“Due to strong demand, we are currently not offering Windows 365 trial versions.” This is currently on Microsoft’s product website for the cloud PC. Interested parties can register to be notified when new trial versions are available. Microsoft has not yet responded to a request from heise online for more detailed information.
Alternatively, interested parties could take out a subscription to use Windows 365. Apparently capacities are available for this. The offer is aimed at small and medium-sized companies who can obtain it as “Windows 365 Business”, for large companies “Windows 365 Enterprise” is available. The price ranges from 21.90 euros to 143.90 euros per user and month and depending on the RAM, CPU and storage capacity. Outgoing traffic is limited to between 12 and 70 GB per month for the business models, depending on the variant. The subscription can be canceled at any time.
The trial version was available in the versions Basic, Standard and Premium. It comprised a user license and two months of validity.
Windows from the cloud
Microsoft not only wants to sell Windows 10 and 11 in the form of licenses, but also rent them out as complete installations, namely as fully equipped virtual machines in Azure data centers. The connection runs exclusively via the web browser to “any device”, as Microsoft writes; also on Android and Apple devices. You need an HTML5-capable web browser and a DSL connection from 1.5 Mbit / s for “light workload” or a wireless Internet connection that supports video streaming.
Microsoft announced Windows 365 at its partner conference Inspire in mid-July this year. The cloud operating system has been available since August 2, 2021, initially only with Windows 10; Windows 11 should also be available at the end of the year.
(anw)
