PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO Reviews

P

itchedexclusivelyatbusinesses,

Windows3 65 isdesignedtolet

employeesstreamafull

Windowsdesktopfromwhatever

hardwaretheyhavetohand–anold

desktopPC,aMacBook,evenaniPad.

Intheory,itmeanspeoplecanruna

company-suppliedWindowsdesktop

onwhateverhardwaretheyown,

withouttheinherentsecurityriskof

doingbusinessonpersonalhardware.

MicrosofthasmadeWindows 365

licensingtypicallycomplex.There’sa

vastmatrixofplansavailable,starting

from£21permonthfora1virtualCPU

(vCPU)packagewithonly2GBofRAM

and64GBofstorage,rightthroughto

the8vCPU,32GBofRAMand512GB

storagetierthatcostsanaccountant-

wobbling£138permonth.Discounts

areavailableforWindowsHybridand

Enterprisecustomers.

Ourtestaccountusedamid-range

specof2vCPU,8GBofRAMand

128GBofstorage,whichcosts£ 38 exc

VATpermonth.That’splentyenough

tokeepOfficeappstickingalong

nicely,althoughtheCinebench

benchmarksweranonourvirtual

systemrevealedthevCPU(listedasa

2.6GHzIntelXeonPlatinum 8 272CL)

won’tmaketheEarthmove.It’sabout

athirdaspowerfulasan11thGen

IntelCorei7-1165G7runningat

1.6GHz,forinstance.

Theperformanceofourtest

Windows 365 PC(currentlyrunning

Windows 1 0Enterprise)wasmixed

anddependentonhowIaccessedthe

virtualmachine.Youcanjumpinto

yourWindowssessionviaany

mainstreamwebbrowser,butthe

experienceismuchsmootherand

morefeature-packedifyouusethe

MicrosoftRemoteDesktopapp,

whichisavailableforWindows,

Mac,iOSandAndroiddevices.

Forinstance,runningWindows

365 intheVivaldibrowseronmy

MacBookProworkedokay,withthe

Windowsdesktopautomatically

resizingtotheshapeandsizeofthe

browserwindow.ButtheMacBook’s

webcamwasn’trecognisedwhenI

attemptedaGoogleMeet,and

pressingPrintonaWorddocument

resultedinnothingmorethanaPDF

beingmadeavailabletodownload.

Runningthatsameinstance

usingtheMicrosoftRemoteDesktop

appmadeallthoseproblemsmelt

away:theprinterconnectedtomy

home-officeWi-Finetworkwas

automaticallyrecognised,the

webcamkickedin,andasanadded

bonustheWindowsdesktopwas

nowspreadacrossbothmyexternal

monitorandattachedlaptop,rather

thanmerelybeingconfinedtoa

browserwindow.

SowithWindows 365 running

acrossyourscreensasifitwere

installedlocally,doesithavethe

performanceofalocalinstallation?

Canyoueventellyou’reusinga

virtualcloud-hostedinstancein

day-to-dayuse?

Yes,youcan.Admittedly,thetest

accountMicrosoftprovidedishosted

intheUS,whichintroduces

unwantedlatency;customerswho

buyWindows 365 intheUKwillhave

aninstancehostedintheUK,which

shouldeliminatesomeofthelag.

However,havingspokenwithpeople

who’vepurchasedaninstanceover

here,theirexperienceissimilarto

ours–thepausebetweentypinga

letteranditappearingonthescreen

inyourWorddoc,say,isnoticeable.

Younevergetthesensethatyou’re

workingonalocalmachine.

Thelagismostobviousin

latency-criticalappssuchas

videoconferencingorvideo

streaming.

GoogleMeet,

instance,the

imageof

annoyinghal

lagthatgives

withothers

satellite-dela

Videosstre

YouTubewer

sometimes

lip-sync.We’

cautious

usingWin

forrolesthat

requiredalot

videocalls.

That’snottosaythe

speedoftheconnectionin

Microsoft’sdatacentreis

poor–farfromit.Running

aninternetspeedteston

ourWindowsdesktop

showeddownloadspeeds

ofaround500Mbits/sec

anduploadshittinga

ridiculous2,670Mbits/sec.

Downloadinga2GBfile

tookjustunderaminute.If

anemployee’sjobinvolves

lotsofbigfiletransfers,

thissetupcouldprove

muchmoreefficientthana

localmachine,wherethebottleneck

isthespeedoftheirbroadband

connection.Justwatchoutforthe

outbounddatacapsonWindows365,

whicharebetween12GBand70GB.

Microsoftshouldalsobe

applaudedformakingiteasierfor

employeestoworkonanydevicethey

choose.InstallingtheMicrosoft

RemoteDesktopapponaniPadPro

workedsuperbly–it’sthebestuse

casewe’vefoundyetforthemouse

supportthatAppleintroducedinto

iPadOSin2020.Youcould

realisticallyuseaniPadProasa

portableWindowslaptop,especially

whentravelling(provided

youcangetafastenough

broadbandconnection).

InstallingMicrosoft

RemoteDesktopona

Chromebookwasa

similarstory,thanksto

itssupportforAndroid

apps.Windows 365 couldnotonly

makeBYODmuchmoreviable

thanever,itcouldalsotransform

thetypeofdevicescompanies

supplytotheiremployees.

Windows 365 isn’tgoingtobethe

answerforeveryone.There’snota

sniffofgraphicsgruntforpower

users,forexample,andthatlaggy

experiencewillirritateanyonewhose

workrequiresconstantsplit-second

accuracy.Plus,calculatingtheTCO

withsomanytariffsonofferwillgive

ITmanagerssleeplessnights.

Allthatsaid,Microsofthasoffered

seatwhatis

thefutureof

andithas

ctions–not

-reduced

anagement

for

withlotsof

yees.

ethought

stthreatto

nyof

shardware

nesseswould

ergefrom

crosoftitself?

RYCOLLINS

ABOVEYoucan

streamaWindows

desktoptoanoldPC,a

MacorevenaniPad

Windows 365 Business

Asolidstartforcloud-based

Windows,eveniflagand

confusinglicensingcosts

dampenitsappeal

PRICEFrom£21(£25incVAT)perinstance

frommicrosoft.co.uk

“Microsoftshouldbe

applaudedformaking

iteasierforemployees

toworkonanydevice

theychoose”

SCORE

BELOWIt’sa

Chromebook,Jim,

butnotasweknowit