Apparently Microsoft are looking at Windows 365 for businesses AKA Microsoft Managed Desktops

[Master Disaster]

Microsoft have had pretty good success with Office 365 over the years and there's now rumours they're looking to expand the service to Windows users in the near future.

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Back in 2005, Microsoft conducted a trial via which it managed Windows PCs and servers for Energizer Holdings. The company quietly began selling this managed services offering to enterprises with more than 5,000 seats before ultimately turning the service into Office 365.

 

It looks like Redmond's about to try an updated variant of this strategy again.

 

Microsoft is getting closer to revealing its plans for what it's currently calling the "Microsoft Managed Desktop." (Petri.com discovered the name in some recent job postings.)

The service seems to be aimed at businesses who have struggled in recent times with instability and incompatibilities with Windows 10 updates that have caused many home users computers to crash and many businesses to avoid updating entirely.

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I'm hearing this Microsoft Managed Desktop is, basically, the Microsoft version of "desktop as a service." It will provide customers the ability to lease a Windows 10 device that's automatically provisioned for them and have the operating system kept up-to-date and more for a single monthly fee, my contacts say.

 

What differentiates Microsoft's version of desktop-as-a-service from what many companies already offer under that desktop-as-a-service name is the Windows 10 updating component.

 

As anyone who's been watching Windows 10 feature updates knows, many IT pros are unhappy about Microsoft's twice-yearly feature updates to the OS. They have seen updates break compatibility with things they didn't anticipate. They've seen Microsoft post and pull patches and updates to these releases, making deployment a nightmare. Windows as a service has been a rocky (or substitute your expletive of choice) road for many.

 

Microsoft looks to be counting on companies being ready for greater predictability -- in terms of spending, updating and support -- in exchange for letting someone else do the driving.

Microsoft have apparently been building up to this for some time and are not combining existing services into one, there's even a name for the person in charge of the project.

Quote

Microsoft already has a number of the pieces in place to make this happen. This past year, Microsoft has been broadening availability of its Windows Autopilot automatic device provisioning service. It's been honing its device financing skills with programs like Surface Plus and Surface Plus for Business, as well as its "Surface as a Service" leasing program. And it currently offers Windows 10, Office 365 and its Intune device-management and security products in the form of the Microsoft 365 subscription bundle.

 

Microsoft has a team working to put this all together into a new service. One of my contacts said that Bill Karagounis -- former Director of the Windows Insider Program & OS Fundamentals team, who last year joined the Enterprise Mobility and Management part of Windows and Devices -- is in charge of the coming Microsoft Managed Desktop.

 

What I don't know is how/whether Microsoft plans to allow partners to sell the Microsoft Managed Desktop platform and add value on top of it or if Microsoft intends to sell this directly to large enterprise customers itself (or both). A Microsoft spokesperson said the company had no comment on anything about Microsoft Managed Desktop.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-got-a-new-plan-for-managing-windows-10-devices-for-a-monthly-fee/

 

Really not sure many businesses, let alone enterprise customers will be happy to hand Microsoft control over their computers. That doesn't seem very smart to me if I'm honest.

[samcool55]

So they first make it really bad to then say "we have something that will solve the mess!" but it costs money...

Also, what about the whole "cloud intregration" stuff? They are pushing stuff like azure AD and OMS really hard to basically force companies to enter the cloud and pay extra monthly fees to keep it all managed so i'm not sure why this is needed? We have SCCM for local management and OMS for cloud-based management. What benefit does this one have apart from fixing a problem that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place?

[Master Disaster]

3 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

So they first make it really bad to then say "we have something that will solve the mess!" but it costs money...

Also, what about the whole "cloud intregration" stuff? They are pushing stuff like azure AD and OMS really hard to basically force companies to enter the cloud and pay extra monthly fees to keep it all managed so i'm not sure why this is needed? We have SCCM for local management and OMS for cloud-based management. What benefit does this one have apart from fixing a problem that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place?

IMO it's the first step towards Windows becoming a subscription service rather than a one price purchase.

[Syntaxvgm]

I have to say linux is looking better and better for business these days. Not large businesses, but small and medium offices for sure 

Most of my reasons for sticking with windows is for personal use. I feel like most small to medium offices can mostly be linux shops now. Hell even at my work only the graphic designer needs something else for PS, and he runs a mac at work and hackinstosh at home. 

I really think that most of my job would be smoother on linux than unmodified windows. I heavily modify my 10 installation to make it unintrusive at work. Even basic shit like updates when I choose and not updating my drivers has to be forced, regardless of what the settings say itll do. With all that work is it really smoother than deploying and customizing some flavor of linux?

2 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Really not sure many businesses, let alone enterprise customers will be happy to hand Microsoft control over their computers. That doesn't seem very smart to me if I'm honest.

12 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

IMO it's the first step towards Windows becoming a subscription service rather than a one price purchase.

Yall and I as individuals hate SaaS but businesses love it, both the developers of the software and the customers. 

[Cole5]

My boss at a giant Ethanopl plant is trying to use office 365 for alllll of our paperwork and reporting (We file about 500 different data points per shift, 1000 a day) I dont see it going well

[mr moose]

It might well end up cheaper than managing your own fleet.   Companies tend to outsource this sort of thing all the time.

EDIT: also it's another option for smaller firms that can't really afford to employ sysadmins and manage fleets.

[LAwLz]

So let me get this straight...

Microsoft turns the update system into shit, and starts releasing a bunch of unstable software. Rather than fixing the issues and committing to writing better code, they are instead now offering a subscription with a monthly fee to try and fix the issue they themselves have created? "Yeah, we can't write code for shit, but if you rent a computer from us we can at least guarantee that it will be a bit more stable than if you buy something from Dell or HP".

 

If that's what is happening, and I'm not interpreting this wrong, then holy crap this is a real dick move from Microsoft. How about they start writing good code instead? Maybe that's too much to ask from Microsoft these days...

[S w a t s o n]

I would rather install Gentoo without instructions than let Micro$haft manage my desktop or the desktops at my workplace

[Salv8 (sam)]

17 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Really not sure many businesses, let alone enterprise customers will be happy to hand Microsoft control over their computers. That doesn't seem very smart to me if I'm honest.

i know from experience that most businesses are happy to buy a muti-user licence for their products for a big fee so they have the option to use the key again (a lot of enterprise  level products allow this surprisingly) if a system fails and has to have it's OS and required software reinstalled. it's cheaper and easier then buying new licence's every time a system goes down or buying a load of new ones for the future.

because of this 365 is popular in office environments because it is account based and only requires the user to be signed into a account with a valid key and the business's only have to pay for the amount of users for the software(not computers) and have the ability to add and remove them at will when they need to.

an OS that is always online is going to be the same problem as cloud storage or virtual machines hosted by someone else, every business i know (even enterprise level ones that are worldwide) don't use it because their data may get stolen regardless if the virtual machine has the most strictest security policy's set it doesn't stop a hacker getting into the host and accessing the storage and downloading what they find there, in it's defense bit locker (or Linux equivalents) can be enabled but those can be broken into  with tools if the entire hdd image is taken and saved onto a remote system. i really don't see this being popular at all for it's insecurity and how most business's treat their data

[asus killer]

you are thinking like individual users. Big companies prefer the no hassle subscription anyway, it's no by change that they started with "enterprises with more than 5000 seats". 

 

Also any IT guy unhappy with updates can most certainly turn the updates off and just do security updates.

[Doobeedoo]

Urm well Office 2019 is being made for businesses and users that don't like the 365 option so. Good for that. 

[FPSwithaWacomTablet]

So basically... RHEL and SUSE but handing the money over to M$ first, and actually usable for offices?

[mr moose]

9 hours ago, asus killer said:

you are thinking like individual users. Big companies prefer the no hassle subscription anyway, it's no by change that they started with "enterprises with more than 5000 seats". 

Also any IT guy unhappy with updates can most certainly turn the updates off and just do security updates.

This is the sole reason enterprise versions of windows have full client control over updates and update policy.   When a corporation with thousands of work stations has issues with updates its because the sysadmin is a moron, generally not because of windows.   It is also why MS allow major update delays to corporate clients, at the request of those clients who want to see the effects of upgrades and updates in the wild or on controlled stations before they go live across their whole network.  

[Guest]

I don't see how this is at all news anyway? 

• Windows 10 auto-pilot has been available since late last year and provides automatic device provisioning
• Microsoft already provide Surface-as-a-Service platform and both HP & Dell have similar offerings themselves. You can also just arrange a lease agreement with a finance provider to solve the financial side of things.
• Intune device management already gives you the option to customise the Windows Update schedule for Windows 10 cloud managed devices.

 

Failing to see what's new..?

[vorticalbox]

1 hour ago, Windspeed36 said:

Failing to see what's new..?

You get to pay for someone else to set it up and then continue to pay after it is.

[mr moose]

15 minutes ago, vorticalbox said:

You get to pay for someone else to set it up and then continue to pay after it is.

That's not new, it's no different to what happens in many places already.  It's the same as vehicle fleet management.

[Granular]

I'd just like to interject for a moment.  What you're referring to as Windows,
is in fact, Azure/Windows, or as I've recently taken to calling it, Azure plus Windows.
Windows is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another proprietary component
of a fully functioning Microsoft system made useful by the Xbox app, Candy Crush Saga
and Microsoft Solitaire Collection, comprising a full OS as defined by Steve Ballmer.

[Guest]

16 hours ago, vorticalbox said:

You get to pay for someone else to set it up and then continue to pay after it is.

But you already can with an MSP

[Blake]

On 7/29/2018 at 7:07 AM, Master Disaster said:

IMO it's the first step towards Windows becoming a subscription service rather than a one price purchase.

You wot mate? this is old news, I can already pay ~$9.00/month for windows 10 enterprise. I've been able to do this for a while...

[Blake]

17 hours ago, Granular said:

I'd just like to interject for a moment.  What you're referring to as Windows,
is in fact, Azure/Windows, or as I've recently taken to calling it, Azure plus Windows.
Windows is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another proprietary component
of a fully functioning Microsoft system made useful by the Xbox app, Candy Crush Saga
and Microsoft Solitaire Collection, comprising a full OS as defined by Steve Ballmer.

This meme doesn't work. GNU <> Azure in this instance. Think ]OS]\[Kernal]

[mark_cameron]

On 28/07/2018 at 8:15 PM, Master Disaster said:

Microsoft have had pretty good success with Office 365 over the years and there's now rumours they're looking to expand the service to Windows users in the near future.

The service seems to be aimed at businesses who have struggled in recent times with instability and incompatibilities with Windows 10 updates that have caused many home users computers to crash and many businesses to avoid updating entirely.

Microsoft have apparently been building up to this for some time and are not combining existing services into one, there's even a name for the person in charge of the project.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-got-a-new-plan-for-managing-windows-10-devices-for-a-monthly-fee/

 

Really not sure many businesses, let alone enterprise customers will be happy to hand Microsoft control over their computers. That doesn't seem very smart to me if I'm honest.

Why would I give someone the driving seat to my desktop when they can't even release updates that don't break my system?

 

Where is the logic?

 

Even more since it's drivers and custom software these updates are often breaking!

[Humbug]

I have installed Linux Mint on the computers of a few people (non-power users) I know and they have been very happy with it.

It's a familiar traditional desktop interface and I make sure they are setup with firefox or chrome, VLC for media, Skype for video chatting, steam for gaming and teamviewer so that I can login and advise them for any issues.

 

However for one of my friends recently I tried to do the same and ran into a snag. He was an iPhone user so he needed iTunes. There is no iTunes for Linux, I could only get it to work by installing windows in a virtual machine. But it was an older laptop with a sandy bridge i3 so having virtual machines inside it wasn't ideal. I ended up going back to windows for him... So ironically it was Apple protecting windows ecosystem in this case.

 

The more we promote cross-platform applications like firefox, chrome, skype, steam, vlc the more comfortable it is for people to switch operating systems.

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Humbug said:

I have installed Linux Mint on the computers of a few people (non-power users) I know and they have been very happy with it.

It's a familiar traditional desktop interface and I make sure they are setup with firefox or chrome, VLC for media, Skype for video chatting, steam for gaming and teamviewer so that I can login and advise them for any issues.

 

However for one of my friends recently I tried to do the same and ran into a snag. He was an iPhone user so he needed iTunes. There is no iTunes for Linux, I could only get it to work by installing windows in a virtual machine. But it was an older laptop with a sandy bridge i3 so having virtual machines inside it wasn't ideal. I ended up going back to windows for him... So ironically it was Apple protecting windows ecosystem in this case.

 

The more we promote cross-platform applications like firefox, chrome, skype, steam, vlc the more comfortable it is for people to switch operating systems.

Uhh that’s entirely different - this is in reference to a commercial space where you need uniform centralised management, something that is somewhat non existent for Linux. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

9 minutes ago, Windspeed36 said:

in reference to a commercial space where you need uniform centralised management

Such as a workplace using a bunch of thin clients, for example?

 

Good to see you around, how's the civilian life?

[schwellmo92]

Just sounds like VDI-aaS.