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Microsoft Windows IT

Microsoft Pauses Free Windows 365 Cloud PC Trials After 'Significant Demand' (theverge.com) 79

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Microsoft launched its new cloud PC Windows 365 service earlier this week, and the company has already had to pause free trials due to demand. From a report: Windows 365 lets you rent a cloud PC -- with a variety of CPU, RAM, and storage options -- and then stream Windows 10 or Windows 11 via a web browser. The service reached max capacity after only a day of signups. "Following significant demand, we have reached capacity for Windows 365 trials," reads a statement from the Microsoft 365 Twitter account. "We have seen unbelievable response to Windows 365 and need to pause our free trial program while we provision additional capacity," explains Scott Manchester, director of Windows 365 program management.
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Microsoft Pauses Free Windows 365 Cloud PC Trials After 'Significant Demand' More

Microsoft Pauses Free Windows 365 Cloud PC Trials After 'Significant Demand'

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  • Thought you were a cloud company (Score:5, Funny)

    by DarkRookie2 ( 5551422 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @10:04AM (#61655203)
    If you truly were, this should not have happened. They should just throw more resources at it.
    Maybe they should get rid of the designers and hire more engineers.

    • Re:Thought you were a cloud company (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Lavandera ( 7308312 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @10:07AM (#61655219)

      This is FREE trial...

      Throwing more resources means more cryptocurrency mining...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rhipf ( 525263 )

      You do realize that "throw more resources at it" takes time to implement. Your statement is like saying that a game that is released on CD/DVD just needs to burn more CDs/DVDs to meet demand when they run out. Sure they can do that but it doesn't happen instantly.

      Cloud services aren't some magical entity with unlimited supply at all times.

      P.S. I'm not sure what hiring more engineers would accomplish unless you expect them to help install more server hardware.

      • To paraphrase any sufficiently invisible technology is magic.

      • Not only that, but there's also the sustained needs of the service vs. a temporary spike in demand. Dumping a pile of money to buy hardware that will see a spike for a week isn't how you build a sustainable business model.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by SirSlud ( 67381 )

      If running out of capacity was a significant revenue impacting event, they may well have provisioned differently. It's not like they don't have capacity in toto, but surely there are budgetary considerations for what capacity is allocated for given divisions/programs/etc.

      Not much of a 'gotcha' here if you ask me.

    • Re:Thought you were a cloud company (Score:5, Insightful)

      by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @10:59AM (#61655403) Homepage

      Free cloud CPU? It's probably all crypto-miners or scammers trying to make a buck.

    • They probably have dedicated hardware walled off from their commercial resources. Using the pool of production servers would be a huge security and DOS risk.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Their big mistake was the trials were for 25 VMs for 60 days. You couldn't get a 1 or 5 license trial. So anyone who can setup a M365 account (which is basically anyone who can walk through the prompts) got access to 25 2 or 4vcpu (you could pick your SKU from the 2 and 4vCPU options) machines for free.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kmoser ( 1469707 )
      Wake me up when Windows is offered as a BOINC project, in which every computer is running a small slice of many other computers' virtual Windows box.

    • If you truly were, this should not have happened.

      The no True Cloud Computing company fallacy, one that ignores that most other cloud computing companies including Amazon have suspended large parts of their free tiers as well due to abuse.

      At no point did they say they were out of resources. More likely: they didn't want to take on the cost of running such infrastructure on behalf of their "customers", and I use the quotes since I'm willing to bet only a tiny portion of those free trials were actual customers.

  • Is it not strange that they jumped from Windows 10 and Windows 11 straight to Windows 365?
    I wonder what the sinister plan behind that might be.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rhipf ( 525263 )

      I will assume you are being sarcastic.

      Just in case you aren't, they aren't going from Windows 11 to Windows 365. Windows 365 is an entirely different beast than Windows 11. Windows 11 is for dedicated hardware that you physically sit in front of. Windows 365 is a cloud based (virtual) OS that can be access by any computer via a web browser.

      The 365 nomenclature is in keeping with their other cloud service Office 365.

    • They are only going support 11 for 2-3 years before forcing everyone to 365.

      • When the only Microsoft windows platform is virtual, it'll finally be the year of Linux on the Desktop.

      • 5 years ago, the exact same thing was said about Win 10.

      • They are only going support 11 for 2-3 years before forcing everyone to 365.

        Just like they did with Office 365, there's no desktop version of that ... oh wait.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jmccue ( 834797 )
      Needs to be asked -- Will windows 365 crash on an Leap Year ?

    • I remember reading about Office 365 or a subscription Office back in the early 2000's. We were all like this is really bad idea. I still don't like it, and would rather pay a bit more for Office without the subscription, so I can use it beyond the expected life. When I got my wife her new computer I had added Office home 2016 for about $200, I expect she will be using that Laptop for about 8 years. so that is cheaper than paying for Office 365. If it goes out of date, no biggie, she just wanted Office,

  • Wonder what percentage of that computational power went to crypto mining?

    • 99.8%? I thought the same thing when I saw the title.
    • My first thought as well.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tx ( 96709 )

      They don't provide GPUs currently though. And if it's the base single-core configuration that they're offering for the trial, it really wouldn't be worth CPU mining on it. You'd maybe earn a cent per day CPU mining on one core. Of course that wouldn't necessarily stop some people from doing it anyway.

      • That's why you get multiple accounts.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        They don't provide GPUs currently though. And if it's the base single-core configuration that they're offering for the trial, it really wouldn't be worth CPU mining on it. You'd maybe earn a cent per day CPU mining on one core. Of course that wouldn't necessarily stop some people from doing it anyway.

        Free CPU power is free CPU power. You're not paying for electricity, internet or anything. And I'm sure it's being abused with people spinning up multiple trials at the same time.

        Crypto is at the point where fr

  • ... to rent a computer? Yeah, makes sense.

    • To rent a better computer. Yeah, makes sense too.

      • To rent a better computer. Yeah, makes sense too.

        That's not what MS is providing. In fact, at 2 GB RAM and 64 GB what they are providing is even below what cheap smartphones provide these days - and further below what you get with the cheapest laptops and desktops. I.e. you are paying MS to access a computer that you wouldn't want to buy.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          You realize that's the smallest SKU of many, yes?

        • That's not what MS is providing. In fact, at 2 GB RAM and 64 GB

          Why do you bother typing anything at all if you've never even been to MS's website and see the option of clicking 8 vcore 32GB of RAM and 512GB of local storage to say nothing of an insanely high speed link to OneDrive providing terabytes more?

          I mean surely you have something better to do than to sit on your arse and declare to the world that you don't have a fucking clue.

    • Re:So you need a computer... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bobstreo ( 1320787 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @10:42AM (#61655321)

      ... to rent a computer? Yeah, makes sense.

      Queue flashbacks to a tn3270 card in a PC to access mainframes a long long time ago.

      There were some people who had 3290 terminals and were proud of it.

      And don't get met started on the managers who referred to the disk storage on Solaris and Vax systems as DASD.

      • Just think how ransomware would disappear overnight if we went back to 3270 based terminals.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by e3m4n ( 947977 )
        Vax was the hardware. VMS was the operating system. I was never a fan, though they do get touted for the ability to run machinery in factories quite well. For whatever reason, case insensitive OS's have always rubbed me wrong. Now Slowaris... err Solaris (SunOS) takes me back. Or the NeXTstations in the computer lab.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SirSlud ( 67381 )

      You're obviously old enough to know what a thin client is, so congratulations on the deliberate obtuseness.

  • Microsoft is always a GTFM company (Score:3)

    by joshuark ( 6549270 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @10:37AM (#61655299)

    Microsoft is always a GTFM (get the f**ing money) company so if free creates too much demand, they'll want their profit. Anytime I hear of something given away or free I look at the fine print (such as sending experience data, or other telemetry). So this move is not surprising. Micro$oft. Bill Gates and his lot didn't become billionaires by giving away free...

    What's sad is they're ticking off users who might have tried and liked the service. Short term greed/gain against long term users, customers.

    JoshK.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
      So a company is evil when they want to charge for a product, but also evil if they give it away for free?

    • Except you have the expectation that they could foresee how popular* it would be. No company is that clairvoyant.

      *Going by the attitude around here, they could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

      What's sad is they're ticking off users who might have tried and liked the service.

      There's only so many computers in the datacenter, bub. When "free" creates too much demand, offering more free isn't going to give those users any more opportunity to try and like the service than limiting the quantity offered to the quantity on hand.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by e3m4n ( 947977 )
      and here I thought it was because they were dedicating much of the server-farm time to running those microchips they injected into us. A web browser? How quaint. Why cant they just beam the desktop right to that microchip so I can see it in my mind ;-)

    • What are you EVEN talking about? There's been a lot of demand. They've paused free trials because they literally can't provide any more trials without spinning up more capacity. I know everyone likes to think of cloud services as infinitely expandable, but they're backed by REAL hardware somewhere in the background, and that's not actually infinite.

      Don't worry, they'll get back to offering free trials again soon, because it seems like they've actually happened on a real hit here.

      • There's been a lot of demand. They've paused free trials because they literally can't provide any more trials without spinning up more capacity. I know everyone likes to think of cloud services as infinitely expandable, but they're backed by REAL hardware somewhere in the background, and that's not actually infinite.

        How can one discern what the demand even was? Is there public information available to support these conclusions?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )

      Microsoft is always a GTFM (get the f**ing money) company so if free creates too much demand, they'll want their profit. Anytime I hear of something given away or free I look at the fine print (such as sending experience data, or other telemetry). So this move is not surprising. Micro$oft. Bill Gates and his lot didn't become billionaires by giving away free...

      What's sad is they're ticking off users who might have tried and liked the service. Short term greed/gain against long term users, customers.

      JoshK.

      Josh, put the crack pipe down. It's a free 60 day trial of a business/enterprise VDI product, not some grand conspiracy.

      • Josh, put the crack pipe down. It's a free 60 day trial of a business/enterprise VDI product, not some grand conspiracy.

        Exactly what someone participating in a grand conspiracy would say.

    • And Amazon is a GIAA (Give it all away) company. The good kind of company. The kind that sent Bezos into space using the power of love and flowers.

    • Microsoft is always a GTFM (get the f**ing money) company so if free creates too much demand, they'll want their profit. Anytime I hear of something given away or free I look at the fine print (such as sending experience data, or other telemetry). So this move is not surprising. Micro$oft.

      Another completely uninformed anti MS rant thinking that they are somehow special and unique and ignoring that most cloud companies have suspended or otherwise massively gimped their free tiers in the past 6 months on the back of spamers abusing them to mine cryptocurrency.

  • ...would be more powerful than the single core, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage instance you're connecting to, so you're downgrading your experience just so you can pay MFST $20 month to manage it.
    Isn't this more a testament to how hard it is and how bad Windows is at being locally managed that this seems like a good idea?

    • Like maybe you are a business user traveling and you don't want all your important stuff on a laptop that could be stolen or confiscated? Or you want to provision a desktop for a contractor or something or... basically you are arguing against virtualization which is a silly argument.

      • The target customers are corporations that used to deploy a pile of laptops to remote workers.
        Now, they'll make the worker supply their own hardware and the corp can run a "secure" instance
        and the head of IT looks like a hero to the bottom line. It is a bed of roses according to them.

        Think that is unlikely? This is what my wifes Fortune 50 employer is doing in the next year.
        Other than the security nightmare, the added expense for us, the subpar performance,
        and that special MS dash of reliability, it will be

        • Compared to having to pay for a commute to work and other expenses I think it is a win for both parties. I am curious what you think the security nightmare is, especially if client uses true 2FA.

          • The security problem is not for the corp, it is on our side. They want to run their instance on our
            personal machine and network that we supply.
            How likely is it that the corp will see an opportunity to peek at what is going on on the other side
            of their fence? Just to make sure that we are not playing around during or beyond work hours.
            Maybe browsing job boards. Maybe playing games. Maybe being a customer for a competitor.
            A nice added "service" to the client that they provide.
            If it can be done, it most certai

            • Seem like more of a liability to them than it is worth. They could end up with a bunch of PI or HIPAA data in their system that I never gave consent for. Besides, if they go through that much trouble to spy on me, I don't want to work for them anyway.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by EvilSS ( 557649 )
              It's not running ON your hardware, it's running on theirs or their provider's (Azure in this case). You are running a terminal program to access it, or just using your web browser if you don't want to install the RDS client. And no, they can't peek at your machine.

              Jesus does anyone on /. actually work in the IT industry anymore?

        • Just normal parts of a VDI. Overall, it isn't a bad thing, and having the ability to do a VDI is a good thing for companies. It provides a number of security benefits:

          * If someone's laptop gets infected, malware can't jump to the company network. Former ransomware attacks now become "just" RAT attacks, which are definitely bad, because a blackhat can get around as that user and possibly download stuff, but it means ransomware on a laptop doesn't immediately mean the entire company network is in danger.

          *

    • I agree that low-end spec is absurd, but the main draw of centralization is manageability, not additional horsepower to run a desktop.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by e3m4n ( 947977 )
      I was not aware that windows 10 would run on 2GB ram. So much for those minimum system requirement labels :-)

    • you're downgrading your experience just so you can pay MFST $20 month to manage it.

      Yup, it's so obviously a bad idea that nobody would want to participate, even if they offered it as a free trial.

      Wait...

  • Rejoice!!! (Score:3)

    by PinkyGigglebrain ( 730753 ) on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @10:47AM (#61655351)

    The client needs to run a browser so it will need a cheap, robust, secure OS to run that browser and handle the local hardware interfaces.

    Preferably the underlying OS should be able to run on a wide range of architectures, have good hardware support including legacy hardware,be constantly updated by hordes of dedicated programmers who work for little if any reimbursement..

    The Year of the Linux Desktop is at hand!!!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by klik ( 93694 )

      so, android tablets with bluetooth / wireless keyboards and mice become the corporate standard rather than laptops?

      Klik

    • The Year of the Linux Desktop is at hand!!!

      Linux hasn't even made headway into a home desktop. What makes you think it will be even remotely considered to access a cloud service for Businesses who need to spin up a Windows OS in what is almost certainly going to be a Microsoft shop?

  • They tried all this before and it bit them hard.
    They seem to have managed to get a whole lot of companies to buy into their Office Subscription business model, so now they think their OS as a service will fly this time.
    I'd ask how stupid people are, but I have been to Walmart, so I know already.
    This is a great way to push people to Linux.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Given your poor grasp on what this actually is, I suspect you fit right in a Walmart.

  • What's not to like for bean-counters?

  • I was kind of hoping to try out the service because supposedly Microsoft is working on getting Windows on ARM into Azure and this launch was supposedly going to be the first step of that happening. I could briefly rent an instance, upload and run some locally cross-compiled code for the ARM64 processors, and verify that it actually works rather than assuming it works and saying, "Ship it!" I'd have confidence in a few minutes of testing without having to own an expensive Surface Pro just to occasionally t

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