'Cloud PC', Microsoft's Vision For A Future 'Windows-as-a-Service' Operating System

Windows-as-a-Service

When Microsoft introduced Windows 10, Microsoft is certain that the operating system will thrive with the internet.

And as the internet comes to more places and more and more people are expected to be online, Microsoft is certain that those users could make a better use of what the company calls the "Windows-as-a-Service" approach, and that is why its vision is set for a cloud-based operating system.

According to sources, Microsoft is developing a virtualized Windows PC experience it calls the 'Windows Cloud PC'.

The operating system allows administrators to deploy remotely accessible Windows 10 PCs in the cloud.

With Cloud PC, Microsoft would handle all of its users' device configuration with regular updates, security improvements, and managed support. This is in line with the tagline "Windows-as-a-Service", in which has become more apparent in the more recent years.

According to the sources this Cloud PC isn't meant to replace Windows 10 or Windows Server. Instead, it is meant to be offered as an option for enterprise customers who want to access their Windows PC from anywhere at any time.

According to leaked screenshots, Cloud PC's tagline is "Access your work apps and programs online from any device," which signifies that it is using its "Windows-as-a-Service" approach to deliver a "Desktop-as-a-Service" experience for businesses.

In a now-deleted LinkedIn job post, Microsoft described Cloud PC as a new "strategic offering" built on top of Windows Virtual desktop, the company's Azure-based system for virtualizing Windows and applications in the cloud.

The job post suggested that Cloud PC uses Microsoft's existing Windows Virtual Desktop and Azure infrastructure to deliver the "Desktop-as-a-Service" solution, and to enable its more modern, elastic, cloud-based Windows experience.

"It will allow organizations to stay current in a more simplistic and scalable manner," read the job description.

As leaked by WalkingCat, Cloud PC is also meant to be supported by all remote desktop applications, including those on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Leaked Cloud PC Dashboard.
Leaked Cloud PC Dashboard. (Credit: WalkingCat/Twitter)

At this time, it is reported that Microsoft is experimenting with three different tiers for this Cloud PC service:

  1. Medium tier: 2 vCPUs, 4GB of RAM, and 96GB of SSD storage.
  2. Heavy tier: 2 vCPUs, 8GB of RAM, and 96GB of SSD storage.
  3. Advanced tier: 3 vCPUs, 8GB of RAM, and 40GB of SSD storage.

While Cloud PC is aimed at enterprise customers rather than individual users, it is reported that Microsoft wants to ship it with Windows 10X (modular OS) to enable support for Win32 apps streaming.

As discovered by Bleeping Computer, Microsoft has also added some new APIs to the Microsoft Graph API in December to support this Cloud PC.

For example, there are APIs that can be used by administrators to list existing Cloud PC instances, get information about an instance, or reprovision new Cloud PC instances, among others.

From the Cloud PC dashboard source code at this time, this service is still in its beta stage.

Published: 
28/12/2020