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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[Betonhaus]

This sounds extremely impractical. Have they never heard of internet outage? Especially for companies this is a dumbass idea.

Glad to see you read the thread.

 

[Null]

i hate cloud computing, i hate IOT, i hate AI being integrated into things, i hate all streaming services, and AAS stuff was all a huge mistake. every technological advances since 1995 has been terrible.

I, too, hate the Antichrist.

 

[Betonhaus]

I, too, hate the Antichrist.

But does the Antichrist hate you?


... probably, come to think of it.

 

[ZMOT]

It surprised me that despite being the architect of winNT Gaben can't see the huge potential of making SteamOS the kind of vertically-integrated linux distro Ubuntu wanted to be but canonical couldn't deliver. The work done on Proton alone its a quantum leap and yet he's stopping at that when Valve could be making billions with a SteamOS that's an actual windows replacement and not simply linux with a custom UX for gaming.

valve time is a thing.
and how would he make billions when even microsoft can't sell windows (besides corporations for contracts, and why would those buy steamos?).

besides, it's important to get people to use linux in the first place and break out of the chicken/egg cycle. letting them use their videogames (and potentially other software that doesn't have a linux version) is a pretty good way to do it. which flavor of linux they use in the end doesn't really matter.

 

[cybertoaster]

valve time is a thing.
and how would he make billions when even microsoft can't sell windows (besides corporations for contracts, and why would those buy steamos?).

besides, it's important to get people to use linux in the first place and break out of the chicken/egg cycle. letting them use their videogames (and potentially other software that doesn't have a linux version) is a pretty good way to do it. which flavor of linux they use in the end doesn't really matter.

In this case steam would be the storefront for all apps, so that's good source for revenue.

And right now you can't daily steamOS, which is what you need if you want people to actually switch away from windows.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

I can see this happening. "2030, you will own nothing and be happy".

Microsoft want everything on the cloud and for you to stream all of their services from Azure, where the real easy money is. This includes office, windows and all things Xbox.

 

[Moths]

Apparently microsoft has paid attention to the resounding success that Google Stadia was and think we want our whole computing experience to be like that

Upper management must be eating some high quality fungus for this to seem like a good idea after any 'market research'

 

[AnotherPleb]

Apparently microsoft has paid attention to the resounding success that Google Stadia was and think we want our whole computing experience to be like that

Upper management must be eating some high quality fungus for this to seem like a goid idea after any 'market research'

They really want everything to be a god-damned subscription.

 

[Overly Serious]

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate on some of this. The days of computers being the preserve of atypical people are gone. Barring one lady over fifty I haven't heard the refrain of "Oh, I'm no good with computers" in some years now. (inb4 everyone who has feels obliged to say so). They're ubiquitous. But people haven't gotten smarter. In fact, I'd say even amongst people who are "into tech" the level of understanding of that actual tech has gone down. We have seen this in every area of technology. Used to be if you owned a car you learned how to do at least the basics on it like change a battery or the oil. As the Indian guy in my corner shop remarked to me once: "Dem days gone!" Managed services are not only what most people want, it's what the busy person who just wants their computer as a tool is able to handle.

Why are we posting on sneed.today instead of kiwifarms.net? Why are we accessing it through Tor most of the time? Because the Traffia have been paying for DDoS attacks on the KF site for exposing the crimes of Liz Fong-Jones and Keffels. And where do those DDoS attacks come from? Compromised Windows machines from people who don't keep them up to date, don't understand basic security and don't know enough to realise the reason their computer is slow is because it's mining Bitcoin for someone or spewing out thousands of requests as part of some Botnet.

An OS is a phenomenally complex thing. People get months of driving lessons to learn how to handle a car - fair enough because that's immediately dangerous - but as an actual task there's way less to actually know about driving then managing an OS. [Most of] What Microsoft are doing here is what people need. We, the specialists who have more understanding of it, are the exception.

Where MS are going off the tracks is double-dipping by mining your information AND charging a fee. If I am paying for an OS - which I'm happy to do - then to me that is the cost. I don't want ads as well, I don't expect to pay with my personal data. And an upside to the pay-as-you-go model is that it provides incentive for MS to keep their product up to date, modern and performative. When a business sells a non-expiring good like a wok or a cabinet, then the customer is no longer giving them money after the purchase. And if it's a wok or a cabinet that's all good because woks and cabinets don't require updates, you don't discover bugs in them and they don't slow down over time. We don't need the vendor to continue to provide us a service. With an OS we do. But the vendor gets little out of it. All their money is up front with ongoing costs thereafter which they have to hope new sales are enough to offset. But with this model, and your £10 per month the customer becomes a revenue stream which is a good thing for the customer. It means the vendor has incentive to keep pleasing me lest I switch to something else.

There's also the societal level impact which is that it is simply WAY more efficient. Most people's computers are sitting idle for 90% of the time waiting for user interaction. They're way over-specced because they need to manage spikes in load but otherwise are just ticking over or off. Cloud-based desktops are running cheek to cheek with everybody else's on servers running heavy load continuously. Which is a manufacturing and power saving. The network cost of sending output to the end user is an order of magnitude less at minimum and the networking infrastructure needs to exist regardless.

There's a lot of upside with this model. Kiwifarms wouldn't be facing DDoS for a start. It's only control over my data that is the concern. So long as I have other ways of mitigating that or they offer a paid version that doesn't spy, then I think it's workable.

 

[Betonhaus]

Also, if windows was a cloud OS then your experience becomes seamless no matter what hardware you use. Your laptop is stolen? There's no data to access and you're up and running on a new laptop within minutes of getting one. In fact, you don't even need a laptop, you could go to an internet cafe and use one of their computers as if it was your home computer. Switching from device to device is 100% seamless, with everyone transferring from your laptop to your desktop to your tablet to your phone. If you need to do some work while visiting you could use the guest computer, and you could potentially have massive touchscreens in malls and walkways you can stop to do quick tasks on.

But as discussed earlier, Microsoft is a business, one that actively tries to make money. They will still offer old fashioned computers, as otherwise apple Linux or even Google will.

 

[Irrational Exuberance]

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?

That's what the brain implant's for, silly!

 

[Betonhaus]

After switching to Zorin OS and using it constantly for a while, I'm convinced that all these concerns over Windows turning evil is just pearl clutching by crusty old farts who have Comcast cable. Linux is a perfect replacement for Windows, and you can even run many Windows apps already on it. Generally I expect the only software people NEED that won't run on Linux is proprietary corporate software that's so goddam expensive that a worst-case Windows subscription cost would be a drop in the bucket.

 

[Omen_Sulk]

Be-be-be-boh-boh-boh, kwan-go kwan-go ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Yes a tip for the kids don't put your cassette tape games in the stereo and play them.

Wait kids just use their smartphones now.... nevermind.

 

[Betonhaus]

Yes a tip for the kids don't put your cassette tape games in the stereo and play them.

Wait kids just use their smartphones now.... nevermind.

...the hell does dialup sound like in your country?

 

[Omen_Sulk]

...the hell does dialup sound like in your country?

dialup sounds just like videogame tape cassettes from the 80's and 90's if you put them in stereo. Except they lack the initialization opening you mentioned.

 

[jertzog]

There will always be a market for W7 machines.

 

[draggs]

What a retarded idea.

 

[Corpun]

I don't want to be your buddy, Bill Gates. I just want to type a Word document.

View attachment 5182369

Can't even do that now without paying for a subscription. Even Google Docs is all fucked up now and you can't insert an image without a million steps to make it useable.

I love our incompetent Silicon Valley overlords.

 

[2ndBest]

This feels like an idea that's not going to last very long. Alot of customers I do work for have internet that goes out occasionally due to bad weather or incompetent ISPs. Not everyone has a constant 1Gbps speed to their computer and if they fully expect Windows to be completely cloud based they'll have to take that into account, which they probably won't. That is to say that there will be enough people (I think) that will move further and further away from the latest Windows and it'll eat into MS's bottom line enough for them to notice.

 

[FunPosting101]

Yeah this shit isn't viable right now. Maybe check back in twenty years or so, then we'll see what happens.