use a laptop?

Is it possible that tablets and netbooks could mean that those of us with laptops can toss them away?  If the tablets/netbooks provides us with a connection to a virtual desktop from anywhere, why would we need the laptop functionality?

Of course this won’t work for everyone. Some people will need a laptop. But what we will see in the coming months/years is a much more diverse end point environment. We know this is coming, so it is  good idea to start planning how you will integrate all of these endpoints into your infrastructure while still trying to keep the environments secure.