[tacticalogic]

Giving away Windows 10 and now this ... what is the endgame?

I think the endgame is to sell cloud services to the widest possible market, and extend Powershell and Windows Server into that management space for heterogenous networks.

[doc1019]

Thanks, that helps me understand their motive a little better.

[dayglored]

> I think the endgame is to sell cloud services to the widest possible market, and extend Powershell and Windows Server into that management space for heterogenous networks.

What you say is true, and I'll add:

Windows server management and application deployment were designed (and work well) in the enterprise LAN. They do not do well in the cloud. To compete credibly in the cloud, Microsoft HAD to abandon their limited LAN-centric approach and do what the rest of the folks were doing. No one sane seriously thinks the way to manage a cloud server is with the Windows 8 Server 2012 GUI and Remote Desktop.

The emergence of the nano server, SSH coming to PowerShell, and similar changes are clear evidence that the inmates are no longer in charge of the asylum. For guys like me whose livelihood depend on administering networks of Windows both in the LAN and in the cloud, this is a Good Thing.

[bigbob]

I think you’re right, MS is looking for the replacement for OS and app revenue, and cloud services provides many of the same desirable attributes.