Microsoft unveils the 'Windows app' for accessing Windows PCs in the cloud from any device

[Windows Central]

The Windows app for iOS, the web, and Windows will let users link all their Windows Cloud PCs to one centralized hub app.

Microsoft unveils the 'Windows app' for accessing Windows PCs in the cloud from any device : Read more

 

[naddy69]

"If you think about it, the idea of a Windows app for iOS and Android makes perfect sense if the goal is to move Windows to the cloud for everybody."

Except that Windows - and more importantly, the apps that run on Windows - are not designed for small touch screens. Who is going to connect a large screen, mouse and keyboard to a phone in order to run Windows apps over the internet?

The pipe dream idea of doing this with a Windows Phone, running all Windows apps locally, was bad enough. But throw in "over the internet" and this is just not going to be practical.

"Now that the Windows app exists, Microsoft can launch a consumer version of Windows 365 and allow anyone to subscribe to a Windows PC in the cloud, accessible at any time regardless of whether they have a Windows, iOS, or Android device. "

Except that if you already have a "Windows device" (A.K.A. a Windows PC) then you have no need for a Windows PC in the cloud. And - as noted above - desktop Windows apps are going to range from very difficult to impossible to run on a small touch screen over the internet.

So I am left wondering who this is for? Folks who need a Windows PC already have a Windows PC. Word/Excel/Outlook/Office 365 etc have already been ported to iOS and Android.

 

[SvenJ]

"If you think about it, the idea of a Windows app for iOS and Android makes perfect sense if the goal is to move Windows to the cloud for everybody."

Except that Windows - and more importantly, the apps that run on Windows - are not designed for small touch screens. Who is going to connect a large screen, mouse and keyboard to a phone in order to run Windows apps over the internet?

The pipe dream idea of doing this with a Windows Phone, running all Windows apps locally, was bad enough. But throw in "over the internet" and this is just not going to be practical.

"Now that the Windows app exists, Microsoft can launch a consumer version of Windows 365 and allow anyone to subscribe to a Windows PC in the cloud, accessible at any time regardless of whether they have a Windows, iOS, or Android device. "

Except that if you already have a "Windows device" (A.K.A. a Windows PC) then you have no need for a Windows PC in the cloud. And - as noted above - desktop Windows apps are going to range from very difficult to impossible to run on a small touch screen over the internet.

So I am left wondering who this is for? Folks who need a Windows PC already have a Windows PC. Word/Excel/Outlook/Office 365 etc have already been ported to iOS and Android.

Except a 12.9" iPad Pro is not a small touch screen, and a regular iPad is the same size as a Surface Go. Similar keyboard/touchpad accessories exist for those iPadOS devices.
I experimented with my Windows Phone and Continuity and it worked quite well. That wasn't full windows, but it did a lot of what folks would need to do on the road. There are, or were, lots of travel based mice and keyboards and using a hotel TV was, and is, an option. Some even have wireless support using Miracast. I also set up a virtual machine with RDP on the phone and essentially had a portal to formidable machine in my pocket. That was a decade ago and the hardware capabilities have only gotten better. It wouldn't be out of line for a business to set up some hotelling/visitor kiosks with monitors, mice, and keyboards hooked to a dock, where you just needed to plug you phone into one USB C cable. Some have done that for years for visitor laptops.
I think the challenges are not in the requirement, but how it is implemented. What does it cost? Can I save my files on my device, or must they be cloud resident.