Microsoft is branding its Cloud PC service as Windows 365 and will offer it to commercial customers starting in early August. It will initially offer remote access to Windows 10 but will add Windows 11 too when that system ships in October.

“Windows 365 is a cloud service that introduces a new way to experience Windows 10 or Windows 11 for workers from interns and contractors to software developers and industrial designers,” Microsoft 365 general manager Wangui McKelvey explains. “Windows 365 takes the operating system to the Microsoft Cloud, securely streaming the full Windows experience—including all your apps, data, and settings—to your personal or corporate devices. This approach creates a fully new personal computing category, specifically for the hybrid world: the Cloud PC.”

According to Microsoft, Windows 365 provides an “instant-on boot experience,” and it works with virtually any device, including Macs, iPads, Linux PCs, and Android devices. It retains state so that every time you sign in, you pick up exactly where you left off, and that’s true even if you access Windows 365 across different devices.

Windows 365 is built on Azure Virtual Desktop, another cloud-based remote desktop solution, and it differs from that service in one key way: Where Azure Virtual Desktop uses a consumption-based pricing model, Windows 365 has a set per-user/per-month fee … which I’m not yet privy to, sorry; I assume that will be announced today and will update this post as soon as possible. But it will be offered in Business and Enterprise versions, and your Cloud PCs can be managed alongside traditional physical PCs in standard enterprise solutions like Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

Windows 365 will be generally available to organizations of all sizes on August 2, 2021. You can learn more about this new service from the Windows 365 website.

Tagged with Microsoft Cloud PC