US Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the cloud

Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the cloud / A new Microsoft internal presentation reveals the company’s long-term goal for Windows.​

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.
Jun 27, 2023, 12:58 PM GMT+2

Microsoft has been increasingly moving Windows to the cloud on the commercial side with Windows 365, but the software giant also wants to do the same for consumers. In an internal “state of the business” Microsoft presentation from June 2022, Microsoft discuses building on “Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device.”

The presentation has been revealed as part of the ongoing FTC v. Microsoft hearing, as it includes Microsoft’s overall gaming strategy and how that relates to other parts of the company’s businesses. Moving “Windows 11 increasingly to the cloud” is identified as a long-term opportunity in Microsoft’s “Modern Life” consumer space, including using “the power of the cloud and client to enable improved AI-powered services and full roaming of people’s digital experience.”


Microsoft’s state of the business from June 2022. Image: Microsoft

Windows 365 is a service that streams a full version of Windows to devices. So far, it’s been limited to just commercial customers, but Microsoft has been deeply integrating it into Windows 11 already. A future update will include Windows 365 Boot, which will enable Windows 11 devices to log directly in to a Cloud PC instance at boot instead of the local version of Windows. Windows 365 Switch is also built into Windows 11 to integrate Cloud PCs into the Task View (virtual desktops) feature.

The idea of moving Windows fully to the cloud for consumers is also presented alongside Microsoft’s need to invest in custom silicon partnerships. Microsoft has been doing some of this for its ARM-powered Surface Pro X devices. Bloomberg also reported in late 2020 that Microsoft was looking at designing its own ARM-based processors for servers and maybe even Surface devices. More recently we’ve heard Microsoft could be working on its own AI chips, too.

In another slide in the presentation, Microsoft mentions the need to “shore up Windows commercial value and respond to Chromebook threat” for its “Modern Work” priorities in its 2022 financial year. Long term opportunities on the commercial side include growing the usage of cloud PCs with Windows 365.

Microsoft has recently announced Windows Copilot, an AI-powered assistant for Windows 11. Windows Copilot sits at the side of Windows 11, and can summarize content you’re viewing in apps, rewrite it, or even explain it. Microsoft is currently testing this internally and promised to release it to testers in June before rolling it out more broadly to Windows 11 users.

Windows Copilot is part of a broader AI push for Windows. Microsoft is also working with AMD and Intel to enable more Windows features on next-gen CPUs. Intel and Microsoft have even hinted at Windows 12 in recent months, and Windows chief Panos Panay claimed at CES earlier this year that “AI is going to reinvent how you do everything on Windows.” All of this is part of Microsoft’s broad Windows ambition, detailed in its internal presentation, “to enable improved AI-powered services” in Windows.

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[Kosher Dill]

stop being a cuck and install arch

Not nice to send him off to do that without even making sure he has a bucket of prop wash on hand.

 

[Bland Crumbs]

Ahahaha go fuck yourself. I will switch to TempleOS.

 

[Nitro!]

Microsoft Windows®, now available on Someone Else's Computer™!

 

[make_it_so]

The idea that you need to be constantly hooked to the internet/another computer or server somewhere just to run a basic OS is insane. What happens when the Internet is down? Are you supposed to just not be able to run your computer to get work done or pass the time until AT&T or whoever decides to get off their asses and restore connectivity?

 

[Otterly]

The government will be forced to divert more and more money to maintain the networks, until they're basically shell organisations that collect taxes and divert them straight to Google and Microsoft.

Massive failure point too. Easy to target

I still get nostalgic for DOS

Spent the first five years of my industry career in a DOS lab LIMS, great system. Had to memorise several hundred three letter commands …

 

[Epoch]

Reminder that all of Microsoft's AI shit is just ChatGPT being run through their API, everything you send and receive from the AI garbage gets filed on the OpenAI servers and sold to advertisers, since it all requires an account with personally identifiable information. Its just fancy spyware.

After getting my Steam Deck I've realized how not shit Arch actually is, I recently put together a PC from spare parts and installed Arch on it. SteamOS simplifies things but as long as you are not a blubbering retard and know how to search for things online Arch is pretty good. No spyware either and KDE has a bunch of fancy customization features to make your PC look like a sci-fi terminal from a 90s video game instead a soulless flat slab.

I don't ever see normies using Linux unless there is a distro that has all the Windows bloat stuff built in, Arch doesn't even have a firewall built in and you have to manually install a bunch of packages to even use certain files. Arch is nice but I'm technically able, a retard zoomer wouldn't be able to use it.

 

[Never Scored]

Really? how?

When you set up new enterprise licenses for shit like Teams, the link that gets sent to employees directs them to the Teams website where the homepage is the same UI you get if you install the desktop app as the Desktop app itself is just an electron app. Their desktop installer is hidden in a hamburger menu, and the site never directs you toward it. The site tries to turn on desktop notifications, meaning you'll get reminders about meeting that will just open the Teams website as opposed to the Desktop app. The whole experience is set up out of the box to access teams through teams.microsoft.com by default.

 

[Mothra1988]

I dumped consoles already over bullshit, looks like Windows is next. I'm too much of a girl to build my own computer so far, but maybe I can try harder next time. I already hate laptops for various reasons, so a Linux PC tower doesn't sound that bad to me. There's no plaent where I'm going to have an OS tracking everything I do on some asshole's cloud server. And I don't even use the fucking Microsoft apps anymore. LibreOffice is un-ironcially better for my work.

 

[Kheapathic]

Remember when Microsoft was gearing up for the release of XBox1 and how it was supposed to be always online. When pressed about it and people who live where Internet isn't readily accessible, the big brain responded with something like "I wouldn't want to live in those places."

You may have market dominance Microsoft, but let's not pretend people won't find ways to get around this shit or just operate legacy systems. What I would really like to see is all those Linux spergs decide "NOW IS THE TIME TO STRIKE" and work to get everything working on Linux.

 

[Non-breath oblige]

Sounds like they're trying to go the route of like...a consumer-y version of GitHub Codespaces (where literally all code lives in the cloud and all your coding is done in a web browser/cloud VM), except while I suppose something like GitHub Codespaces would sorta make sense for corporate security reasons (in case your laptop/workstation gets stolen or lost or damaged, nothing to freak out about since technically nothing sensitive was physically on there to begin with), I have no reason to see how that's gonna fly outside of that realm for reasons already mentioned.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Indeed. Also what will happen if let's say you get banned from Xbox Live after the AI monitoring the text and audio chat detected that you said "Trans women are not women", will they also stop you from using every Microsoft-owned product too?

Or you get banned for telling Microsoft your billing address is in a town called Fort Gay.

 

[Betonhaus]

I imagine things would be a lot more complicated than "windows is becoming an online only subscription service"
For starters, Windows may not always be Microsoft's main OS. Microsoft has been trying to pare the os down to a lightweight platform that can run on any device. Windows 12 is expected to be a continuation of that, and the leaked interface hints at it being functional as a cellphone OS. Prodding around many of the rumors and leaks indicate that Microsoft may be working on a minimalistic os with legacy support removed and relying on modern apps and PWAs through the browser, basically a clone of Edge OS .

There could be plans to have a form of remote applications, functionally like an x11 ssh connection. Instead of needing to buy a powerful computer to run mastercam or other rendering software, that program could be running off of a powerful server despite looking and acting like an app running on your system. I imagine this might be part of what cloud windows is intended for. You would still have full windows on your own computer and the option of running programs on your own hardware.

Microsoft is the dominant platform, but that dominance is very fragile, and relies on not fucking over their customers or changing things too quickly. Windows 8 was very hated, and if windows 7 didn't come out as fast as it did many customers and companies would've begun exploring their options in macOS, Chrome OS, or Linux. Microsoft used to be one of the big platforms for smartphones, but they changed things too quickly and too much and now it's dead. Only sheer inertia is stopping that from happening with desktop and laptop users, and they know it.

That being said, such a change would not be the end of the world. Linux is becoming a very viable platform now for regular use and even gaming, and it's mostly just the lack of familiarity and a few unsupported things holding it back. If Microsoft screws the pooch there will be an os rennesance and that won't really be a bad thing .

 

[God's drunkest driver]

Microsoft is the dominant platform, but that dominance is very fragile, and relies on not fucking over their customers or changing things too quickly.

Maybe for consumers, but in many commercial applications it would be difficult to switch over unless the software packages already in use were offered on the alternative OS. In my field, that's highly unlikely. Decades of work has been done on them and it would be massively expensive to switch over.

I hate programmers and techbros with a passion. I don't want any cloud required shit ever, do you hear me? Learn to write a goddamn piece of optimized code so that a stupid-ass simple application doesn't take up multiple gigabytes of RAM to do simple jobs. If my computer and its software isn't fully functional without an internet connection I don't want it. Shove your cloud servers sideways up your ass. I will own my copy of software, I will not pay a monthly subscription. If you give me no other option than subscriptions and cloud, I will pirate an older version.

 

[Betonhaus]

Maybe for consumers, but in many commercial applications it would be difficult to switch over unless the software packages already in use were offered on the alternative OS. In my field, that's highly unlikely. Decades of work has been done on them and it would be massively expensive to switch over

Its probably easier to run windows XP applications on Linux then it is Windows 10. Linux has done a lot of work to reverse engineer windows APIs so that they can be used inside their applications. And those same commercial applications would be as equally as fucked if Microsoft does any of these big cloud changes people in this thread are so scared of.

 

[ZMOT]

What worries me is that normie laptops will just become Windows thin clients sandboxed to within an inch of their lives, basically unable to do anything useful.

that's not gonna fly for normies, the first time they have no internet or go on vacation with a hefty roaming fee they gonna throw that shit out of the window. if shit like stadia didn't make it, which was just GAYMES, anything more serious will be under even more scrutiny.

i need to do regular computer things with regular computer programs. i don't have enough autism juice in me to figure out how to do every single thing i do on the computer with OSS that has UIs designed by blind monkeys or aliens or whoever makes that garbage

imagine not talking about windows in that context

I don't ever see normies using Linux unless there is a distro that has all the Windows bloat stuff built in, Arch doesn't even have a firewall built in and you have to manually install a bunch of packages to even use certain files. Arch is nice but I'm technically able, a retard zoomer wouldn't be able to use it.

most people don't use the windows bloat, same why they don't use all the preinstalled shit on phones and laptops. they usually have a very specific use case for it, which for most these days linux is more than fine. fuck most people wouldn't even notice when they click on "internet" and a browser opens or "office" and at word processor and spreadsheet program appears (if they even use a pc in the first place and not doing it via some phone app or tablet).

besides, any problem they have they just google it or ask someone "who knows these things", there are plenty of people who don't know basic windows shit - like what's the difference between a shortcut and moving a file, I'm not making this up, "I click it and the thing happens".

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

Makes me glad I'm on Debian 12 right now where everything is predictable, and Debian having been my first foray into Linux years ago it just fucking works for me(tm).

Get fucked, Microshaft, I'm not living in your shitty thin client future.

 

[Betonhaus]

Also I should note that the zoomers are the iPad generation. They'll barely be familiar with Windows, let alone willingly use one. If Microsoft changes Windows too much they lose everyone.

 

[AnotherPleb]

If only someone would grow some balls and anti-trust Microsoft into non existence.

Antitrust is only a tool the government has to tell companies to pay their dues.

 

[The Ugly One]

When you set up new enterprise licenses for shit like Teams, the link that gets sent to employees directs them to the Teams website where the homepage is the same UI you get if you install the desktop app as the Desktop app itself is just an electron app. Their desktop installer is hidden in a hamburger menu, and the site never directs you toward it. The site tries to turn on desktop notifications, meaning you'll get reminders about meeting that will just open the Teams website as opposed to the Desktop app. The whole experience is set up out of the box to access teams through teams.microsoft.com by default.

I absolutely hate browser-based apps. Can't tell you how many times I've gotten lost because I had 6000 tabs open, some with websites, some with apps, and some with websites that were open apps because I searched for something without checking if the pane I had open was important, and no easy way to find where the fuck I was. The fact that the same UI pane can be PowerPoint one minute and a YouTube video the next, and 4983 references to Workday in History aren't exactly helpful, makes everything-in-browser arguably the single worst application UI paradigm since Microsoft Bob.

There could be plans to have a form of remote applications, functionally like an x11 ssh connection. Instead of needing to buy a powerful computer to run mastercam or other rendering software, that program could be running off of a powerful server despite looking and acting like an app running on your system. I imagine this might be part of what cloud windows is intended for. You would still have full windows on your own computer and the option of running programs on your own hardware.

The ironic thing about this is that consumer hardware is now so bizarrely powerful that a $500 PC has more compute power than your average person will ever use for anything.

 

[Betonhaus]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-11-cloud-subscription-ftc-docs

I'm trying to link the slide in question but image uploading seems broken in brave right now, but there's the relevant part:

Move Windows 11 increasingly to the cloud: Build on Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device. Use the power of the could and client to enable improved AI=powered services and full roaming of people's digital experience.

I recognize that some people may not be proficient in the English language - even if it's their only language, so I will clarify.

Microsoft said NOTHING about discontinuing having local installs of Windows with a permanent license. This is just offering Windows in a new way. Any journalist saying otherwise is pearl-clutching and making assumptions.

https://www.howtogeek.com/901992/no-windows-is-not-moving-to-the-cloud/

No, Windows Is Not Moving to the Cloud​

CORBIN DAVENPORT

You may have seen a few news articles recently about Microsoft supposedly turning Windows into a cloud product, which would presumably require a suitable internet connection and a running subscription. Don’t panic, though, because that’s not really happening.
Microsoft is currently in U.S. court over its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is attempting to block over concerns of anti-competitive practices. The evidence brought up in the trial is mostly related to Microsoft and Sony’s practices in the gaming industry, but since cloud gaming is a factor, there are also some unsealed documents about Microsoft’s long-term plans for cloud and streaming technology.


An internal presentation from Microsoft about its “state of the business” was revealed, which contains a slide about the company’s “Modern Life strategy and priorities.” Most of it is about what you would expect — Microsoft is trying to grow Windows 11, convert more users to its paid services, and develop custom chips for its Surface devices. There’s one section that raised some eyebrows, though, which outlined plans for a cloud-based Windows product.
Microsoft / The Verge
Microsoft’s slide explains, “Move Windows 11 increasingly to the Cloud: Build on Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device, Use the power of the cloud and client to enable improved Al-powered services and full roaming of people’s digital experience.”

Microsoft has a product called Windows 365, which is a PC running Windows 11 in the cloud that can be opened on almost any device. Right now, it’s only available to businesses and other organizations, because it’s a great option for occasionally running Windows software (like the full Microsoft Office or proprietary legacy tools) on Chromebooks or other non-Windows PCs. It sounds like Microsoft eventually wants to offer Windows 365 to normal people, based on this presentation.

There’s no indication right now that Windows will turn into a streaming-only product. There are so many use cases where that wouldn’t be practical (gaming, using connected hardware, areas with poor internet connections, etc.) that it would almost certainly destroy Windows and the hardware manufacturers that rely on PC sales. Microsoft knows it wouldn’t work, the PC manufacturers that pay to license Windows know it wouldn’t work, and we know it wouldn’t work. With that in mind, whoever at Microsoft wrote this presentation probably meant “move Windows 11 to the cloud” more as “duplicate Windows 11 in the cloud.”

PlayPlay Video
Now, it’s not hard to see why this idea is believable, as impractical as it might be. Microsoft has made many other anti-consumer moves with Windows in recent history, with the goal of reducing control over the core experience and pushing people to cloud subscriptions. You have to use registry hacks to set up a Windows 11 PC without a Microsoft account, Microsoft Edge is often used to show web links even if you have a different default browser, OneDrive is tightly integrated into the File Explorer, the taskbar search is used for ads, and so on.

Forcing people to use Windows in a streamed cloud environment with a required subscription would just be the most extreme move on a path Microsoft has already been on for over a decade. Thankfully, that would be both unpopular and technically impossible at the scale of the current Windows market, while the previous anti-consumer moves have been unpopular but easily possible.

For the moment, you don’t have to worry about your Windows PC turning into a cloud streaming nightmare.

I absolutely hate browser-based apps. Can't tell you how many times I've gotten lost because I had 6000 tabs open, some with websites, some with apps, and some with websites that were open apps because I searched for something without checking if the pane I had open was important, and no easy way to find where the fuck I was. The fact that the same UI pane can be PowerPoint one minute and a YouTube video the next, and 4983 references to Workday in History aren't exactly helpful, makes everything-in-browser arguably the single worst application UI paradigm since Microsoft Bob.

...Just install the app then? Installed PWA apps have their own window colors and taskbar icons