Microsoft's exciting new announcement is a computer with remarkably underwhelming hardware specs.
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In a conventional computer, the operating system, applications, and files all reside on the machine's local hardware — so the more powerful it is, the better the performance it can deliver.
The new device is called the Windows 365 Link, and it serves as a gateway through which users connect to a cloud-based operating system called Windows 365.
All of the user's applications and computing tasks are actually executed on a virtual machine in the cloud, which means the physical device's hardware specs are almost entirely irrelevant (8 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage… 🙄).
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This is an expression of a fundamentally new vision for modern computing.
Rather than serving merely as a conduit for transferring information, the internet is now replacing computers themselves.
This revolution is made possible by the enormous advances in server processing power and in the data-transfer capabilities of the internet.
The computer is no longer the primary work tool — it is simply a terminal through which the user accesses a machine that exists entirely in the cloud.
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The target audience is primarily enterprise computer networks, where the device offers significant advantages: reduced hardware acquisition and maintenance costs, easier management of networked machines, on-demand resource scaling, streamlined backup management, and more.
For Microsoft, this represents yet another profitable hardware product — one that also locks in a monthly subscription for the cloud operating system, and in all likelihood a Microsoft 365 subscription as well.