Microsoft has been increasingly moving Windows to the cloud on the commercial side with Windows 365, and now the software giant wants to do the same for consumers. In an internal presentation, Microsoft discusses building on Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device.
Moving Windows 11 increasingly to the cloud is identified as a long-term opportunity in Microsoft’s “Modern Life” consumer space. This would allow Microsoft to use the power of the cloud to provide improved AI-powered services and full roaming of people’s digital experience.
Windows 365 is a service that streams a full version of Windows to devices. So far, it’s been limited to just commercial customers, but Microsoft has been deeply integrating it into Windows 11 already. A future update will include Windows 365 Boot, which will enable Windows 11 devices to log directly in to a Cloud PC instance at boot instead of the local version of Windows.
The idea of moving Windows fully to the cloud for consumers is also presented alongside Microsoft’s need to invest in custom silicon partnerships. Microsoft has been doing some of this for its ARM-powered Surface Pro X devices. Bloomberg also reported in late 2020 that Microsoft was looking at designing its own ARM-based processors for servers and maybe even Surface devices.
This is an interesting development, as it could have a significant impact on the way we use computers in the future. If Microsoft is successful in moving Windows to the cloud, it could mean that we no longer need to worry about the hardware in our devices, as everything would be handled by the cloud.
This would make it possible to use any device to access our Windows applications and data, regardless of its specifications. It is still unclear when Microsoft plans to roll out this new feature to consumers
