8 ms·
Windows is now an app for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and PCs
- pipeline_peak 3y agoI really love the idea of plugging a phone into a dock on a desktop. I remember Ubuntu phone had it 10 years ago. But if I can remotely stream any OS, that’s the future of personal computing.
- weikju 3y agoThe future of locked down non private “personal” computing for sure… :(
- pipeline_peak 3y agoOutside of FOSS, that's the present ;)
- pjmlp 3y agoX Windows, VNC, RDP, Citrix have been doing it for decades, depending on the the network availability naturally. This is just Microsoft wanting a bigger slice of that market for themselves.
- antiterra 3y agoMicrosoft made RDP, no?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- prmoustache 3y agoYou have been able to do that for years, even with low latency. Apart from the usual desktop sharing tools mentionned in another comment I was using parsec to game on a remote VM a few winters ago. The only real limiter is people lazyness to setup a vm in the first place.
- hakube 3y agoSamsung Dex
- Ancapistani 3y agoI had a Motorola smartphone at least a decade ago that supported a clamshell dock with a small monitor and a keyboard, along with a more traditional dock that allowed me to use extrenal peripherals. What's old is new again.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- thunderbong 3y agoFrom the article - > Microsoft supports multiple monitors through its Windows App, custom display resolutions and scaling, and device redirection for peripherals like webcams, storage devices, and printers. The preview version of the Windows App isn’t currently available for Android, though. That's pretty interesting! > The Windows App is also limited to Microsoft’s range of business accounts, but there are signs it will be available to consumers, too. I think it'll be useful for developers who work across multiple systems.
- kemotep 3y agoIronically enough, moves like this, and with the New Outlook and New Teams merging features and functionality between the web and desktop versions (and probably soon Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) I likely will no longer need to dual boot and will run Linux full time on my desktop.
- sys_64738 3y agoYou could also run WSL2 for the Linux apps you need to use part-time.
- kemotep 3y agoIt’s more that I on occasion need to run Windows applications. Modern Office 365 doesn’t work with Wine and the web version doesn’t support the features needed. When they fully merge the desktop app and web version of Office, I won’t need to boot into Windows ever again. 9/10 I use my computer, everything I do works in Linux. That 1 time out 10 is what forces me to pay for a Windows License and a copy of Microsoft Office. I’ll still pay Microsoft a license but I would no longer need to manage a dual boot to log into Windows to use Office when the occasion rises.
- sys_64738 3y agoYou don't really need to pay of Windows nowadays as it can work indefinitely without Activation.
- kemotep 3y agoIt looks pretty unprofessional to have a watermark whenever you record your screen. Like I said, literally the only thing keeping Windows in my house (literally could be using MacOS not just Linux) is a specific software compatibility that the current Windows versions of the Office desktop apps have. The extensions I need to use do not work on even Macs. So the ability to either stream a Microsoft desktop to any device or have full feature compatibility with the web version of Office is something I am looking forward to.
- cwillu 3y ago“The Windows App might just set the stage for consumers to access cloud PCs and Windows apps on devices that don’t run Microsoft’s operating system.” …like computers that are a couple years too old.
- beebeepka 3y agoWhat do you mean?
- zerocrates 3y agoI believe they're talking about Windows 11's requirements, for processors in particular. Some relatively recent systems like those built around the first Ryzens weren't supported, thus putting them in the "devices that don't run Windows" category.
- zlg_codes 3y agoWindows 11 requires a hardware TPM (Trusted Platform Module), which is a black box for crypto key storage. They want to be able to lock you out of certain things on your computer. The nanny processors (IME for Intel, PSP for AMD) and TPM in conjunction with HDCP standards can control whether or not you can view certain media, when used in concert. The end goal of major tech companies is to limit your freedoms on computing machines. You do things their way or not at all. Requiring a TPM is a pernicious requirement added for political reasons. When Windows 11 adoption remains crawling, they will suddenly realize "oh you really don't need a TPM for Win11 guys, try it out! :)" to fool people into switching over. We need more players like Purism and Pine64 who are trying to wrest control of the hardware layer away from businesses and back into the hands of computer owners, where it belongs.
- uxp8u61q 3y agoWindows 10 is still supported until end of 2025. And you can just force Windows 11 installation if what's blocking you is just the CPU model / TPM.
- whyoh 3y ago
- beej71 3y agoThat should make pure subscription pricing a lot easier to implement.
- bitwize 3y agoI should be excited for something like this. I don't want to devote a computer to frickin' Windows, especially not a powerful one. If I need Windows occasionally, being able to spin it up, do what I need, then shut it down and forget about it. I just fear Microsoft's implementation of it. Like all of Windows will migrate to a privacy- and freedom-disrespecting cloud instance. PCs will ship with a minimal, Citrix-like OS that just connects to this and you have to reup your subscription to do... well, anything. That sort of thing.
- prox 3y agoI hear you, this might be a privacy nightmare, and I am not sure that the public at large cares a great deal about it, if it means supercheap computers that only have to login basically. And the subscription is another headache since if you depend on it, they can set any price.
- scarface_74 3y agoHow is this any different than my using my own AWS Account and spinning up an EC2 Windows instance in a pinch like I’ve done before? (Yes I’m self aware enough to know that this might end up being my BrandonM moment)
- beebeepka 3y agoToo much work, and you have to pay. Why not just install it on local VM?
- scarface_74 3y agoI have an ARM Mac, I want the performance of a native x86 computer, and I don’t have to share my 24GB of RAM with the VM. And we are talking about a a quarter an hour for a 4 vCPU 16GB instance. It’s a simple bash script to start up the instance and start session manager system manager to create a no ingress tunnel to the instance to run RDP over https://awscloudsecvirtualevent.com/workshops/module1/rdp/ https://awscloudsecvirtualevent.com/workshops/module1/rdp/
- 3y ago
- lucasyvas 3y agoObviously, a first class local virtual machine is superior in most ways, but Apple in particular is way too stubborn about blocking this. I think a secure VM would be a really cool choice for remote work. If it could be optionally locked down by the host operating system so you couldn't get at the disk, then BYOD would be a lot simpler.
- scarface_74 3y agoThere is an x86 virtual machine running Linux available on the App Store now. https://ish.app/ https://ish.app/ Now would Apple allow a full blown Windows VM is a different question
- lights0123 3y agoThat's an x86 emulator with all the performance and battery penalties that entails, and not even full JIT like Rosetta would provide.
- scarface_74 3y agoThere is no hardware virtualization on Apple’s A series chips.
- sweetjuly 3y agoNot quite true. The hardware supports it but iOS does not. https://worthdoingbadly.com/hv/ https://worthdoingbadly.com/hv/
- Exoristos 3y agoWhy would they block another great reason for people to buy their hardware?
- lucasyvas 3y agoFair - I am advocating for the user :)
- magnio 3y agoThe irony if WSL on Windows on macOS is the best way to run Docker. (Seriously, does no one at Apple use Docker? Why is it so shit on macOS?)
- magicmicah85 3y agoI’ve been using rancher desktop the past few days, not been having a bad time. Curious what you’ve been encountering that I need to look out for.
- grasstreeleaf 3y agoTry Orbstack: https://orbstack.dev https://orbstack.dev It’s amazing.
- e40 3y agoCan you say a few words about why it’s amazing?
- bhhaskin 3y agoThe best way to run docker is on Linux ;) The reason it sucks on Mac is because docker uses underlying Linux tech. So to get around that docker on Mac runs in a lightweight Linux VM.
- pjmlp 3y agoBecause it is a Linux VM running on top of another OS, whereas on Windows when Hyper-V is activated everything is a guest, as it is a type 1 hypervisor. So WSL and Windows run in parallel as guest OSes. Also usually there is no need to use docker on macOS, I never did.
- luckman212 3y agoTried to install the iOS app in TestFlight: "The beta is full"
- mcbishop 3y agoI'm wondering if full Desktop Excel (with VBA) will be compatible with this.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ripdog 3y agoAs the article says, this is basically an RDP client, along with cloud PCs presumably hosted in Azure, so yes.
- dstaley 3y agoThis is literally just a pretty RDP client that connects to a cloud VM running full-blown Windows, so yes, you can do whatever you want in Excel.
- jrflowers 3y agoFinally maybe Windows might see wide adoption
- littlecranky67 3y agoOf course it is, the IAP and Adware crap is already on board.
- mikae1 3y agoWish this was available as a Flatpak.
- anon23432343 3y agoIs this MSFT giving up on creating a good OS? Now you can run you legacy software also on Mac! Which is funny because everybody I know that has worked with office on mac and windows says that the mac version is better...
- n8cpdx 3y agoOutlook for Mac is a dream. The animations, design, great support for keyboards, focus mode integration, native toolbar UX, and menu bar app are almost enough to make me think there’s a future for desktop-native software. I don’t know how the MBA types let that team get away with making such a great work of software. It’s weird because on Windows they’re moving to just shipping the web version in an electron (or equivalent) wrapper.
- pjmlp 3y agoAs someone that decided to go back into native development in 2014, and then after how the whole WinRT/UWP mess was managed, and still is being managed in WinUI 3.0/WinAppSDK land, returned into distributed systems, yeah it looks like it. Go watch a couple of community sessions, or the Github issues, it looks like a quite underresourced set of teams, still living in the days of "we do everything in C++ with no tools". Having a designer for WinUI 3.0 was never a priority, a GUI framework!
- rkagerer 3y agoI love Windows but it's been on a downward spiral for the last decade, which I blame squarely on poor product decisions and backward priorities. It's a shame as the kernel team has made vast improvements, but the business unit seems to have no interest in simply offering a rock-solid OS. I don't want ads, tracking, assistants or other distractions. There are so many fundamental core technologies they could be investing in advancing instead, but the idiots making the decisions seem attracted to glitter like moths to a flame. Don't get me wrong I always love a good remote desktop tool, but the indicators shared in the article of the direction Microsoft intends on taking the OS make me want to puke. A front-and-center "Windows and Web Experiences" team and turning the OS into something you stream from Microsoft? No thank you. Don't shovel your shit down my pipes.
- classified 3y agoSo now we can see Micosoft's ads on Apple devices. Cute.