Windows 10 to be a full cloud OS

[nodle]

I could almost believe this. This is interesting none the less.

...The information comes from a source called WZOR, who has been behind countless Microsoft information leaks......Windows 9 will be similar to the desktop OS we know today...
...WZOR claims that Windows 10 will be a full 'cloud OS'...

http://www.winbeta.org/news/alleged-windows-9-windows-10-windows-rt-and-windows-phone-details-emerge-rumor

 

[ryanator]

I was always interested in the idea of the full desktop experience being on a cloud (virtual desktop/space). Though this means all your data is not fully in your possession and security concerns, with the internet and NSA nowadays, does it really matter? I can really see the benefits of this, but there are again the disadvantages of control and security.

 

[ndboarder]

I'm sure they'd have to do some local caching and all that, it can't truly and fully live entirely in the cloud, otherwise you'll have to hope your internet provider doesn't go out or that you have mobile broadband while travelling.

I remember going to a technology fair or something when I was a freshman or sophomore in college, I though a network OS that was being shown by Sun Microsystems was pretty cool. It wasn't the cloud, but basically there was a big server that ran everything, then they had some dumb stations that were essentially a monitor with a network connection where you signed in and worked from your session on the server. Basically just forced remote desktops at a terminal that could do nothing but that.

If you want a cloud OS today, I suppose you could just rent a small machine on Azure and use RDP to connect to it....

 

[nodle]

I'm sure they'd have to do some local caching and all that, it can't truly and fully live entirely in the cloud, otherwise you'll have to hope your internet provider doesn't go out or that you have mobile broadband while travelling.

Wasn't this basically the same as what the xbox was striving to do. It was either you have internet or you don't mentality.

 

[ndboarder]

Not really no... This is talking about you have internet, because your "PC" is really just something that connects to the net and pulls down your session. Again, I'd assume it would do some on-prem caching or something, but who knows.

The Xbox was not living in the cloud, they were trying to push toward a fully digital gaming distribution. Internet was only required to validate who/how many were playing the games, since the plan was to allow you to share your game collection. In the model a disc based game was basically just an option to purchase the install media rather than downloading the game.

Assuming the cloud OS would require constant internet, which seems likely, the only thing it shares with the previous plans of the Xbox One is just the constant connection. The reason for them and intent is entirely different.

 

[nodle]

But basically it could be translated the same way. You have software that resides in the cloud (the xbox interface). Then you have activation/validation (windows activation) all your software would also be transferred the the clouds and activated (just like the games themselves). Both have hardware the xbox hardware vs. the pc hardware. It's quite similar.

 

[ndboarder]

The Xbox interface was never going to be in the cloud though... The internet connection was not needed constantly. It was needed once every 24 hours for the user that owned the games, and once every hour or something like that for those that were "borrowing" a game from the user. It was just a required piece to check licensing of the content so that if I owned a game and had added @@nodle and @CPav to my xbox family, we couldn't scam the system. Without the check it would mean that nodle could take a copy of my game and go offline and play it forever, while at the same time perhaps I go offline and play it as well. Not a possibility given the distance between users, or having discs, so the connect here was just a warden making sure users weren't scamming the system and having multiple people play the same "copy" of a game. Nothing about the game or interface lived in the cloud. They do still offer devs the ability to use the cloud for their games, but that's more for computations and dedicated servers. Can't wait to see how the dedicated servers coming to call of duty for the Xbox One impact lag issues in comparison to playing the same game on the 360.