Your OS running in a Cloud

[Clarity]

Are you aware of "Windows in the Cloud"? It is only available to Enterprises but will be coming to Consumers.

Questions

• What are YOUR thoughts about this?

• What if this was Linux, would you still "think" the same?

[superhik]

Windows 365?
It does not align with the free and open source philosophy.
Sure it would run well on low powered devices since heavy lifting is done on someone else's computers, but I see ethical concerns.
Sure it would popularize Linux since many find it's instalation daunting. But to convince people to pay a subscription for a Linux based cloud service might not sell easy.
And if there is no internet service or a power outage, we are left in blind. However when the connection is restored we can continue to work with all the data in sync with all devices.
There is convenience and there is privacy.
So the question that needs to be asked is: Should we trade privacy for convenience? Definitely not.

[pp4mnklinux]

Hi @Clarity :

I love it ~That is my way of working, I have my computer at home, but all my work is in the cloud.

I don't need an specific place to work, I can share everything with my team and co-workers... and of course, enhanced security and storage space... haha.. The main cons, YOU DEPEND ON THE NET, THE CONNECTION AND THE SPEED.

That's the main reason I started to work with puppylinux years ago. I didn't need a big OS like winshit but a small one, fast and with which I can access all my internet resources (I don't need an enormous OFFICE suite, but acces to google docs, presentations, calendar, slides, forms, sheets, drawings, tables, gmail, maps, word, invoice, zoom, prezi....... https://office.youfiles.net/ )

My beginning.- https://archive.org/details/turbopup_xtreme_v1 => (99.6Mb)

For those who think that is impossible in education: https://www.educacionfpydeportes.gob.es ... entor.html

So, What do I gotta have? An "EasyOS_net", haha

[Clarity]

Assume you have a LAN with some PC and one PC that is more powerful and robust than all the others in the LAN. For year, in Wins, the ability to use a client to access a Wins running on the more powerful where ALL of the user work is done on the more powerful while the client is merely a remote client's keyboard/video/mouse (aka KVM) control user's needs being carried out on the robust PC.

So, the fact that MS may provide this same service in the cloud mimics the same ability on a Home's LAN.

Today, Ubuntu for years and most recent KDE allows exact services as a powerful platform for LAN clients who want to do the same as Wins has for decades.

The nature of this ability making this happen has been known to the industry as a Terminal-Server. Thus it can be done using the same client(s) to access either a Wins or a Linux home 'server' PC.

The cloud means that your cloud PC has some protections from the providers that can reduce any user's need to ever upgrade their home PCs. The home only needs to run the client to the cloud PC with all the power for their workloads.

This fact that MS is considering could be helpful to many users on various levels of need. If the price is right, this could be attractive on many levels. And, using something similar to AWS or other cloud machines, users dont need a powerful home PC as the RDP protocol is optimized with very low resource needs for a fully functional Linux/Wins desktop. Further, this appears to a user with RAPID response times as if this was happening in the home. ... not in the cloud.

Just a contributing thought to the OP questions.

[mikewalsh]

Ever since introducing Puppians to the possibility of running Chrome 'apps' as standalone 'desktop clients':-

Run NetFlix direct from the Menu...

.....I've consistently run a mixture of native Puppy apps, re-packaged mainstream apps AND Chrome browser-based 'desktop clients'. For video-calling, I run half-a-dozen directly from their web-based versions AS 'local' clients.....including Google's 'Meet', Jitsi 'Meet', Skype, Teams and Zoom. NetFlix and YouTube are set-up as individual apps, launched from their own menu entries.....sometimes I'll run YouTube, sometimes I'll use FreeTube.

Frequently, the web-based version of an application is every bit as good as its official, desktop client. Much of this is possible nowadays, since so many desktop clients employ the Electron framework.......meaning that what you see - and use - whether as a desktop client OR a web-based app are identical in every way.

I also use browser-based remote-control clients, including DWService and GetScreen.me. These work well, only requiring a tiny bit of code called an 'agent'. All this does is to set up the requisite connections; run it on the machine you wish to control remotely, then connect in your browser. Couldn't be simpler, and with these, geographic location makes no difference; they work as well from a thousand miles away as they do on the home LAN.

The possibilities are almost infinite nowadays, and it's easy to have a fully-featured Puppy for very little extra effort. As others have stated in this thread, why not? since all the 'heavy-lifting' takes place on somebody else's machines (servers)....and the only thing that is required is an up-to-date browser.

Mike.

[DOSUser123]

tbh fsck the cloud man. what if the server gets hacked? on local storage, just disable networking and bam. safe. you cant do that on a cloud storage server

[dancytron]

The Chrome 'apps' I have on my desktop are more like the drug store, family doctor/catholic hospital industrial complex, grocery store pickup, bank, lowes, and stuff like that.

[Clarity]

... what if the server gets hacked? on local storage, just disable networking and bam. safe. you cant do that on a cloud storage server

Yes, for over 2 decades of cloud based options, this has been a continuing talking point. And just as you local network can get hacked, the big guys too, could get hacked.

Hacking your specific, individual VM could occur no matter its location, should someone target you.

This is NOT to be viewed as an answer to your question as EACH situation is as different as the attacks can be.

I do NOT know if this point will ever see an answer o your question no matter where you locate to use your individual home or system.

[Clarity]

For the community who takes advantage of Cloud operations for one of your OS, this discussion can be most helpful if you want to know how YOUR cloud OS is operating in either a real machine or on a VM from the provider.

For Your knowledge ===> https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20250127#qa