Windows Cloud PC

With Windows 365, Microsoft is moving the Windows operating system into the cloud. This means that anyone using Windows 365 gets access to all Microsoft apps and accesses them via a virtual desktop, re­gard­less of the end device. But what are the real ad­van­tages of Windows 365 Cloud PC?

Windows 365 is Microsoft’s new virtual desktop cloud service. Since Microsoft unveiled the new Windows 365 Cloud PC at the in­ter­na­tion­al Microsoft Inspire con­fer­ence on August 2, 2021, companies have been able to use the Windows operating system as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ex­clu­sive­ly via the cloud. In doing so, Windows is adapting to the demand for hybrid work models and flexible access to the Windows operating system. Windows 365 is based on Azure Virtual Desktop and lets users access Windows from any device. Stored data, settings, and Windows apps reside in the Azure Cloud and are therefore ac­ces­si­ble from PCs, laptops, as well as tablets and smart­phones.

Orig­i­nal­ly, the Windows Cloud PC was geared towards gamers, but Windows is now focusing on the needs of busi­ness­es that want to give employees easy access to the work desktop through the new Windows 365 plan. As a virtual desktop service, Windows 365 is part of the new pro­duc­tiv­i­ty cloud Microsoft 365, which offers various Microsoft cloud services for hybrid work and user models.

To un­der­stand how Windows 365 works, you need to un­der­stand what a cloud PC is in the first place. When using a cloud PC like Windows 365, you download the operating system (for example Windows 10 or 11) not from the hard drive, but by means of cloud computing in the browser or via special software. In doing so, you use the Windows desktop as a virtual PC and have access to your data and programs on all devices. The only re­quire­ments are Internet access and a browser that supports HTML5.

When using the Windows 365 Cloud PC, Windows stores all Office apps, settings, and work data in the cloud. This includes Word documents, Excel spread­sheets, Power Point pre­sen­ta­tions, or an­i­ma­tions. This lets you save storage space by au­to­mat­i­cal­ly backing up data to the Azure Cloud, which you can access from anywhere. Users can easily access Windows 365 via windows365.microsoft.com.

The big news about Windows 365 is that companies offering hybrid work models can rely on high security and en­cryp­tion. Whether employees access the cloud PC from new or older end devices is secondary. All processes run over highly secure Microsoft servers, providing a protected work en­vi­ron­ment with all the benefits of the Windows En­ter­prise model. In addition, depending on the Microsoft 365 plan, there are numerous optional security features for IT admins. As of October 2021, Windows 365 still uses the virtual Windows 10 Pro. With the in­tro­duc­tion of Windows 11, the new Windows operating system can also be op­tion­al­ly launched via the cloud.

Windows Cloud PC is available for busi­ness­es of all sizes. You can use the cloud-based Windows en­vi­ron­ment with Windows 365 Business or Windows 365 En­ter­prise. The hybrid Windows operating system is suitable for the whole variety of new, flexible, as well as tra­di­tion­al ways of working. Employees can be quickly in­te­grat­ed into the workflow by gaining instant access to their company’s tools and resources from anywhere. The per­son­al­ized cloud PC can also be streamed to any device, giving users working from home, the office, or on the go access to all Windows ap­pli­ca­tions through the Windows 365 portal.

• Windows 365 Business: Is geared towards expanding busi­ness­es and the self-employed. The Business version offers a cloud PC that supports up to 300 employees or users.
• Windows 365 En­ter­prise: Geared towards large en­ter­pris­es, it offers a cloud PC that supports an unlimited number of employees and remains flexibly scalable. An Azure sub­scrip­tion from Microsoft is mandatory in the En­ter­prise version.

• Flexible access to the Windows operating system including Office apps, files, settings, and programs via the Microsoft cloud
• Device-in­de­pen­dent use of the virtual desktop (both new and legacy endpoints are supported)
• Enables hybrid work models with in­te­grat­ed remote work
• Easy user man­age­ment via the Windows 365 portal or Windows Endpoint Manager
• Flexible and unlimited scal­a­bil­i­ty in the En­ter­prise version
• Secure IT in­fra­struc­ture thanks to security-optimized Windows processes and protected Microsoft servers
• Cost and effort savings through out­sourc­ing to Windows cloud servers
• Data is secured centrally in the cloud and protected against data loss

• For hybrid work models, a good network con­nec­tion and Internet access is a pre­req­ui­site
• Older non-Windows programs may not be com­pat­i­ble with current Windows operating systems
• Only available as a Windows sub­scrip­tion
• Regular updates or automatic Windows updates may cause com­pat­i­bil­i­ty issues
• Re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for data security and system integrity is largely out­sourced