Posted on 09/02/2013 12:13:08 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Microsoft Windows 10 might become a cloud based operating system (OS) according to a leaked road-map. The road-map shows that Microsoft will no longer release service packs but instead will release major updates every year which also increases the version number of the OS. The next major improvement should be Windows 9, this should bring back the Aero interface in a new form.
This should also be a version in which Microsoft will merge its ARM CPU based Windows RT platform with Windows Phone. This version of Windows could also be the last version of Windows as we know it.
According to the road-map is Microsoft planning to release Windows 10 with heavy cloud support, something Google is currently doing with ChromeOS. This means that many functionality on the computer no longer requires heavy hardware on the client side, lots of processing could be done on the servers of the cloud service.
Currently Microsoft is embedding their Skydrive cloud service in Windows 8, which is for e.g. Office the preferred option to store documents. For users this has the benefit that documents can be accessed from everywhere.
A cloud based OS has the benefit for Microsoft that it will limit piracy. Many parts of the OS will not run on the local computer but require to access the cloud where the actual software is running from. Benefits for users is that they always have up to date software and that they no longer need fast and expensive hardware. But since the rumors say that Windows 10 might be controlled using eyesight, new hardware might be a requirement to actually use the OS.
The roadmap has been posted on a Russian forum by an user of WZOR, the hacking group that was responsible for leaking Windows 7 RTM, Windows 8 RTM and Windows 8.1 RTM before their official release. The group allegedly has access to Microsoft internals which allows them to release software preliminary, this makes the rumor at least interesting.
The return of the dumb terminal....everything old is new again.
This cloud will be hosted at the NSA.
Absolutely.
All your personal documents in the cloud, what could possibly go wrong?
Microsoft wouldn't be dumb enough to cede that territory.
Would they?
Sure about that?
cloud os?
fail
It doesn’t say anything about getting hold of your data. They are talking about Windows specifically.
Furthermore Bill Gates hasn’t been at the helm of Microsoft for several years now.
Which one of the druggies came up with this “cloud” BS anyway? Cloud my @$$.
Yup.
Sounds like it may be time to get up to speed on Linux.
Exactly. Especially in light of all the recent revelations about the lack of privacy and security in the world. That cloud would be one big fat juicy target and I’m not going anywhere near it!
Don’t forget FreeVMS. I always loved VMS.
> Absolutely.
Gee, isn't that nice of them. That big new NSA data storage facility out in Utah must be for this.
How terribly uncharitable of us to assume it was for secret surveillance of US citizens.
Instead, they're going to have us all upload all our data for them!
BRILLIANT!!!
Yeah, but this time it's different! And Better! :-) /sarc
It's all cyclical.
I work with VMware. Explained what it was in rough sketches to my Dad, who replied, "Hmm. I did that 30 years ago on an old System 34".
4-5 years ago I was at a cloud computing afternoon seminar, and one of the guys started his talk with the statement (paraphrasing) “I used to be an Application Service Provider, then I did Software As A Service, and now I do Cloud Computing.”
Most of the room had been around for a while, so there was quite a bit of laughter.
Software does things to data, whether it’s your tax data, your Word documents, etc. In the world of cloudheads, you own a dumb terminal and the OS, software, and your data reside in the cloud (or are easily accessible from it). No thanks!
Nope. Win7 was the last version of Windows as we know it.
It isn't obvious to anyone living in a wired-all-the-time city, but we rural dwellers know the hazards of overdependence on infrastructure. First your data, then your apps, and now your OS all depend on infrastructure. And infrastructure is vulnerable.
When my workplace decided to outsource email to The Cloud there was one individual who pointed out that while we were hosting it ourselves, we could communicate perfectly well locally if the Internet feed went down. If it goes down now the email goes dark. The guy pointing it out was our former networking team leader.
The big gainer from all this? Linux.
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