As the rumors pointed out, Microsoft has finally announced Windows 365 , its service that will allow you to use Windows 10 (and Windows 11 later) from the cloud . With this, we can use it from less powerful computers with Windows to Mac computers, and even Chromebooks.
The service is aimed at companies, but it will allow individual payments for access per user, so it will be open to anyone who wants to hire it. With it, we will have a complete experience of using Windows , where programs, data and settings will be synchronized on any device that we use. All information is stored in the cloud, so all data is safe.
Cloud PC: hybrid between cloud and local computer
Microsoft also creates a hybrid category called Cloud PC , which allows you to get all the performance of the cloud and the technical capabilities of the device that is being used, so it will process different elements depending on the power of the device. Thus, the user experience adapts to what users and companies demand, taking all the performance out of the cloud and allowing the same user experience from any device, no matter how cheap it is.
Cloud PC offers interesting advantages. For example, we have an instant start to start working more quickly, with all applications, tools and operational data from the first moment. In addition, it is possible to continue from exactly the same point where we left the previous session.
As Microsoft has hinted, it will be possible to configure and scale Windows 365 depending on the needs of each user, where we can choose, for example, the number of processor cores that we want to use, storage or RAM, as if of a service of hosting is involved. Therefore, we see that the sessions will be virtualized on the servers, with a fairly flexible scalability depending on what we need.
From 1 core, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB
The service will allow companies to assign a Cloud PC to a worker in a matter of minutes, without having to send them dedicated hardware, so they can save a lot of money.
Everything will be managed by the Azure Virtual Desktop, with configurations that will start from a single core vCPU, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, up to 8 cores, 32 GB of RAM and 512 GB of internal memory, enough to store Windows files. 10 in the cloud.
Windows 365 will be available starting August 2, 2021 . The company hasn’t disclosed a price yet, and we don’t have any leaks or benchmarks to estimate what it might cost. The scalability of the service will allow single-person companies to use it, up to large corporations with thousands of employees. There will be two editions that can be contracted: Business and Enterprise , and it is expected that there will be packs with other Microsoft 365 services, such as Office . There will be up to 12 different configurations for both versions.
The service was initially raised as streaming for video games under the codename Arcadia, and began development in 2013. However, all that work eventually led to Windows 365, which can be monetized much more easily. The company accelerated the work in this modality due to the pandemic to promote teleworking.