Draft:Windows 365

Windows 365  is a subscription-based cloud PC service created by Microsoft that became available to businesses on August 2nd, 2021. The service can either be accessed through the Windows 365 app, Microsoft Remote Desktop app or through the Internet.

The Windows 365 service is based upon Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), in which Microsoft controls and manages the infrastructure. Windows 365 is Software as a Service whereas Azure Virtual Desktop is to be considered to be a Platform as a Service.

Windows 365 offers a persistent and dedicated Cloud PC to the end-user, which can easily be accessed from anywhere.

Licenses
Windows 365 is based around subscribing to a Cloud PC of a size correlating to the license you have purchased. There are in total eleven different licenses so select from giving you different performance and storage. There are also three different license types for Windows 365, targeted at different usage scenarios.

Windows 365 Business
Windows 365 Business is a license type targeted at smaller organizations (up to 300 users) and scenarios where requirements for manageability and control are lower. All management around Windows 365 Business is done through the Microsoft 365 admin portal and does not require any additional infrastructure such as an active directory or Azure AD.

Windows 365 Enterprise
Windows 365 Enterprise is a license type targeted at larger organizations and scenarios where more manageability and control is required. Windows 365 Enterprise is managed and provisioned through Microsoft Intune. Windows 365 Enterprise allows the use of Azure virtual networks and device management including monitoring and application distribution.

Windows 365 Frontline
Windows 365 Frontline is a license type targeted at scenarios where your users are not always connected to the service, such as shift workers. One license gives you three Cloud PCs, but not simultaneous sessions. Where licenses are assigned to a specific user in the Business and Enterprise version, Frontline licenses are assigned to a group of users. When an end-user connects to their Cloud PC a license is used and returned when the end-user closes the session.

Availability
Windows 365 launched on August 2, 2021. It is available worldwide except for China and Embargo Countries (Cuba, Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Sudan, and Syria). Network performance and latency will affect user experience and are dependent on proximity to an Azure region.

Features
Windows 365 has various features that are not available in other virtual desktop services from Microsoft.

End user actions
Windows 365 has a set of feature only available on the Windows 365 platform, which are not made available in Azure Virtual Desktop which the service is built upon.

By using either the Windows 365 application or the Windows 365 web portal, end users can perform a set of actions:


 * Restart
 * Restore to a restore point
 * Reset
 * Troubleshoot connection
 * Rename Cloud PC

Some of these actions needs to be enabled by an administrator (such as Restore and Reset) while other actions are made available as part of the base service.

Windows 365 Switch
Windows 365 Switch is a feature which allows the user to switch to their Windows 365 computer using Task View, thus negating the need to open a separate app. However, this feature must still be enabled in the Windows 365 app and is only available in Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise.

Windows 365 Boot
Windows 365 Boot is a feature that allows the user to lock a computer to only be allowed to sign into a Cloud PC, creating a Windows based thin client, which can be managed using software such as Microsoft Intune. Windows 365 Boot is only supported on Windows 11 and will instead of having the user sign in locally to the computer, allow them to sign in to their Cloud PC from the lock screen.

Windows 365 Boot needs to be enabled using a mobile device management tool such as Microsoft Intune and will not make it possible to boot into the computer locally.

Windows 365 Offline
Windows 365 Offline is an upcoming feature for Windows 365 which was presented at Microsoft Ignite in 2022. This feature, when released, will make it possible to work with a Windows 365 Cloud PC without any network connectivity.

Connectivity
Windows 365 can be set up using either Microsoft Hosted Network or Azure Network Connection. Which network type the Windows 365 Cloud PC will use is defined in the provisioning policy of the service. The network is also what defines in which Microsoft data centre the service will run.

Microsoft Hosted Network
Microsoft hosted networks are hosted and maintained by Microsoft. These are spread out to the different Microsoft data centres (Microsoft Azure regions) that support the service. Microsoft Hosted Networks has no prerequisites of any virtual network knowledge and are selected as part of creating the definitions for the Windows 365 Cloud PC configuration. It is possible to utilize several different Azure regions for different configurations.

Microsoft hosted comes included in the service of Windows 365 and are pure internet connections with no connectivity to any local or corporate resource.

Azure Network Connection
Azure network connections are networks based on Azure Virtual Network, where you as an administrator bring your own network to obtain more control of the network used for Windows 365. By bringing your own network, and administrator can control what resources a Windows 365 Cloud PC will be able to access, or simply have more control over the network configuration if required.

Azure network connections are not included in the Windows 365 service and the pricing model is based upon the Azure bandwidth pricing.

Windows 365 web portal
A Windows 365 Cloud PC can be accessed by signing into the Windows 365 web portal at windows365.microsoft.comwith your account which is licensed to use the service. This enables the service to be accessed for basically any device or platform using a modern browser with HTML5 support. The web portal does not provide a full featured experience with multimedia redirection, but allows usage from any device.

The Windows 365 web portal provides the user with an overview of their Windows 365 Cloud PCs, as well as the ability to perform user actions such as restarting, restoring and resetting.

Windows 365 application
The Windows 365 application is only available on Windows 10 and Windows 11 and provides the user with a full featured experience including multimedia redirection, webcam support and improved Microsoft Teams functionality. The Windows 365 application can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft Remote Desktop application
The Microsoft Remote Desktop application is supported for use to access Windows 365 Cloud PCs, but it lacks the user actions and only provides access to the Cloud PC.

The Microsoft Remote Desktop application is available for all major operating systems, including mobile devices, which allows for multi-platform support.

Criticism
Windows 365 has been criticised for its subscription based model, charging £28.80 per month the most basic plan of Windows 365 Business. Its requirement to have a substantial Internet connection has also been criticised.