In April of this year, Windows officials talked about plans to integrate more closely with Windows 365 and Windows. So far, they’ve delivered on one of their promises: A preview of a Windows 365 app that Windows 11 users can pin to the taskbar and start menu for easier access to the cloud. their clouds. However, Microsoft officials have much bigger plans for Windows 365, and they seem to be counting on it keeping Windows relevant, even as the PC industry declines in the months and years to come.
As many users have noticed, Microsoft is increasingly squeezing ads into everything from Windows 11’s new search box to its Edge browser (and other apps). So it’s perhaps not too surprising that Microsoft management sees Windows as a vehicle for ad delivery – both first-party “internal” Microsoft ads and third-party ads, like the CEO himself. Executive Satya Nadella has admitted. Microsoft’s fiscal year 23 Q1 earnings call. (Thanks to Paul Thurrott for pointing this out on Windows Weekly last week.)
But there are even more far-reaching plans to create a new Windows business model, as evidenced in several recent job postings for the “startup Windows Incubator team” on the company’s career website Microsoft. That team is looking to tie Windows and Windows 365 even closer by building “a Web-based shell that integrates directly with Windows 365.” The game ends? Sell thin/low-cost consumer devices to businesses and consumers and offset costs through advertising and subscriptions. From the job posting:
“The building blocks we create will chart a new direction for the Windows experience and business model – from low-cost PCs offered through advertising and subscriptions, to new cloud-connected hardware devices at work and in life. ”
Microsoft made it Windows 365 / Cloud PC Services (codename “Deschutes”) generally available in August 2021. Windows 365 is a cloud-based virtualization service that builds on and complements Azure Virtual Desktop. Windows 365 is only for business users at this time and is available everywhere $20 to $162 per user per month based on cores, RAM and memory. But since the Windows 365 Business SKU can scale down to single-employee businesses, it’s not surprising that Microsoft officials have thinking about how to make Windows 365 available to consumers.
Microsoft quietly move Windows 365 team under Product Manager and Windows Manager Panos Panay in July. In addition to Windows 365 Apps, the team is working on Windows 365 Boot, which allows users to boot directly to their cloud desktop; Windows 365 Switch, which will allow users to move between their local and cloud computers as easily as they can move between different desktops today; and Windows 365 Offline, the ability to re-sync with Windows 365 services without data loss. Microsoft has not provided a public distribution target for any of these capabilities, but has demonstration of the Transformation feature in the “Technical Take-off” virtual session last week.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s WebXT organization, which includes “several thousand software engineers” working on Bing, Search, Edge, Maps, Ads, News and other products, is going ahead with a suite of products. its own product for both consumers and business users. The team has done a lot of work in the areas of machine learning, voice, computer vision, and natural language processing, which have been included in all of the products mentioned above.
It seems at least some customers have been wondering when Microsoft and other PC makers will build thin client-style devices for use with Windows 365, and perhaps there will be a Surface Win365book somewhere?
