20% discount offer on Windows 365 expires around same time as Windows 10 support Microsoft has announced a price cut for Windows 365 alongside a not-so-subtle suggestion that Windows 10 users might consider taking advantage of the offer to keep security updates flowing. The end of Windows 10 support is almost upon us. October 14, 2025, marks the termination of free support for many versions of the …
OK, i do not follow Microsoft offering details, so is Windows 11 on your "unsupported" PC hardware using the Cloud for the TPM 2.0 ?
Which means Microsoft have your "keys" etc., on the Cloud, which also have to traverse the Internet ?
Is that more secure than having a lower version of TPM locally ?
I am pretty sure Microsoft are taking the piss out of everyone...
I *think* they're saying the physical machine remains a Windows 10 device, but by renting the Cloud Win 11 device, you get the Windows 10 ESU mode thrown in for free (normally $61 for the first year) to keep the Windows 10 machine patched. I think.
But to summarise, you're renting a copy of Windows, while needing a copy of Windows to access said copy of Windows, because you can't run said copy of Windows..
Also not clear what happens if you remote desktop in to the physical machine from the cloud machine. I think it'll be like in Futurama when they had a box containing the entire universe.
But corporations, large ones in particular certainly love it. Ditto for companies experiencing very explosive personnel growth. Think of it as the final evolution of computer leasing agreements.
For one, theCloudy Win11 PC has all the microsoft goodies baked in, like Office 365, onedrive, outllook et al. Then there are plans where one machine is associated to up to 3 non-concurrent users (ideal for things like call centers).
The money counts as OPEX (so, tax deductible). If you fire a bunch of people (mass layoffs), you cancel contracts, no need to tie up valuable HW gathering dust and SW licenses doing nothing. If you fire an employee, and replace him/her, then you nuke the old machine and create a fresh one in seconds.
Machines can be accesses from anywhere, be it WFH, by using BYOD, thin clients (including chromebooks).
For us individual users and for SMBs with low turnover, does not make much sense, but, having been in a corporate environment a while, it makes sense...
And, if you are already paying for Office 365, well, the jump is not so scary. IS still a big jump, but not so scary.
"For one, theCloudy Win11 PC has all the microsoft goodies baked in, like Office 365, onedrive, outllook et al. Then there are plans where one machine is associated to up to 3 non-concurrent users (ideal for things like call centers)."
I can hear the horsemen of the apocalypse saddling up just waiting for the first software crash that brings down the system
Those large corps will love it right up until a cloud server fails backups for about 6 months before going completely tits up, and the corp discovers that 6 months of labor, sales contracts and tax records are gone and the contract states that M$'s responsibility ends with "Sorry about that, old chap."
¿Remember the 1-2-3 rule of backups?
No one said that Windows 365 saves you from your sworn duty as a systadmin of backing up the DATA of your cloudy desktops off-site the MS-cloud.
Say, to amazon glacier, or to backblaze or *gasp* the tape robot in your own data-center
Indeed. Microsoft? Backups? Of course not. OneDrive, SharePoint etc are just hollow vessels to keep, er for us to slurp your data. It would be a shame if anything were to happen to it sir, but we're not even going to think about offering any kind of backup solution, despite zillions of small enterprises who don't have time or money to think about these things relying on it. Other companies can flog you one of those.
But MS missing yet another trick here. Why not MS Cloud PC client for FREE running on any old hardware with the cost of Win 11 in the cloud as 10 drinking vouchers a year. I'm pretty sure many would take that. Still remembering that FrameMaker on X Windows worked over a 64k link perfectly well......
Yes and no.
The data of the computers can be moved in or out of the Win11 clouddy instance.
AND, if you keep the desktops clouddy, but the servers (say, your ERP and CRM) outside of MS's grasp, then the meat of the operation is with you, and the scraps (the desktops) with microsoft. No one said that Windows 365 forced one to use Microsoft's Dynamics
Except that there's still the CAPEX to buy the "thin client". Which also needs support and licensing.
So it is even more expensive per user than it appears at first sight.
The alternative is to spend that same capex and lower licence fees for a local machine that supports an infinite number of non-concurrent users.
Your machine with Win10 that does not qualify for win11 will be a suitable "thin client" for the next 3 years, as ESU will be free of charge.
Or, as I clearly said, but you forgot, you can implement BYOD for the "Thin client"
Or use thin clients that use linux on ARM, or Linux on Atom, or linux on AMD APU.
Or chromebooks, or old Windows laptops (Pre-Win10) running linux.
The posibnilities are endless
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Think you can only get the DVDs with the OEM license now (i.e. the one for small computer shops / people building their own computers). The retail package has a more useful USB stick in it.
Dunno whether you can get retail packages of the server versions at all now - the OEM version for system builders seems to be the same as the client versions - i.e. a card envelope containing a DVD, and a hologram label.
I don't want to go for 11 with the requirements on TPMs when I have a very good for 2013 system (dual CPU, etc) that has plenty of power, and 11 drops support for Windows Mixed Reality.
So, sign up for three years of ESU, and continue my migration to FreeBSD.
At least for business class machine for a year or two.
But yeah, this is for enterprises that need a tide over until they can finish getting upgrades fully 'in' or need a bump in user counts for a few months and leverage some older hardware before it gets scrapped.
Anyone with the power and ability will move off windows for a least the near term.
>> Anyone with the power and ability will move off windows for a least the near term.
For the near term? And then move back to Windows afterward in the long term? Of course The Great Migration has been predicted several times before and it never really happens in any great numbers. 99.9% of people just adjust to whatever interface changes and new requirements there are, and make whatever purchases are required, or keep using unsupported stuff until it dies. Even many of the people who have the power and ability end up giving in and continuing with Windows for various reasons, at least on secondary machines or in VMs, and some of the ones that DO migrate go to Macs.
Businesses are tied into Microsoft in so many ways that most won't want to move. Home users mostly see a computer as a box which they order online or buy in Currys, and they take it home and plug it in, much like they would do with a phone or a tablet, or a fridge. Many won't even be aware of the concept of the OS being separate from the device itself, nor will they care. The only way in which Linux on the desktop will ever make much headway is if some of the big box-shifters settle on a standard distro and start putting out loads of machines with it on, and somehow convincing people to buy them. I can see no prospect at all of that happening in the near future. Indeed, things are going the other way. Installing different OSs on phones and tablets ranges from difficult to impossible, and computers are headed in the same direction - e.g. Macs with Apple CPUs where apart from one experimental Linux distro there is nothing available. The indications are that this ever-tighter integration of hardware and software will continue.
The moment one of those users tries to install Microsoft Office ('97 probably), or finds some FOSS office suite pre-installed that doesn't look like MS Office so they can't find the buttons, the system will be hauled right back to the retailer. Or they try to install any other app that doesn't have a Linux version, or which requires one of the many hurdles to install it on Linux. Or they try to run the disc that came with their cheap printer (or follow the simplistic instructions and install the software from the link provided, these days). Or when their Windows-literate family member has to come help them out, but isn't at all familiar with Linux. Or when they need support and try to call Microsoft. Or if they do think to call the retailer and discover that retailer has allocated zero resources to actually having a support system in place that understands the OS they've started selling. Or when the retailer tells them that since the OS is actually free and open source, they don't provide support. (I seriously wonder how well Linux support can be provided using the standard "level 1 monkey following a script who has never actually used a computer themselves" architecture. Could any problem ever actually be solved that way?)
I'm glad I ditched Microsoft entirely, and they've been moving this way for a while. Thankfully, finally made the move a couple of years ago to tell Adobe to sod off and went with the Affinity suite. Killed all my streaming service subs over recent years as well, as they not only increase the base price but try to foist adverts unless one pays even *more* than that. Only subscriptions I have right now are for an MMO, a solid VPN for torrents and an email provider, and I'd like to keep it that way.
This constant rent-seeking in order to deliver higher and higher passive income to a tiny number of people while the cost of even basic living, let alone any entertainment is just now out of control. Actual literal rents on commercial property mean that the cost of going out is even more prohibitive. There really isn't anything left for us plebs these days, is there?
I upgraded my Lenovo Yoga 9 laptop to Linux. It had been the platform I used it for keeping up with the pre-release version of Windows, but I have decided it isn't worth keeping up with. I took my time this weekend and did the following:
1. Made sure I had all my files (documents, source code, photos, etc...) in a secure location in the cloud
2. I tried several different distros before I settled on one. It turns out that the "just try it on a memory stick" works really well.
3. While trying each distro, I installed the apps that I felt I really must have. This was not a heavy lift for me. Most things I use are available
4. Researched some issues I couldn't test with an install, like setting up my old Logitech K350 wireless keyboards, and verifying that Signal Desktop will work.
5. I settled on Linux Mint because I didn't dislike the Windows desktop look and feel and didn't feel motivated to learn a new one.
6. Installed Linux Mint in about 45 minutes.
7. Set my preferences for updates, 5 minutes.
9. Added my preferred browser (including extensions), email client, password manager, signal-desktop, Spotify, and modified the menu in about an hour. This included trying each out.
10. Restored my data.
So I made a meal of it, but the whole thing, including trying three distros took about 4 or 5 hours spent leisurely over 3 days. At this point the UX is basically the same as Windows 11 with the exception that the shortcut keys are different. The only app I wanted to install but couldn't is Windows Terminal (don't judge me!). The Linux terminal is fine, but not quite as choice.
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