If everything goes to Software as a Service, doesn’t that imply everyone’s Internet connection has to be super-fast and 100% reliable? Won’t the slightest connectivity deficiency be a bottleneck for many people? Just curious how this will work in the real world.
Excellent point--one I've thought about myself. Another is that I do not want my software controlled by outside parties, whether that is my ISP, the software provider, or a storage vendor ("cloud"). If I purchase software, it is mine.
Windows as a Service is already available. They're called Virtual Desktops that run in Azure and AWS today. The same is true for Linux as a Service on both platforms.
What some are suggesting "under the covers" is that there will no longer be a Windows OS sitting on an end point at home. They'll simply turn on their "pc" which does a BIOS boot and connects to a Desktop in Azure/AWS. That's a Network Boot which has been done with Windows and Linux OS' for many years now.
The only difference at this point would be the speed of the endpoint booting, loading the required OS Kernel across the network connection and presenting the user interface. (That's a very high level description. There's a lot more going on behind the scenes that most users frankly don't care about.)
From an end user's usability perspective, functionally there would be no difference than that which you can do with your pc/laptop today. All your files would be "kept in the cloud" and backed up based on either a default policy or a schedule that the end user would setup. Printing documents would be handled as they are today, the file would be sent to your local printer (which becomes a Network Print function) with all the document translation, coding, etc.. handled by the desktop as a service in the cloud.
How would this all work at home? Pretty simple actually. Unless you have a specific need to have your own local storage @ home, your "pc" or laptop would no longer require physical storage for documents, pictures, music, etc.. unless you wanted it. Prices of PC's as cheap as they are now should drop in price and (here's the catch) unless you pay your monthly fee for access to your data in the cloud, you won't have access to it.
Desktop as a Service would be a subscription just like you'd pay for electricity. Don't pay and you're cut off. Want your electricity (or Desktop as a Service) back? Pay the re-connection fee and monthly service fee to get your service back.
Now there are significant benefits to Desktop as a Service and things you'd (theoretically) no longer have to worry about such as viruses and malware for example. The DaaS provider would handle all of that, perform all OS upgrades, keep your DaaS hardware current and running, etc..
From an Enterprise perspective, I'm working on a project to eliminate the desktops & laptops that 8,500+ people are using half a world away and moving them to DaaS which has proven to be faster, more reliable and more secure. BTW, it's CHEAPER per person too than providing all these people physical laptops which God only knows what else they're using them for.
Look up the Office 365, Microsoft Teams outage last week, and what/who was impacted.
#7 I work from home for work during the plandemic. I was getting disconnected last week off and on for a few days while on a call. The phone software uses the internet. I would do a ping and saw the internet drop several times.
Microsoft will soon have a monthly charge for Windows 10 just like they do Office 365.
I hear that Microsoft Office will have a 1 time charge in future editions for home users but I bet they will still track everything.