Do...do people really think Microsoft is stupid enough to kill off non-cloud based Windows? There are a lot of Windows users who, for either performance reasons, lack of reliable internet, etc. who would never get good use out of a cloud version. Microsoft is more than aware of this and there is no way in hell they'd shoot themselves in the foot like this.
Yeah microsoft is unlikely to pull the rug out from under windows users in one go, their strategy is much more likely to be pushing people in the direction they want to move computing slowly and incrementally over a number of years. They appear to want everyone who plays games, does office work, runs a business, or writes code to have a microsoft account, which they can then monetize in various ways using cloud services because that will be the main way they will deliver what people need.
I feel like we are in the middle period of this strategy.
Honestly ... they've pulled a lot of dumb shit that makes me think it's within the realm of possibility.
Just look at how things happened with "Microsoft accounts" since Windows 7...i refuse to use a Microsoft account because there's no way in hell I'm giving them my contact info, but also, it's a total clusterfuck actually managing the damn thing.
Windows 8 suggested using a Microsoft account.
Windows 10 setup a Microsoft account by default. In later subversions, you can only get around it by cutting the internet connection.
Windows 11 refuses to setup at all without an internet connection; instead , it requires you to perform a hidden hacky workaround by opening cmd accessible only by keyboard shortcut, running a specific command to enable offline setup, then rebooting to finally complete it.
You really don't think they're stupid enough to push ahead with this cloud dogshit?
well I don't count android as linux, so no.
If I had to replace my linux desktop with an android "desktop" I'd probably abandon general purpose computing completely. Windows is still infinitely better than android on a desktop.
Some people use their desktop to get shit done, not just to doomscroll passively
As much as I'd love to see Linux become a big player in the market, this article is completely wrong on why Microsoft is selling Windows in the cloud and the ultimate result of it.
My bet is that Windows in the cloud is being developed and will be targeted to enterprise clients that already use similar solutions for having secure environments for their employees, such as Citrix or VmWare solutions, or RDP desktops.
They don't want to kill the desktop with the cloud, they want to steal market from older enterprise big players and increase their cloud dependency among businesses.
Windows 365 is a contingent against the growth of mobel and MacOS. You are right, it is there for business. It competes with other RDS solutions, but I think the focus is to allow business to keep old tools around while everyone is demanding iPads and MacBooks, without having to go to a third party.
Windows 12 won't be a thing client with a subscription to a cloud PC. The economics and technology aren't there. But a good RDS solution tied strongly to M365 is valuable for Mac users and contractors that might not be issued a company computer.
A lot of people deride security by obscurity, but I like using Linux simply because the Linux desktop is secure and isn't as big a target as Windows or MacOS. These "year of the Linux desktop" articles have been coming out for years and I've always thought, "I sure hope not!"
