Microsoft unveils Windows 365 Cloud PC service for Windows 10 and Windows 11


  • Staff

Windows 365 will deliver a full, personalized PC experience from the cloud to any device, giving workers and organizations power, simplicity and security for hybrid work.

REDMOND, Wash. — July 14, 2021
— Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced Windows 365, a cloud service that introduces a new way to experience Windows 10 or Windows 11 (when it becomes available) to businesses of all sizes. Windows 365 takes the operating system to the Microsoft cloud, streaming the full Windows experience — apps, data and settings — to personal or corporate devices. Secure by design and built with the principles of Zero Trust, Windows 365 secures and stores information in the cloud, not on the device, providing a secure, productive experience for workers from interns and contractors to software developers and industrial designers. Windows 365 also creates a new hybrid personal computing category called Cloud PC, which uses both the power of the cloud and the capabilities of the device to provide a full, personalized Windows experience. The announcement represents a groundbreaking development as organizations around the world grapple with the best ways to facilitate hybrid work models where employees are both on-site and distributed across the globe.

“With Windows 365, we’re creating a new category: the Cloud PC,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “Just like applications were brought to the cloud with SaaS, we are now bringing the operating system to the cloud, providing organizations with greater flexibility and a secure way to empower their workforce to be more productive and connected, regardless of location.”

A new computing paradigm for hybrid work

As the pandemic begins to ease in parts of the world, a new way of working is emerging, transformed by virtual processes and remote collaboration. In this more distributed environment, employees need access to corporate resources across locations and devices — and with cybersecurity threats on the rise, securing those resources is paramount.

“Hybrid work has fundamentally changed the role of technology in organizations today,” said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, Microsoft 365. “With workforces more disparate than ever before, organizations need a new way to deliver a great productivity experience with increased versatility, simplicity and security. Cloud PC is an exciting new category of hybrid personal computing that turns any device into a personalized, productive and secure digital workspace. Today’s announcement of Windows 365 is just the beginning of what will be possible as we blur the lines between the device and the cloud.”

Windows 365 helps employers solve challenges they’ve faced since long before the pandemic. Workers expect greater flexibility and more options to work from different locations, while still ensuring the security of the organization’s data. Seasonal workers can cycle on and off teams without the logistical challenges of issuing new hardware or securing personal devices — allowing the organization to scale for busy periods more efficiently and securely. And companies can easily ensure specialized workers in creative, analytics, engineering or scientific roles have greater compute power and secure access to critical applications that they need.

Versatile, simple, secure: the transformational impact of Windows 365

By building on the power of the Windows operating system and the strength of the cloud, Windows 365 gives any organization greater peace of mind in three key ways:
  • Powerful: With instant-on boot to their personal Cloud PC, users can stream all their applications, tools, data and settings from the cloud across any device. Windows 365 provides the full PC experience in the cloud. The cloud also provides versatility in processing power and storage, enabling IT to scale up or down, based on their needs. With a choice of either Windows 10 or Windows 11 (once it is generally available later in 2021), organizations can choose the Cloud PC that works for them with per-user per-month pricing.
  • Simple: With a Cloud PC, users can log in and pick back up where they left off across devices, providing a simple and familiar Windows experience delivered by the cloud. For IT, Windows 365 also simplifies deployment, updates and management — and unlike other solutions, Windows 365 doesn’t require any virtualization experience. With Windows 365 optimized for the endpoint, IT can easily procure, deploy and manage Cloud PCs for their organization just as they manage physical PCs through Microsoft Endpoint Manager. Small and midsize businesses can purchase Windows 365 directly or through a cloud service provider, and set up their organization with Cloud PCs with just a few clicks. Microsoft also continues to innovate in Azure Virtual Desktop for those organizations with deep virtualization experience that want more customization and flexibility options.
  • Secure: Windows 365 is secure by design, leveraging the power of the cloud and the principles of Zero Trust. Information is secured and stored in the cloud, not on the device. Always up to date and building on the strength of rich Microsoft security capabilities and baselines, Windows 365 simplifies security and recommends the best security settings for the environment at hand.
New opportunities for the Microsoft partner ecosystem

For decades, Microsoft partners have been at the center of how Microsoft delivers technologies and business transformation to customers around the world. The depth of Microsoft’s cloud offerings and technology portfolio gives partners the power to build innovative, industry-specific solutions. Windows 365 will allow partners to continue to make more possible.

From systems integrators to managed service providers to independent software vendors (ISVs) to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the new Cloud PC category creates opportunity for Microsoft partners to deliver new Windows experiences in the cloud.

Organizations will look to systems integrators and managed service providers to help them get the most out of their entire Windows estate. ISVs can continue to build Windows apps and now deliver them in the cloud to help businesses work in new ways as they continue to digitally transform. And OEMs gain an opportunity to integrate Windows 365 into their broad portfolio of services alongside their devices’ robust features and secure hardware.

“To be their best in a new world of work, employees need workplace technology that’s familiar, easy to use, secure and always available,” said Veit Siegenheim, global modern workplace lead, Avanade. “With Windows 365, Microsoft is capitalizing on the power of the cloud to empower productivity anywhere, across any device and elevate the workplace experience.”

Availability

Windows 365 will be generally available to businesses of all sizes starting on Aug. 2, 2021. More information can be found at Windows 365 Cloud PC | Microsoft.


Source: Microsoft unveils Windows 365 — ushering in a new category of computing - Stories

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🤔 Internet connectivity requirements goes way beyond just browsing the web. A lot of personal computing can heavily rely on a network connection.

I can see how Windows 365 could be very useful for home users too. You could do heavy computing for a low monthly price on a low-end device and can continue from anywhere as long as there is an internet connection.
That's what I meant, sort of. A lot of people currently using PCs don't really need computers. A netbook or a tablet would do just fine. If internet is somehow out, they won't even know what to do with their PC. In that case, sure, a cloud PC won't change a thing and will make maintenance/service easier.
Well, wouldn't it be great then that you could grab data at 10Gbps speeds on a remote OS? Updates and any data you need would DL insanely fast. 😄
There is a point beyond which any further speed increase is practically useless. My TV has a 100 Mbps network card (I think all TVs do) and it has no problem streaming 4K Dolby Vision movies. So increasing my internet connection speed from 250 to 1000 will not change anything at all in this respect (unless future TVs will be better equipped). On the PC, sometimes I download large files, say a few GBs, but not very often. It makes no practical difference to me whether that takes few minutes or few seconds. Moreover, the download time is mostly determined by the originating server than my local internet speed. Anything less than few seconds I would not even notice. So perhaps it will be nice to have a faster internet, but I certainly won't pay more for it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-10600K
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix Z490-A Gaming
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 1650
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    Samsung U32J59x 32" 4K
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    3840x2160
🤔

I have 600Mbps connection on my mobile phone...and it is barely enough... 😂

I have 400Mbps fiber for my computer and that is definitely not enough. Need to upgrade. None of the services I use give me less data than that per second. Steam, Epic and MS updates and many more... All DL at about 40-50MB/s. I wish I could get the stuff I need even faster. Like installing a 120GB game in 5-10 minutes rather than an hour or one week like one of my pals had to do. 😄
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 build 10.0.22631.3296 (Release Channel) / Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon
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    Laptop
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    Lenovo A485
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    Ryzen 7 2700U Pro
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    Lenovo (WiFi/BT module upgraded to Intel Wireless-AC-9260)
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    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 build 10.0.22631.3296(Release Preview Channel)
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    Custom
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    i7-7700k @4.8GHz
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    Asus PRIME Z270-A
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    32GB 2x16GB 2133MHz CL15
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Well, where I live fiber is not available. I don't game and I certainly don't care how long does it take to download an MS update :sneaky:. Stuff that's useful to me is much smaller in size and downloads faster than I can blink. Making it any faster won't make a difference.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-10600K
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix Z490-A Gaming
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 1650
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung U32J59x 32" 4K
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
The PC is useless without an internet connection anyway.
have to disagree here -- there's plenty of cases where PC's can be used - especially in Engineering control situations as stand alone applications without needing Internet or even LAN connectivity.

I run an XP VM for legacy apps and for making bespoke vinyl records from people's music tracks and CD's, and creating Minidiscs for them (yes there's still a market for those too !!! and this stuff is quite profitable BTW). To get new studio hardware for this is just bonkersly expensive -- especially when the current hardware works perfectly -- although the manufacturer went out of business a long time ago and this only works on XP.

So the e-commerce bit is done on the Host/ Internet but the main application is done on the XP VM which only has LAN connectivity to the Host -- i.e to get music files, tag them and then send to the VM for processing.

There are still also plenty of stand alone "Hospital" type apps and all sorts of things that can work on "Stand alone PC's".

I think though for loads of organisations this type of system is well worth it -- as always in these types of things it comes down mainly to cost so if the service is way out of reach to the average business it will fail.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
You can build specialized devices for for those specialized needs. People and enterprises do it all the time.

Look at the tens of thousands of projects for ARM boards.... No PC required.
 
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My Computers

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    Windows 11 23H2 Current build
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HomeBrew
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    AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
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    MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE
    Memory
    4 * 32 GB - Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz
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    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti XC3 ULTRA GAMING (12G-P5-3955-KR)
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    Realtek® ALC1220 Codec
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    2x Eve Spectrum ES07D03 4K Gaming Monitor (Matte) | Eve Spectrum ES07DC9 4K Gaming Monitor (Glossy)
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    3x Samsung 980 Pro NVMe PCIe 4 M.2 2 TB SSD (MZ-V8P2T0B/AM) } 3x Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 1 TB SSD (USB)
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    PC Power & Cooling’s Silencer Series 1050 Watt, 80 Plus Platinum
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    Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark ATX Full Tower Case
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    NZXT KRAKEN Z73 73.11 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (3x 120 mm push top) + Air 3x 140mm case fans (pull front) + 1x 120 mm (push back) and 1 x 120 mm (pull bottom)
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    SteelSeries Apex Pro Wired Gaming Keyboard
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    Logitech MX Master 3S | MX Master 3 for Business
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    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
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    Nightly (default) + Firefox (stable), Chrome, Edge
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    Defender + MB 5 Beta
  • Operating System
    ChromeOS Flex Dev Channel (current)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Latitude E5470
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2501 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
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    Dell
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    16 GB
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    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520
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    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 + RealTek Audio
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    Dell laptop display 15"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1080
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    Toshiba 128GB M.2 22300 drive
    INTEL Cherryville 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SATA III SSD
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    Dell
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    Dell
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    Dell
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S (shared w. Sys 1) | Dell TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
I suppose a "PC" is not as unambiguous a term as it used to be. Nowadays computers can be used for such a wide range of purposes, that actual *computing* (as in doing math) became somewhat of a niche.

Personally, I've never subscribed to the idea of a single, universal, do-all device. I am not interested in watching movies or listening to music on my PC. I don't play video games. On the other hand, communication via Zoom or Teams has become a daily occurrence over the last year and the PC is the best device for that purpose. But again, that's professional use, not entertainment.

Entertainment aside, internet might or might not be important for daily work. Everything depends on the intended usage. Personally I use the PC to browse the internet either when I'm doing some work-related literature search, or when the specific website is poorly adapted to phones and is hence unusable.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-10600K
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix Z490-A Gaming
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 1650
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung U32J59x 32" 4K
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
All computing devices perform math at some point - even if it is simple Logic gates.

As for intended use versus actual use - yeah, some people prefer handheld / portable devices, and some prefer stationary devices. Some sites are, indeed, horrible on mobile platforms (Krebs on Security is one I fight with every day on my phone), but somethings, like Teams, actually works really well in certain situations. Same with Google Meet (which I use alongside Google Classroom to teach cert classes). I used a double login to both teams and Meet, in order to use my phone to show a physical PC in a state of disrepair, and cover parts / components, tips and tricks, etc. for an A+ class, while I was actually connected also via my desktop for audio and student monitoring.

But trying that on anything other than my home broadband account gets ... dicey, to say the least. lol.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 23H2 Current build
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HomeBrew
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
    Motherboard
    MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE
    Memory
    4 * 32 GB - Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti XC3 ULTRA GAMING (12G-P5-3955-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC1220 Codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x Eve Spectrum ES07D03 4K Gaming Monitor (Matte) | Eve Spectrum ES07DC9 4K Gaming Monitor (Glossy)
    Screen Resolution
    3x 3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    3x Samsung 980 Pro NVMe PCIe 4 M.2 2 TB SSD (MZ-V8P2T0B/AM) } 3x Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 1 TB SSD (USB)
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling’s Silencer Series 1050 Watt, 80 Plus Platinum
    Case
    Fractal Design Define 7 XL Dark ATX Full Tower Case
    Cooling
    NZXT KRAKEN Z73 73.11 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (3x 120 mm push top) + Air 3x 140mm case fans (pull front) + 1x 120 mm (push back) and 1 x 120 mm (pull bottom)
    Keyboard
    SteelSeries Apex Pro Wired Gaming Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S | MX Master 3 for Business
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
    Browser
    Nightly (default) + Firefox (stable), Chrome, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender + MB 5 Beta
  • Operating System
    ChromeOS Flex Dev Channel (current)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Latitude E5470
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2501 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
    Motherboard
    Dell
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 + RealTek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell laptop display 15"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 128GB M.2 22300 drive
    INTEL Cherryville 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SATA III SSD
    PSU
    Dell
    Case
    Dell
    Cooling
    Dell
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3S (shared w. Sys 1) | Dell TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex Ftth
Late to the party. I hope that the consumer version of Windows 365 comes in time for a direct Windows 10 > Windows 365 transition. It would reduce my need for computing resources down to 20%-30% of present by doing most of my computing in the cloud, and that would very considerably simplify my computing resources. If I had to go Windows 10 > Windows 11 > Windows 365 then there will be a time when I have to do 100% of my computing on Windows 11 and there will be no simplification :scream: as I might as well keep the Windows 11 computing resources.

I guess what I am saying is that an early Windows 365 timeline provides full benefits, a late Windows 365 timeline provides reduced benefits. Other consumers may be in the same boat.

Edit: Come to think of it, MS Marketing must have analyzed how the OS timelines interwork. Hope they can convince the rest of MS to support an early consumer W365 timeline to allow for W10 > W365
 
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    Windows 10 Pro

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