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With DaaS Windows Coming, Say Goodbye To Your PC As You Know It (computerworld.com)
Ostracus shares a report from Computerworld, written by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Microsoft is getting ready to replace Windows 10 with the Microsoft Managed Desktop. This will be a "desktop-as-a-service" (DaaS) offering. Instead of owning Windows, you'll "rent" it by the month. Microsoft Managed Desktop is a new take. It avoids the latency problem of the older Windows DaaS offerings by keeping the bulk of the operating system on your PC. But you'll no longer be in charge of your Windows PC. Instead, it will be automatically provisioned and patched for you by Microsoft. Maybe you'll be OK with that.
Microsoft has been getting away from the old-style desktop model for years now. Just look at Office. Microsoft would much rather have you rent Office via Office 365 than buy Microsoft Office and use it for years. Microsoft Managed Desktop is the first move to replacing "your" desktop with a rented desktop. By 2021, I expect the Managed Desktop to be to traditional Windows what Office 365 is to Office today: the wave of the future. Or maybe tsunami, depending on your perspective. I'm not happy with this development. I'm old enough to remember the PC revolution. We went from depending on mainframes and Unix boxes for computing power to having the real power on our desktops. It was liberating. Now Microsoft, which helped lead that revolution, is trying to return us to that old, centralized control model.
Microsoft has been getting away from the old-style desktop model for years now. Just look at Office. Microsoft would much rather have you rent Office via Office 365 than buy Microsoft Office and use it for years. Microsoft Managed Desktop is the first move to replacing "your" desktop with a rented desktop. By 2021, I expect the Managed Desktop to be to traditional Windows what Office 365 is to Office today: the wave of the future. Or maybe tsunami, depending on your perspective. I'm not happy with this development. I'm old enough to remember the PC revolution. We went from depending on mainframes and Unix boxes for computing power to having the real power on our desktops. It was liberating. Now Microsoft, which helped lead that revolution, is trying to return us to that old, centralized control model.
We no longer have a usable desktop operating system! The Windows OS is spyware. Linux as a desktop operating system has gotten worse every year, not better. Why? Those who develop Linux desktop systems insist on doing their own thing. They don't cooperate.
AMAZING QUOTE from this story of 2 years ago: The number of Linux distributions is declining. "In 2011, the Distrowatch database of active Linux distributions peaked at 323. Currently, however, it lists only 285."
285 different ways to do one thing!!! "Only" 285? Quote from a Slashdot comment: "You know Linux Desktop is a junk OS from the fact an app may require version 2.5 of a library and another one might require no more than 2.4, and Desktop Linux offers no way around the problem."
Linux has VERY poor documentation. A friend of mine said this perhaps 20 years ago: "It's free but you will spend at least a week getting it to work." So, Linux is NOT free.
This is why some open-source people like Stallman are so fanatical. We have Linux, and no one can take it away from us. In ten years from now when everyone is suffering with DaaS, I'll still be typing away with Linux, free as always.
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
This just means that I go completely to Linux for development. Chrome and ChromeOS for storage, email, presentation and business apps. Maybe Mac because I love OSX on a laptop - I'm dropping Office on my Mac because Microsoft wants $250 CDN to upgrade to the latest version and won't continue with updates.
And, after doing all this, I don't feel deprived one bit.
So, why would I pay Microsoft a lot more for the same capabilities?
Somebody, down the road, at Microsoft is going to be crucified in front of the shareholders for pushing us away from Windows and Office.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
"Rent-seeking-seeking behaviour", abbreviated "aaS".
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Move to FreeBSD, it is time. It's like Linux but written by rational adults.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
I’m not a typical user, but I’m willing to put up with a walled garden on my iPad. I don’t think of it as a general purpose computer as much as an internet and email tablet. That won’t fly on my desktop, though. And I’m sure as hell not paying Microsoft a monthly fee just to be able to use my computer. That’s straying into the land of batshit crazy to me. I’ve not been a huge Linux evangelist (because I’ve had my share of problems with it that the typical windows user would be completely at sea with), but I’d be happy to recommend it to my friends in lieu of them having to pay $10 a month or whatever to MS.
Once again, thank you, and all who have contributed to the open source movement to provide us with an alternative to profit-driven corporate overlords. History will be most kind to your work...
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes.2Kings22:11
Proof: How many man pages actually have examples.
This is a problem for people who learned to copy-paste from StackOverflow instead of learning to read documentation.
Of course, it's also a problem of programmers not knowing how to create a proper interface.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
The whole Google productivity suite is right there when you log in. I think it's okay for kids (don't get me wrong, the Google drive is fabulous and the spreadsheet has its place). I can understand trying to get experience in that model. But personally, I like having software and data locally. Also, putting your data on another company's servers lets them get a really solid grip around your balls/profit.
corporate users are already "renting" windows AND office, per seat and per month or year, via volume license agreements. this "new" and "innovative" approach is to get the small businesses and home users on the same page...
apparently, we're still not buying new computers (with new windows licenses) often enough.. add that to the decrease in the market due to mobile.. microsoft is starting to strangle its dwindling customer base, to squeeze out every penny they can, just like cable and satellite tv providers have been doing since the netflix generation took off.
the writing has been on the wall for a decade. microsoft toyed with a subscription-based windows 7 in a couple small markets back then. combine with secure boot (where microsoft holds the keys) to lock people out of their hardware.. the push towards "apps" and subscription office.. on top of forced updates... and boom. you have subscription windows going to be forced on everybody.
they did not lie. windows 10 IS "the last windows you'll ever buy" --- because the next one will be rented, not purchased.
fuck microsoft. long live linux and bsd.
If Microsoft tries to charge a monthly fee for an operating system, eventually 1) Nations will all gather together and try to buy Windows from Microsoft. That would be cheaper than paying monthly. Or, 2) Nations will gather together and contribute to ReactOS, a free operating system that runs Windows programs.
And now back to reality: people will continue to bitch and moan about Windows and Microsoft, but take no meaningful action to help themselves. Then they will be shocked, SHOCKED, when Microsoft continues its predatory monopoly abuses unabated.
None of the Xaas offerings have this kind of liability. Best case is maximum damages of that month's service costs times two... which comes to you as a credit against future invoices.
The sales people will all say they take on certain liabilities and all that sounds so great for the people listening but when you look at the contract details... the only benefit you have is that you can cancel the service and stop paying almost whenever you want. All true liabilities stay with you.
And isn't DaaS = DEVICE as a service? Not desktop. Couldn't they say WaaS or MSaaS? I think it's a marketing thing to ride HPs coattails.
Afraid not friend. Their printer/scanner/fax, their camera software, their favorite game, their bookkeeping software, hell i could go on all damned day and NONE OF IT will run on Linux.
Ya see this is the problem that the FOSSies just don't seem capable of grasping, every single person using Windows has some programs they consider "must have" or there is no point in having the PC...and none of it works on Linux. Sure you might come up with a wine layer for MS Office or Quickbooks (does Quickbooks even work in 2018? haven't looked in years) but that is 2 programs out of several million, and that isn't counting all the hardware out there that was written with ONLY a Windows driver, which believe me is VERY numerous indeed.
So I'm sorry, it would be nice if it really was "just people using email and FB" because that would mean the majority would be a simple switch...but that user is a myth, they don't exist. What you have is all these millions of users that MOSTLY use FB and web BUT they ALSO use a half a dozen windows only programs...which programs? Its different for every user and if those programs don't work? Then its "I don't want this, its broken" and they go back to Windows. Sorry friend but that is why the network effect is so powerful, those millions of programs are a better lock in than any walled garden and the users will happily take whatever MSFT offers as long as those programs work, PERIOD.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
You wouldn't stand for a walled garden on the iPad either, if you had to pay for it monthly.
I think the rent-is-the-only-option approach and the walled garden approach are fairly orthogonal. The comments about Joe Idiot consumer not caring are wrong too. People hate recurring fees, especially when they've gotten used to not having them.. Just ask any online news source.
If you read the referenced article, it references another article which seems to pretty clearly indicate that this is designed for the Enterprise. As a manager of a large number of corporate desktops, this actually sounds like a good idea. Keeping users updated and running is a pain and requires expensive tools and expertise. You are welcome to it, Microsoft.
This is not for your personal PC. Let's face it, Microsoft isn't completely stupid. They aren't going to put themselves on the hook for managing and supporting hundreds of millions of desktop computers used by people like your mother.
I see, so a consumer who doesn't need a computer to do whizzy things, just email and web surfing is somehow dumb for not getting a PC with rocket engines and fighting the OS for the sheer thrill of not being labeled dumb by...errr...you.
rtb61 (opens new computer store, first Potential Customer comes in): Hi ya, want to buy a computer.
PC: Well, I don't know, I just need a device to do simple things, a bit of email, and I like to see videos of cute kittens.
rtb61: You want this BambleWeenie 4000, it has AI to predict your wants and needs, an Intel MultiStroke Engine of Power, 500 JigaGobs of RAM, just enough to run the latest Microsoft Software.
PC: I don't know, I just want something simple to use.
rtb61: Errr....you one of those dumb users who doesn't know what a machine like this can offer you?
PC: Not until I walked in here....
rtb61: Hey...where ya going? Come back!!! I, G-d-of-Thunder-Computation, command you to come back.
PC: (at door) Yeah, well, have fun with your BambleWeenie, I'll go find a store that will sell me what I want.
What keeps Linux from becoming a gaming platform isn't even anymore software support. With Unity and UE4, it's never been easier for small studios to develop for Linux in parallel, even if their primary market is Windows.
The actual problem today is drivers for consumer hardware periphery. You have a programmable mouse? Consider yourself lucky if you get it to work as a two-button mouse, let alone actually find a way to program those extra buttons. Flight sticks? Steering wheels? Head tracking device? Programmable keyboards? If there is a driver (I'm not even hoping for a configuration tool at this point anymore) so they at least work in their minimum configuration, it's haphazardly slapped together, woefully out of date and at best in a state of "existing" to be able to tack "Linux support" onto the box. Last update approximately at first shipping date.
This is what keeps Linux gaming down these days. Certainly not software support. Log into your Steam account on Linux and be amazed just how many games you own that would run smoothly in Linux.
If you could control them...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When I have to run Chinese software so I can actually be free in my own computer, the transfer to Bizarro-World is complete.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If I may ask, who does tech support for Windows?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.