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from the if-you-can-game-remotely,-why-not-work-that-way,-too? dept.
Microsoft is Working on an Azure-Powered Cloud PC service:
Microsoft is building a new desktop-as-a-service offering built on top of Windows Virtual Desktop that could launch as soon as 2021.
Microsoft is currently calling the coming virtualization service "Cloud PC." Cloud PC won't replace locally installed Windows (and Office) -- for the foreseeable future, anyway. It will be an option for customers who want to use their own Windows PCs made by Microsoft and/or other PC makers basically like thin clients, with Windows, Office and potentially other software delivered virtually by Microsoft.
[...] "Microsoft Cloud PC is a strategic, new offering that is built on top of Windows Virtual Desktop to delivering Desktop as a Service. At its core, Cloud PC provides business customers a modern, elastic, cloud-based Windows experience and will allow organizations to stay current in a more simplistic and scalable manner," the job description says.
Microsoft is planning to make Cloud PC a Microsoft-365-powered experience that is managed by Microsoft and sold for a flat per user price, the job description says. This pricing piece is key. Windows Virtual Desktop pricing revolves around Azure consumption. Cloud PC sounds like it will be available for a set subscription fee.
Microsoft had dropped a few hints recently that it was looking to create some kind of virtualized PC management experience. In February, Scott Manchester, who had been Group Program Manager for Windows Virtual Desktop, took on a new role as Group Program Manager for "Cloud Managed Desktops." I'm guessing that this team, along with Windows engineering, are the ones honing the Cloud PC vision and deliverables.
[...] Microsoft also currently offers a service called the Microsoft Managed Desktop (MMD), which is a subscription offering under which Microsoft sets up, updates and manages business users' Windows 10 PCs for a fee. MMD includes Microsoft 365 (specifically, Windows 10 Enterprise E3 and Office 365 ProPlus); Windows Autopilot; and select Windows 10 hardware. Microsoft does the device configuration, security monitoring and remediation, app deployment, update management, desktop analytics and 24-by-7 end-user support. This is a service that is only used by certain large enterprise customers at this time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 28 2020, @04:34PM
Any business that uses ms windows will look at how much keeping that ms stack sort of functional costs them, and if this cloud based windows costs less and means that someone else has to deal with keeping the ms house of cards running, then adoption will be high.
The problem is that these folks can't fathom just dumping ms windows.
I work for a school that went from a single lab of chromebooks where it was eventually noticed that none of the techs had to touch them since initial setup--, to many hundreds of chromebooks (they now slightly outnumber windows machines). The chromebooks have zero admin cost while the windows side requires several full-time people to maintain.
The same could be achieved with a bunch of e.g., debian clients with unattended-upgrades enabled.