[HN Gopher] Windows 365 Cloud PC
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Windows 365 Cloud PC
        
       Author : WalterSobchak
       Score  : 89 points
       Date   : 2021-07-14 15:16 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.microsoft.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.microsoft.com)
        
       | beervirus wrote:
       | Congratulations, you have invented Citrix.
        
         | atatatat wrote:
         | lol, have you overseen a Citrix deployment?!
        
         | pimlottc wrote:
         | Congratulations, you have eliminated a middleman.
        
         | chrisseaton wrote:
         | You're being unnecessarily snarky for some reason.
         | 
         | They aren't suggesting that this is new technology, but I do
         | believe it's a new product - I don't think I've been able to
         | sign up for a service with this kind of convenience before.
        
       | topicseed wrote:
       | Interesting to see if Mighty App sees this as competition to
       | their Chrome streaming.
        
         | ChrisArchitect wrote:
         | Gah, was waiting for this to come up: now whenever I hear about
         | some kind of 'app streaming' or whatever I just think of smug
         | Mighty bro
        
       | LeoPanthera wrote:
       | It looks like this is just an RDP-style solution which is
       | disappointing, it would be really interesting if things still ran
       | locally but _everything_ - apps and data - were synced in real
       | time to the cloud, allowing you to login anywhere on any Windows
       | PC and get _all_ your stuff, without worrying about subsequent
       | users of that hardware from seeing it once you logged out.
       | 
       | That would be pretty amazing, but it looks like it's just all
       | running in the cloud.
        
         | phamilton wrote:
         | Vscode Remote strikes a very good balance IMO. The client
         | running completely locally with a server running on the remote
         | machine.
        
       | seanalexander wrote:
       | With today's broadband standards being so slow, this is a
       | nightmare waiting to happen.
        
       | alphachloride wrote:
       | Oh no! What is you doing?
       | 
       | This looks interesting on second thought. A good way to
       | consolidate workplace systems for low-bandwidth display
       | applications where consistently low latency is not a big concern.
       | 
       | I hope that this is not the beginning of the next iteration of
       | Windows for the general consumers. I like the OS, and I'd like it
       | to remain on my hard drive.
        
         | atatatat wrote:
         | this + a future Surface Duo == winner of convergence for the
         | masses.
        
         | basch wrote:
         | It's also infinitely easier for Microsoft to improve and
         | protect world security by controlling all network data going
         | into and coming out of a device. A framebuffer delivered to
         | your monitor means Microsoft can run all its advanced threat
         | detection magic with no regard for what network a monitor is
         | plugged into.
         | 
         | The millions of unprotected businesses of the world can skip
         | zerotrust / firewall / antivirus / network redesigns and jump
         | right to pc-aas with azure-ad.
         | 
         | For all the "I dont want big brother controlling my device"
         | there should be an equal "I dont want teams with millions of
         | dollars carelessly building infrastructure that can be
         | weaponized against society."
        
           | hulitu wrote:
           | It is also a "say good bye to your data". Next MS innovation:
           | backups in the cloud.
        
             | anthk wrote:
             | Ah, yes, dumb terminals. They are like 50 years late.
        
         | pope_meat wrote:
         | No. You get a touch screen with a WPU. A Web Processing Unit,
         | it will authenticate you as a valid subscriber and let you
         | access the clouds CPU/GPU.
         | 
         | You own nothin, you're a user.
         | 
         | 2030.
        
           | shadilay wrote:
           | Microsoft is a B2B corporation. Anything B2C only exists to
           | prevent competition from rising up to take on it's real cash
           | cow.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | desktopninja wrote:
       | Finally! 7$ a month ... make it the same price as netflix
       | subscription but with access to xbox live and windows 365
       | 
       | RE: https://www.computerworld.com/article/2867542/microsoft-
       | tout...
       | 
       | AWS Workspaces is actually pretty good too.
        
         | vbezhenar wrote:
         | It's a different license. There's no way VM could cost
         | $7/month. More like $70/month/
        
       | shadilay wrote:
       | This is a much bigger deal than HN realizes. The PC experience
       | hasn't changed much in a long time. The future of windows in the
       | corporate world is cloud first and access to your 'session' and
       | files from any device. This is to the corporate world what
       | chromebooks were to schools. Yes RDP/Network drives exist but if
       | you have to train users it's a non starter for mass adoption. No
       | one wants to explain to the computer illiterate the difference
       | between local files and shared drives.
        
       | whalesalad wrote:
       | Perfect for my use case where I need the occasional place to test
       | random Windows stuff or temporarily need a computer with a
       | different IP. I have a Win 10 eval VM here at home but I don't
       | really like maintaining it.
        
       | dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
       | Over my dead body.
        
       | esens wrote:
       | This makes sense. It is a competitor to Amazon's Windows Desktop
       | environments. Microsoft should beat AWS's offering here because
       | well, they make the OS that they are virtualizing.
       | 
       | I can see this working for a lot of places where you want good
       | information security. You can never get the data out of the cloud
       | except via screenshot.
        
         | gexla wrote:
         | > Microsoft should beat AWS's offering here because well, they
         | make the OS that they are virtualizing.
         | 
         | Not necessarily. They have already had a similar service. This
         | seems to be a simplification of that service? Maybe it's sort
         | of like Amazon offering Lightsail as an alternative to EC2?
         | After clicking around the site for a half hour trying to figure
         | out pricing for Azure Virtual Desktops, I gave up. I figured if
         | you have to ask how much it is, then I can't afford it. Now
         | they are launching a service seemingly directed to users like
         | me, but they still can't give us prices. I assume they will in
         | time for launch, but I'm getting really sick of hunting for
         | prices on Azure. Every minute I have spent on that site has
         | been wasted.
         | 
         | I doubt they would beat AWS on pricing. The AWS instances
         | appear to be really well priced relative to what you could get
         | if you tried to do the same with EC2. I couldn't see MS being
         | as cheap. From what I remember, Azure is generally more
         | expensive across the board.
        
           | easton wrote:
           | Microsoft's secret weapon here is that if you subscribe to
           | Microsoft 365 Business/Enterprise (which is a prereq for this
           | according for what they've said), they include a Windows
           | license that can be ran on Azure for VDI. On AWS, you have to
           | buy CALs and licensing for the instances (Windows VDA
           | licenses? I last looked into that years ago). Or you can buy
           | the licenses from AWS but I'm sure that's not the rate you'd
           | pay getting them directly from Microsoft (and then you often
           | have to use Windows Server which doesn't have things like
           | WSL2).
           | 
           | That's not a gigantic barrier if you're an enterprise, but
           | figuring out licensing for Workspaces if you don't have a
           | couple smart Microsoft admins and money to burn is really
           | hard. This is easy, since all of the license entitlements are
           | enforced through their portal. (if you can start an instance
           | you are licensed)
        
           | my123 wrote:
           | > around the site for a half hour trying to figure out
           | pricing for Azure Virtual Desktops
           | 
           | Pricing for Azure Virtual Desktop starts with a hundred users
           | minimum. (available at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-
           | us/pricing/calculator/)
        
           | noobee wrote:
           | The service is free (you need Microsoft E3/E5 license), you
           | just pay for the VMs, which you can customize any way you
           | want.
        
         | dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
         | > good information security
         | 
         | > You can never get the data out of the cloud except via
         | screenshot.
         | 
         | pick one
        
           | GordonS wrote:
           | 100% guaranteed, cast-iron, watertight security is impossible
           | - but VDIs could potentially prevent whole classes of attack.
           | It's about increasing the barrier against realistic threat
           | models.
        
             | dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
             | I completely agree - many attack vectors are more
             | difficult, and some are impossible. However, saying "you
             | can never get the data out of the cloud except via
             | screenshot" is, first of all, untrue, as other means exist,
             | and second, preventing access to data is not the most
             | important security aspect of such a system.
        
       | hpoe wrote:
       | This was of course the logical end of the cloud expansion. Why
       | pay for users to have a beefy machine when all their apps live in
       | the cloud anyway.
       | 
       | Also now it is so much easier to enforce policies prevent users
       | from installing things they shouldn't, recover lost data, etc.
       | 
       | Of course it brings with it all the same issues. Hopefully we can
       | figure out how to move back to private computing before they make
       | all endpoints dumb terminals.
        
       | nonfamous wrote:
       | The commentary here so far is technical -- "it's just RDP" -- but
       | I suspect the real story here is on the business side. The fact
       | that no pricing is available is telling - this isn't for
       | consumers. But for big companies who get this as part of their
       | enterprise agreements, I bet this is a big deal for their IT
       | departments.
        
         | user3939382 wrote:
         | If it's a business service RDP that would be Azure Virtual
         | Desktop. Again, it very well may be something different. But
         | this announcement doesn't make clear what that would be.
        
           | sciurus wrote:
           | The announcement explicitly says that this is Azure Virtual
           | Desktop.
           | 
           | "Windows 365 is built on Azure Virtual Desktop, but it
           | simplifies the virtualization experience--handling all the
           | details for you. "
        
       | geocrasher wrote:
       | At first I thought "another RDP solution" but then I saw this
       | line:                 Windows 365 also creates a new hybrid
       | personal computing category called Cloud PC, which uses both the
       | power of the cloud and the capabilities of the device...
       | 
       | Does that mean it makes use of local hardware past the
       | capabilities it would need as a thin client? GPU acceleration,
       | etc? It'll be interesting to find out.
        
         | ithkuil wrote:
         | well, being able to print to a local printer or access a local
         | usb-drive is making use of the "capabilities of the device",
         | and certainly within the grasp of boring good old technologies
         | over RDP
        
         | user3939382 wrote:
         | Windows Server has had something like this for a while, it's
         | called RemoteFX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RemoteFX
         | 
         | I guess we'll have to wait to see if this is just a rebranding
         | of the same thing or something new.
        
         | misterbwong wrote:
         | According to other sources, Microsoft will reveal Windows 365
         | pricing on Aug. 2, when the service becomes generally
         | available.
         | 
         | Cool to see RDP-ish type capabilities outside of tech circles
         | but will wait until the price is revealed. My guess is that it
         | will still be out of reach for most consumers, unfortunately.
        
         | gruez wrote:
         | I think you're reading too much into it. Sure, it's possible
         | that they have some sort of RDMA technology that allows you to
         | automagically offload work from your local machine to a cloud
         | GPU/CPU, but I doubt it. My guess is that it'll be something
         | lame like "having a synced workspace (aka onedrive) and being
         | able to edit documents on it locally and have it synced to your
         | cloud workspace"
        
         | okareaman wrote:
         | Maybe this will help...
         | 
         | What is hybrid cloud? https://www.netapp.com/hybrid-cloud/what-
         | is-hybrid-cloud/
        
       | Shadonototro wrote:
       | Linux should have got the lead here, what happened?
       | 
       | Lack of app ecosystem in Linux? i think that's the problem..
        
       | GordonS wrote:
       | Will be interesting to see pricing - I wonder if there will be
       | any kind of discount for orgs that already have most of their
       | people on Windows, or indeed for employees using their own
       | Windows devices.
       | 
       | I could see this being a big security bonus for a lot of
       | companies, especially with the shift to WFH - I'd think a lot of
       | companies had to rather hastily deploy VPNs etc, and that's not
       | the kind of infrastructure you want to rush...
       | 
       | Also, I can imagine some unscrupulous companies seeing this as a
       | money-saving exercise, forcing employees to use their own devices
       | instead of providing one for them.
        
         | Shadonototro wrote:
         | Leaks indicates it will be starting at $59.99/month
         | 
         | This way too expansive, I'm not sure that'll find a place in IT
         | places, most professionals already know how to work with a
         | VPS..
         | 
         | Unless some tech illiterates management makes decisions, I fail
         | to see how this can be successful
        
           | aaomidi wrote:
           | Considering there is probably going to be discounts for large
           | integrators, and that price adds up to $720/year - if this
           | actually does replace upgrade costs - it might be worth to
           | some companies.
        
           | pmontra wrote:
           | $720.00 per year including the hardware and availability
           | everywhere there is an internet connection. It's $2,160.00 in
           | 3 years, a professional level laptop. The local device could
           | be very cheap and light.
           | 
           | I wonder what are the hardware and bandwidth requirements.
        
       | temp8964 wrote:
       | It will be available at Aug 2nd. No price info.
       | 
       | https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-365
        
       | desc wrote:
       | Ugh, when will they learn.
       | 
       | I actively DO NOT WANT this stuff.
       | 
       | * Not 'I want something else they haven't built yet and this is
       | irrelevant'. * Not 'I don't understand this and just want
       | something they think it already does'.
       | 
       | I mean: the entire concept of a universal Cloud account sharing
       | an 'experience' across multiple devices _is something I will
       | gladly pay to avoid,_ as will the majority of people I know who
       | _aren 't_ in IT (and can't necessarily afford the
       | time/money/attention it takes to get away from this shit these
       | days).
       | 
       | The people pushing this shit are either stupid or malicious, and
       | either way they need to be removed from any position of control
       | as soon as possible.
        
         | ithkuil wrote:
         | > Ugh, when will they learn.
         | 
         | Let's admit it: they don't have you (or me) in mind!
         | 
         | It's not that they have to learn; why would they care about you
         | (or me)? I'm not a fan of their products but they are certainly
         | free to focus to whatever costumer group they see fit. It's not
         | like nowadays there aren't alternatives to windows.
        
         | jensensbutton wrote:
         | Windows is literally the last consumer OS to get on this train.
         | Seems they have learned. From their competitors.
        
           | taejavu wrote:
           | How do I do this with MacOS?
        
         | misterbwong wrote:
         | This is a pretty bold stance to take on this specific product.
         | More people want a seamless experience moving from device-to-
         | device than not.
        
       | CountDrewku wrote:
       | Is the cloud to butt extension still a thing? Seems really
       | appropriate here.
        
       | dzonga wrote:
       | this will be easy money for microsoft. we're now back to the day
       | of thin clients. with a full OS streaming from the cloud,
       | Enterprises can reduce costs. And with 0 trust, it means data is
       | more secure either ways i.e prevent future hacks due to
       | incompetent IT policies. However, as a consumer I get worried
       | about how ownership is slowly being chipped away. slowly we're
       | renting everything.
        
         | roody15 wrote:
         | slowly? Seems to be moving quickly to rent a model in just
         | about everything :/
        
       | metalliqaz wrote:
       | This seems like a natural product to come out of MS's cloud
       | strategy. Especially considering the cloud gaming they're
       | building with Xbox Game Pass. Also notable that it's at the same
       | time they decided to turn a Windows 10 upgrade into Windows 11.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | bhauer wrote:
       | This technology needs to be something one can enable on their own
       | PCs, and reach via their own private VPN. It should not require
       | using a public cloud such as Azure.
        
       | BluePen8 wrote:
       | I'm excited for this, my wife is an accountant and often asks me
       | to help her with VBA macros.
       | 
       | Which means that for this reason alone I have to dedicate 40GB of
       | my laptop's hard drive to a Windows partition with office, adobe,
       | and other stuff installed.
       | 
       | And if she's not physically near me, I have no way of getting the
       | script to her with any guarantee it'll behave the same or work at
       | all on her work computer.
       | 
       | Having worked within unix for so long, I'd started taking it for
       | granted how everything is either portable, or can be easily
       | containerized, Windows and accompanying products are incredibly
       | environment finicky and janky overall.
       | 
       | To be able to just do the remote version of "handing over the
       | laptop" will be a godsend.
        
       | mandeepj wrote:
       | How it's different than a VM running in their cloud?
        
         | solarkraft wrote:
         | It's a VM running in their cloud.
         | 
         | Just a bit nicer to use (productized), which is important.
        
       | tonyedgecombe wrote:
       | Back when people were predicting Microsoft porting Windows to the
       | new ARM based Macs I thought this was a much more likely
       | solution.
        
         | fortran77 wrote:
         | Windows already runs on ARM.
        
       | andybak wrote:
       | Any pricing details?
        
         | hulitu wrote:
         | It's free just like win 10. You can even encrypt your data
         | (they have the key). Be sure to read the EULA before you use
         | it.
        
           | shadilay wrote:
           | If I read the EULA first I might still be reading it by the
           | time the product is discontinued.
        
       | hanselot wrote:
       | All your data are belong to us.
       | 
       | I guess the ms devs finally figured out that their powershells
       | can run ssh
        
       | steinskeeper wrote:
       | OSception. Your OS runs a browser and your browser runs a OS.
       | Proves the point as to how important browsers truly are.
        
         | anthk wrote:
         | Sorry, web developer, but you are wrong. Half of this is backed
         | by libvirt/kvm/hyper-v and protocols like RDP and VNC/Spice.
         | 
         | The Web it's just reimplementing _the clients_ , badly,
         | requiring twice the requeriments.
        
       | adamparsons wrote:
       | Lipstick on a pig
        
         | version_five wrote:
         | Haha yeah I was just sending instructions to a team today on
         | how to set up some software and I wasn't sure what OS they were
         | using. I wrote up the linux and mac instructions and when I got
         | to windows i had to think for a minute if i really thought
         | there was a chance someone would have a windows machine. I
         | ended up including instructions, but I know that at least for
         | development stuff, windows is just an afterthought, nobody is
         | really expecting people to be using it.
        
           | adamparsons wrote:
           | In this case I mean, VDI has existed for literally decades
           | now. Are we supposed to congratulate MS for doing what every
           | other cloud provider did more than 10 years ago?
        
             | alkonaut wrote:
             | It hasn't been a very convenient solution though. I suspect
             | the key here is the managing of everyone's data and machine
             | in the company. Instant-on personal clients with the
             | company directory would be great for administration.
        
           | alkonaut wrote:
           | I assure you huge number of developers do their development
           | stuff on windows. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a
           | majority (given how big the majority is for windows on the
           | desktop overall).
           | 
           | Edit: indeed after some quick googling it does indeed seem to
           | be the clear majority desktop OS even for people identifying
           | as software developers, for example in the StackOverflow
           | developer survey.
        
       | cenourinhapt wrote:
       | Thank you, but nope.
        
         | _trampeltier wrote:
         | I had recently a webinar from Siemens Automation, where they
         | talked about such licence models, just everything in the cloud.
         | I asked myself how they would do that, but now it looks much
         | more clear I guess.
         | 
         | But I have to agree with you. Thank you, but nope.
        
           | dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
           | This is what we were telling Adobe when they first announced
           | CC.
        
       | user3939382 wrote:
       | I read the whole announcement. Sounds like RDP which we've had
       | for 20+ years. I'm assuming it's different but this doesn't
       | explain how. "We've created a cloud PC" So a thin client?
        
         | CountDrewku wrote:
         | Thin client with subscription fees.... Lame
        
         | glitchcrab wrote:
         | I got a few sentences in and thought 'thin client' too.
        
           | rbanffy wrote:
           | Which is newspeak for "terminal" ;-)
        
         | chrisseaton wrote:
         | And Dropbox is just rsync, right?
        
       | dmux wrote:
       | I wonder if native apps will regain some of their lost popularity
       | if the whole OS and app itself can just be streamed to any
       | device.
        
         | pmontra wrote:
         | Only if developers want to build and distribute native apps. I
         | don't see why they would change their attitude. Web apps are
         | basically multiplatform and updated on the server.
        
       | inetknght wrote:
       | This is utter trash. Microsoft should go back to selling products
       | instead of selling subscriptions.
        
         | glitchcrab wrote:
         | It's all about that MRR figure.
        
       | bokohut wrote:
       | This will be significantly interesting to follow from a revenue
       | generation perspective and how they are going to abuse users and
       | then ask for forgiveness. Monthly billing will need a valid
       | payment instrument "on file" and over time they are certain to
       | nickel and dime users for features. So you want to print on your
       | home printer from your M$ cloud hosted Window$ in$tance, that
       | will be 5C/ per page or we can send it to your local Staples* for
       | pickup at 1C/ per page. A microtransaction chargeback for a
       | failed print from a paper jam will be interesting to review. This
       | is certain to go in the direction most know it will and has the
       | potential to redefine the term pay-per-click. Just look past the
       | security implications and the die-sasters that are certain to
       | occur from making Windows available from anywhere "easy" for the
       | non-technical crowd.
       | 
       | *By agreeing to any savings through our third party vendors you
       | are hereby informed that we SharE aLL your information with these
       | vendors in order to recoup the savings extended to you.
        
       | MarcScott wrote:
       | Is this just Active Directory over the internet, or am I
       | misreading the post?
        
         | CountDrewku wrote:
         | No this has nothing to do with AD. Off-prem cloud AD is already
         | being done via Azure.
        
         | shubb wrote:
         | If you think about a big microsoft based corp who are now using
         | azure - they have an on prem AD and are using all kinds of AD
         | magic to administrate their real hardware. Then they have an
         | Azure AD that manages their servers and other resources and
         | controls access to all their cloud stuff. Now a local domain
         | user needs rights on some cloud asset with single sign on -
         | consulting around I've seen company sholve this a bunch of ways
         | and it's a mess.
         | 
         | So if one thing MS are doing here is adding an elegant official
         | way of doing that - that would be nice.
        
       | cmxch wrote:
       | So this is what Microsoft wants the PCs to run that can't run
       | Windows 11.
       | 
       | That said, it is a nightmare for privacy, security, and openness.
       | 
       | A nightmare for privacy and security given that they have the
       | data (and likely the means to unlock it).
       | 
       | A nightmare for openness given that data interchange will be
       | discouraged in favor of the walled garden.
        
         | vbezhenar wrote:
         | It is technically possible to encrypt VM in a way that even
         | host can't decrypt it. AMD Epyc CPUs supports encrypted memory.
        
       | ksec wrote:
       | I am assuming this will be aiming for Enterprise niche in certain
       | segment?
       | 
       | Or will Microsoft start selling Windows OS that only does Remote
       | Connection to OEMs? i.e Only used for Windows 365? Basically
       | Microsoft version of ChromeOS.
        
       | GordonS wrote:
       | > Windows 365 provides an instant-on boot experience
       | 
       | Unless they mean it'll instantly show a loading screen, I'll bet
       | it doesn't.
       | 
       | I've used various VDI implementations over the years, and they've
       | all been pretty slow to get to a working desktop.
       | 
       | I also wonder about latency. I have a 100/20 FTTC connection at
       | home, which I find to be fast. Most recent VDI I used was Citrix,
       | where I was expected to code in a VDI hosted in Netherlands (I'm
       | in the UK) - the latency when typing drove me fucking NUTS! It
       | was mostly just long enough to be _intensely_ irritating and
       | distracting, but occasionally latency would increase to a few
       | seconds too.
        
         | ASalazarMX wrote:
         | Same here, but Microsoft, having source code all the way to the
         | client, probably can do better than third-party providers.
         | 
         | And the latency, I completely understand you. You learn to live
         | with it after a while, sometimes you don't even notice it.
        
         | 908B64B197 wrote:
         | Just use TRAMP/VSCode remote.
        
         | tannhaeuser wrote:
         | I decided to reject Citrix or Remote Desktop dev contracts on
         | matters of principle, because you never know what irrational
         | workflow they're coming up with next. If your customer/employer
         | values their control-freakery higher than dev efficiency or
         | sanity, I'm out. Recently, I had a contract where they used
         | Citrix to work on a stupid Windows VM, only to execute Docker
         | containers, winbash build scripts, and git (plus cross-platform
         | IDE). Madness! A friend of mine even has to endure web dev via
         | Citrix. Have fun doing CSS transitions on Edge in a VM in a
         | browser tab. Or attempt to get Teams meeting invites from
         | Outlook-in-VM out to your native or web Teams client on your
         | local machine (as required, you know, for audio/mic). It's
         | terrifyingly stupid.
        
           | hpoe wrote:
           | I had one project I was working on for a client where they
           | thought they were super important and confidential (NVM they
           | were neglecting all of the real security best practices). One
           | of the things they decided is that as part of the project
           | everyone would have to move a VDI solution in a different
           | network and then everyone would have to do all their work
           | from this network, in the name of security. The problem was I
           | was only interacting with the cloud side of this project,
           | working with the actual cloud public API, so everything I was
           | working on was already public facing and didn't care about
           | network concerns.
           | 
           | I ended up writing an email to the decision markers in the
           | project outlining why "1) I didn't want a VDI 2) A VDI would
           | take me forever to setup properly for my workflow anyway* 3)
           | It would do nothing for the project's security to have me
           | working on a VDI and 4) It would be a pain in the but trying
           | to work on a VDI.
           | 
           | I was told that my objections were valid and true but I
           | needed to work on a VDI anyway. It was at that moment I
           | stopped caring about the project.
           | 
           | I did end up winning in the end however as when I finally
           | agreed to do it (not my money the company was setting on
           | fire) they asked me to send a list of what I'd need my VDI to
           | be setup like. So I sent them a list of everything I'd need
           | to mimic my current working environment and what I was doing
           | now, including a Linux OS (The VDI solution was Windows only)
           | with X11 and i3 setup. A full Doom Emacs configuration,
           | special developer libraries and tooling, and several other
           | items. With a long list of alternatives I would need
           | installed if my first choice wasn't available, with specific
           | versions, etc.
           | 
           | I sent off that email and they said they'd set me up with the
           | desktop environment I need and let me know when it was
           | finished being created. I am still waiting for that email
           | letting me know it is setup, and happily working from my real
           | machine until it does become available.
           | 
           | The moral of the story is sometimes the easiest way to thrawt
           | management incompetence is to throw it reams of useless busy
           | work that it will be festering away on while you can get real
           | work done.
        
         | ampdepolymerase wrote:
         | They can keep it hot in memory similar to serverless. If
         | everyone uses the same base copy of Windows, then they can
         | easily fork from one parent copy. A copy on write network
         | filesystem + some Windows Registry and Explorer tricks can take
         | care of the remaining 20%.
        
           | dijit wrote:
           | > then they can easily fork from one parent copy.
           | 
           | Ironically windows does not implement fork()
        
             | marwis wrote:
             | Think at hypervisor level. Most VM solutions support some
             | form of memory deduplication. VM level cloning wouldn't be
             | too far from that model IMO.
        
             | vbezhenar wrote:
             | AFAIK Windows kernel is advanced enough to implement fork
             | if necessary. WSL 1 uses it.
        
       | martin_henk wrote:
       | Brought to you from the creators of Teams
        
         | rbanffy wrote:
         | And SharePoint!
        
           | dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
           | And Skype for Business.
        
       | number6 wrote:
       | ssh -x
        
       | Cilvic wrote:
       | I'm actually looking forward to this, making it more mainstream
       | than RDP and better pricing?
       | 
       | Buying my last laptop I'm torn between gaming = GPU vs. noise &
       | form factor = on the go vs. CPU/RAM for local developing/PowerBI.
       | For gaming the future looks god with streaming.
       | 
       | Also I'd prefer to keep business and private machine apart, but
       | still have them both always with me, no matter the device.
        
       | mrtweetyhack wrote:
       | haha, that's a security nightmare
        
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