What do you get when you take a PC and remove the processor, RAM, and storage? Not much, unless you're referring to a Cloud PC. Those devices use the web to connect to Windows 365, giving you remote access to Windows through the cloud.

Microsoft just announced two new Cloud PCs that are on the way: The ASUS NUC 16 for Windows 365 and the Dell Pro Desktop for Windows 365.

In addition to providing customers more options, the launch of the new Cloud PCs will expand the technology to more countries.

Microsoft actually makes its own Cloud PC. The Windows 365 Link first shipped in 2024, but it is only available in 20 countries at the moment.

The Dell Pro Desktop for Windows 365 will be avaialble in 58 countries in the third quarter of 2026. That device is a compact, fanless desktop that supports up to three displays.

Much like the Windows 365 Link, the newly announced ASUS NUC 16 is a mini-PC that connects to Windows 365. The ASUS NUC 16 for Windows 365 features a 0.7L design that won't take up much space on a desk. The new ASUS Cloud PC also supports up to three displays.

Cloud PCs are designed to lighten the load of IT workers who need to manage and scale devices. They also provide security benefits because they have a reduced attack surface for malicious actors to target. Organisations can also enable security features by default and block the option to disable those features.

Since Cloud PCs do not store data locally, they provide more flexibility, especially in hot desk situations and shared offices.

Microsoft did not share pricing information for the new Cloud PCs, but Dell and ASUS have webpages that allow you to sign up to receive more information when it becomes available.

💬Are Cloud PCs the future of computing?

Windows 365 and Cloud PCs were once considered the potential future of PCs. Do you think we're still headed in that direction?

Drop your thoughts below and join the conversation!

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

I was recently reminded of something Amazon chairman and founder Jeff Bezos said at a talk a few years ago, and given the direction artificial intelligence is taking, it seems increasingly relevant today.

Microsoft has made no secret of its plans to create an "AI first" Windows, with tensions between users and shareholders essentially reaching fever pitch over the last year or so. Microsoft (oft-nicknamed Microslop in the AI era) has been leveraging its OpenAI-powered chatbot Copilot in a variety of half-baked integrations across its various products.

There's a Copilot button in Outlook now, not that it can read your emails. There's a Copilot button in Microsoft Paint, for some pointless reason. And even Notepad, which was supposed to be the light-weight alternative to Word, now also inexplicably has Copilot text generation integration. The list goes on.

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying very hard in good faith to understand Microsoft's consumer strategy here. The consumer-grade Copilot apps and features simply aren't good by any objective measure. In years past, Microsoft would've slapped a (beta) tag on this type of thing to explain the performance delta. Yet here, Microsoft is actively marketing Copilot — and worse, many of the prompts and features it showcases in Copilot marketing don't actually work as advertised.

Could there be an ulterior motive here? Well, perhaps Jeff Bezos touched on at least one possible explanation.

Bezos himself says in this piece that humans tend to over-estimate risk and under-estimate opportunity, and while Bezos has undoubtedly misfired on various lofty predictions in the past, his foresight with regards to things like online retail and cloud compute absolutely cannot be denied. Bezos is one of the most successful tech entrepreneurs in history after all, and his ability to predict and leverage trends has been a big part of that.

👉 Related: Conspiracy theory or apt prediction? — The AI-fueled hardware shortage will kill local PCs, paving the way for subscription-based cloud computing

So, what prediction did Bezos make back then, that seems particularly poignant right now? Bezos thinks that local PC hardware is antiquated, and that the future will revolve around cloud computing scenarios, where you rent your compute from companies like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure.

Bezos told an anecdote about visiting a historical brewery to emphasize his point. He said that the hundreds-year old brewery had a museum celebrating its heritage, and had an exhibit for a 100-year old electric generator they used before national power grids were a thing. Bezos said he saw this generator in the same way he sees local computing solutions today — inferring on hopes that users will move away from local hardware to rented, always-online cloud-based solutions offered by Amazon and other similar companies.

Bezos described a future that is already coming true in various ways.

The very idea of simply owning a screen, keyboard, and mouse, and using Windows remotely via a subscription will likely send shivers down many of your spines — but you have to consider the trends here.

Hundreds of millions of us have already given away ownership over music, TV shows, and movies to cloud companies like Spotify and Netflix — both of which run on Amazon Web Services. Cloud gaming products like Amazon Luna, NVIDIA GeForce Now, and Xbox Cloud Gaming are all seeing steady growth, too — but it's not just about these niche scenarios.

The vast majority of apps and services people engage with online are all entirely cloud-based, from Fortnite to TikTok. Is it really so far fetched to imagine that most people would most likely be "fine" with renting their full computing solutions from companies like Microsoft and Amazon?

There's nothing wrong with it as an option, of course. But what if we end up not having a much of a choice in the coming years?

We've written a fair bit about how DRAM prices are becoming untenable for consumers. Companies like Dell, ASUS, and others have signalled price increases across their PC range in the coming weeks, with chip companies like Micron and Samsung flat out refusing consumer-grade orders for DRAM allocations. Micron has shut down its consumer operations for DRAM in their entirety.

And why? The answer is AI. Or, well, the answer really is cloud.

Will the death of affordable PC components force regular folk to hunt for cloud computing solutions?

AI needs the "cloud" in order to run. Every ChatGPT question, Grok bikini deepfake, or Copilot MS Paint memeslop requires cloud compute to generate. That means DRAM, but also increasingly other components too. SSD storage is the next component expected to hit a shortage, battering consumer prices hard in the process.

Those who have decent PC, gaming consoles, and laptops today are likely insulated in the near term, but what about the long term? What about when those components inevitably break down, or get broken? What will prices look like in 2-3 years?

Some analysts suggest RAM prices could stabilize in a year or two, but consumers are effectively competing with nation states when it comes to some of these components. AI proponents like OpenAI's Sam Altman have legislators convinced that the tech is a matter of national security, either by way of military applications or as-of-yet unrealized technological discoveries and advancements. Luckily for Altman and shareholders, those unrealized promises require trillions of dollars worth of investment, specifically in cloud computing solutions, to actualize.

There's a hard cap on the amount of chips the human race can physically produce at any one time, at least as of writing. With nation states effectively printing money to outbid consumer tech companies on basic components, I'm not sure demand will come down any time soon. That is, of course, unless those investors and nation states stop believing AI can deliver anything more impressive than repackaged reddit answers, memeslop, and blog posts for the vast majority ...

Microsoft was already working on a cloud-based version of Windows for consumers, based on its business-grade cloud PC product Windows 365. It has seemingly deprioritized the consumer version over the past few years, doubtless in part because the economics don't work today, given that you can still get pretty cheap, but also decent casual laptops. But given the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft ended up making another go of it.

Either way, cloud compute isn't exactly cheap to run either. Xbox Game Pass' 1440p cloud gaming costs $30 a month, and NVIDIA itself just added a 100-hour cap to its cloud gaming platforms, most likely because the economics simply doesn't work to make it any more affordable vs. what people are actually willing to pay. The same could be true for AI solutions like ChatGPT and Copilot. Are the products actually good enough for most people that you'd want to pay for them?

They're free right now as Microsoft et al. hopes to form habits around them and then eventually charge for them. But, if they took ChatGPT and Copilot away from users tomorrow and asked them to pay $10 a month for it, I think many of us would be like "nah, I'm good." These products right now are costing millions of dollars a day to run, and have yet to actually generate profitability for many of the biggest players. That's a real problem.

It's easy to get conspiratorial in today's times and presume that this was all part of some wider co-ordinated plan to rob us of the last vestiges of ownership, but unless something changes with regards to electricity costs and the like, I'm not seeing this future.

Cloud computing is essentially local computing with extra, quite pricy steps today for consumer use scenarios. Unless the economics of local hardware truly does fall off a cliff somewhere down the line, I can't see Bezos' vision of a cloud-only future coming true any time soon — even for casual PC users.

I'm sure these companies salivate at the idea of destroying all means of ownership. But, if Spotify and Netflix are evidence, perhaps people at scale really don't care either way.

Claude Code is Anthropic’s AI coding assistant designed to help developers fix bugs, refactor code, or even write complete programs from scratch. Until now, it’s been something you’d typically access through tools like Visual Studio.

That’s changing, though. Anthropic has now made Claude Code available on the web, letting users run coding tasks directly from their browser. It’s a big step toward accessibility, allowing you to use Claude Code anywhere without needing a local setup.

Right now, the feature is in research preview and limited to Pro and Max subscribers, with support for Team and Enterprise plans expected later on.

How Claude Code on the web works

Developers can connect Claude Code to their GitHub account, allowing it to securely access their repositories. Once linked, Claude will clone the repository to an Anthropic-managed virtual machine, set up a coding environment, and begin running tasks automatically.

Right now, Claude Code on the web can already analyze, modify, and push code, as well as create a pull request when it’s finished. The virtual machine comes with several programming languages pre-installed, including Python, Node.js, Java, Rust, and C++, making it a flexible option for most workflows.

Anthropic also notes that network access is tightly controlled for security reasons, with only trusted domains allowed by default. Users can switch seamlessly between Claude Code’s web environment and their local setup, creating a versatile workflow for developers on the go.

Anthropic’s expanding ecosystem and Microsoft partnership

Anthropic appears to be in a strong position, and this move makes Claude even more accessible to users. As one of OpenAI’s main competitors, Anthropic has also partnered with Microsoft to bring Claude to Azure as part of its growing AI ecosystem. Claude is now integrated across Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive, extending its reach into everyday productivity tools.

This steady expansion shows Anthropic’s increasing focus on enterprise and developer solutions. With Claude Code now available on the web, it’s another step toward making Claude a full development assistant — something you can use from your phone, browser, or preferred coding environment.

A major step toward accessible AI development

Whether you’re big on AI or not, or whether you think the AI bubble will eventually burst, for now, AI is here to stay—and Anthropic’s latest step makes Claude Code far more accessible to those who use it.

This web rollout bridges the gap between local coding tools and cloud-based AI agents, which is ideal for anyone working remotely or without a high-powered machine. Alongside accessibility, Anthropic also places heavy emphasis on security. Each session runs in an isolated virtual machine with tightly controlled network access, and sensitive credentials never leave the secure proxy used for authentication.

When you start a task on Claude Code on the web, the process is fairly simple. Claude clones your GitHub repository to a secure virtual machine, sets up the coding environment, and configures internet access based on your preferences. From there, it analyzes your code, makes the necessary changes, runs tests, and checks its own work. Once it’s done, you’re notified and can review everything before creating a pull request.

There are still a few limitations to note. Claude Code on the web currently only works with GitHub repositories, and moving sessions between web and local setups requires authentication to the same account. It also shares rate limits with your overall Claude usage, so running several tasks in parallel will use them up faster.

Even with these restrictions, Anthropic’s cautious, security-first approach shows it’s serious about making AI coding both powerful and responsible—a strong foundation for whatever comes next, whether you buy into all this stuff or not.

FAQ

OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, and Microsoft have a complicated relationship, and it's not getting any easier.

OpenAI's newfound freedom to source computing power for its Large Language Model (LLM) from other providers — following the annulment of Microsoft's exclusive cloud provider status — is creating strife on both sides due to the overall deterioration of the partnership.

Comments from one individual with a seat at the OpenAI/Microsoft negotiating table make this clear, according to a new report from The Information: "There are people inside both companies that hate this thing. There are people inside Microsoft that don't like it. There are people inside OpenAI that don't like it. They have lots of reasons for not liking it. The people who don't like what's going on tend to be further away from the details than the people who do know what's going on."

Despite the tension, the two companies are making it work. At least for now. The same source is quoted as saying, "Are there tense moments in the conversations? Absolutely. That's what happens. You still go and you figure it out."

OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, hasn't been shy about pressing Microsoft for additional computing power, and Microsoft has done what it can to provide it as it ramps up its database operations.

But OpenAI's demands seem to know no limits as it attempts to realize artificial general intelligence (AGI), to the point that the AI firm is now sourcing compute power from other companies despite the one-time exclusive deal with Microsoft.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. On Microsoft's side, there are concerns from Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood that catering to all of OpenAI's increasingly expensive demands could harm Microsoft if the servers it builds to run AI don't turn a profit.

OpenAI itself doesn't believe it will become profitable until 2029, and in the meantime, the company is losing billions of dollars per year. OpenAI plans to spend $115 billion on the road to 2029 profitability, which is a whopping $80 billion more than originally projected.

Worse, the popularity of ChatGPT's mobile app seems to have hit a plateau in the last couple of months at around 72 million users, according to a report from TechCrunch.

It's forecasted that global downloads will be down about 8.1% in October compared to the previous month, which was also down considerably compared to August.

Increased competition from other AI models is undoubtedly playing a role here, but GPT-5 — OpenAI's model that was originally thought to be AGI — had an entirely unimpressive launch in August that undoubtedly killed the hype for a lot of users.

Microsoft's partial breakup with OpenAI might not be such a bad thing.

Microsoft and OpenAI's relationship — broken promises and billions of dollars

It began about six years ago when the AI startup was looking for serious funding to help realize its dreams of artificial general intelligence (AGI); Microsoft stepped in with a $1 billion package, which granted exclusive cloud provider status and gave Microsoft access to ChatGPT to power its Windows 11 Copilot AI assistant.

Microsoft added another $2 billion to OpenAI's pockets in 2021 before shoveling on a $10 billion funding package in 2023. That tidy sum promised Microsoft a share of OpenAI's profits as well as exclusive cloud provider status until 2030.

At least, that was the original plan. In June 2024, a new deal between OpenAI, Oracle, and Microsoft was laid out, which saw Oracle's cloud aid Microsoft's Azure servers in powering ChatGPT.

It didn't take long for OpenAI to ask Microsoft to loosen its tether once again, this time to the tune of 4.5 gigawatts of additional power from Oracle in December 2024.

Around the same time, reports of compute bottlenecks in the AI sector began to appear, which the top AI labs used as a scapegoat for a lack of artificial general intelligence (AGI), also known as the end goal of most of these companies.

The result? Further decoupling of Microsoft and OpenAI as the former backed out of two data center deals and the latter unveiled a $500 billion Stargate project that would see massive data centers built across the US with the help of Oracle and Softbank.

This move effectively ended Microsoft's exclusive cloud provider status, though it continues to hold the right of first refusal and a share of some profits.

Microsoft and OpenAI's rift didn't stop there, with the AI firm announcing a $22.4 billion deal with Coreweave in March 2025 and a deal with Google for server rentals in June.

In September, NVIDIA announced it was investing $100 billion in OpenAI to help speed up the construction of new data centers to the tune of at least 10 gigawatts, followed by an AMD and OpenAI announcement that would see at least another 6 gigawatts of data center power worth tens of billions of dollars.

It's no secret that these massive deals stemming from just a handful of AI and investment firms are creating fears of a circular bubble that, if popped, would implode the market like never before.

Microsoft is, in the meantime, attempting to become more independent in the AI market. Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer, Kevin Scott, spoke with CNBC earlier this month, stating that the company wants to make a move to using its own chips for AI compute, rather than those from NVIDIA and AMD.

Microsoft is also said to be working on "off-frontier" AI models of its own, which are roughly 3 to 6 months behind OpenAI's work. According to Microsoft's AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, this move is to help decouple dependence on ChatGPT after the AI firm occasionally ignored its commitments to Microsoft regarding access to its latest AI models.

What you need to know

• Microsoft recently announced its plans to invest $1.3 billion in Mexico to build AI and Cloud technology infrastructure. 
• The initiative is designed to help enhance the adoption of AI technology across 5 million Mexicans and 30,000 SMBs in three years.
• Microsoft also plans to address emerging challenges in Mexico, including health, connectivity, and sustainability.  

Microsoft is doubling down on its cloud computing and artificial intelligence investment. Earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the company's plan to invest up to $1.3 billion over the next three years to build its infrastructure in Mexico to foster these advances. 

The tech giant plans to use its $1.3 billion investment to enhance broad adoption of AI technology across small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Microsoft aspires to reach up to 5 million Mexicans and 30,000 SMBs in three years through the initiative. 

This happens as OpenAI just unveiled OpenAI Academy — the program is designed to make generative AI more accessible to developers across low and middle-income countries with up to $1 million in API credits.

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella:

“We are entering a new era of AI with the promise to create inclusive economic growth and opportunity across every role, industry, and country, including in Mexico. Our investments in AI infrastructure and skilling in Mexico will help ensure people and organizations across the country realize the benefits of this technology shift.”

Microsoft marks 38-years in Mexico with companies like Grupo Bimbo, Tec de Monterrey and Cemex onboard its AI train. With its new initiative, the tech giant hopes to address emerging health concerns, connectivity issues and promote sustainability as part of its broader plans to become a carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste company.

AI seems like a expensive recurrent expenditure for Microsoft

It's apparent that it takes an arm and a leg to keep AI operations running. For instance, OpenAI spends up to $700,000 to keep ChatGPT running. Still, the payoff isn't allowing the AI firm to break even. Reports hitting mainstream media indicate that the ChatGPT maker could be on the brink of bankruptcy, with projections of $5 billion in losses over the next year. 

However, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Apple will reportedly participate in the firm's latest round of funding to keep its operations afloat, pushing its market cap well beyond $150 billion. Market analysts and experts are confident that OpenAI will become the world's dominant AI company, further citing that it's in a unique consumer and enterprise position. 

Incidentally, Microsoft is having the same issues, with some of its investors raising concerns over its high expenditure on AI projects, citing its difficult to establish a clear path toward profitability in the category. 

Last year, the tech giant partnered with OpenAI and invested $100 billion in a project dubbed Stargate to free themselves from an overdependence on NVIDIA for AI chips. Similarly, the company recently partnered with BlackRock to raise $100 billion to 'emancipate themselves from the shackles' of insufficient power and increase data centers for their ambitious AI dreams.

🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃

• 🕹️Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (3-months) | $31.59 at CDKeys (Save $17!)
• 💻Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge (X Elite) | $899.99 at Best Buy (Save $450!)
• 🎮Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma (Xbox & PC) | $99.99 at Amazon (Save $50!)
• 🕹️Starfield Premium Upgrade (Xbox & PC) | $27.69 at CDKeys (Save $7!)
• 💻ASUS Vivobook S 15 (X Elite) | $955 at Amazon (Save $345!)
• 🕹️Final Fantasy XVI (PC, Steam) | $43.79 at CDKeys (Save $6!)
• 💻Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon | $1,481.48 at Lenovo (Save $1,368!)
• 🎮 Seagate Xbox Series X|S Card (2TB) | $249.99 at Best Buy (Save $110!)
• 🕹️Hi-Fi RUSH (PC, Steam) | $8.49 at CDKeys (Save $22!)
• 💻HP Victus 15.6 (RTX 4050) | $599 at Walmart (Save $380!)
• 🫙Seagate HDD Starfield Edition (2TB) | $79.99 at Best Buy (Save $30!)
• 🖱️Razer Basilisk V3 Wired Mouse | $44.99 at Best Buy (Save $25!)
• 🕹️Days Gone (PC, Steam) | $10.19 at CDKeys (Save $39!)
• 🖥️Lenovo ThinkStation P3 (Core i5 vPro) | $879.00 at Lenovo (Save $880!)

What you need to know

• Microsoft and Coca-Cola get into a $1.1 billion five-year deal.
• The drink company will have access to Microsoft's AI and cloud computing services, including Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot for Microsoft 365.
• Both companies will jointly try to explore how to enhance productivity using Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Coca-Cola recently got into a $1.1 billion five-year deal with Microsoft, allowing it to leverage its cloud computing and artificial intelligence services, including Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot for Microsoft 365.

As you might already know, Coca-Cola had a similar arrangement with Microsoft in 2020. The $250 million commitment was centered on improving Coca-Cola’s digital transformation.

According to Neeraj Tolmare, Senior VP and global chief information officer at Coca-Cola:

"Our expanded partnership with Microsoft is an important next chapter in Coca-Cola’s journey toward a digital-first enterprise powered by emerging technologies. Microsoft’s capabilities help accelerate our adoption of AI to create incremental enterprise value.”

The extended partnership will allow the companies to "jointly experiment with groundbreaking new technology like Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions." Both companies will try to establish how Copilot for Microsoft 365 can enhance and improve productivity.

It is worth noting Coca-Cola has already transitioned its apps to Microsoft Azure, and more independent bottling partners are likely to follow in the same footsteps. The drink company has already been using AI and Azure OpenAI Service to reevaluate its business strategy from marketing to branding to the manufacturing and supply chain process. 

The company is exploring new opportunities with AI-powered digital assistants on Azure OpenAI Service designed to improve customer relations, operations, innovation, competitive advantage, and more. 

Antitrust regulators already placed Microsoft under fire for "anti-competitive" cloud computing business practices

Earlier this month, Microsoft was slapped with a case by a South African-based antitrust watchdog citing unfair cloud computing business practices. And while the tech giant indicated it wasn't aware of any case involving a South African regulator, it faced similar charges in 2022 when CISPE complained about its unfair business practices to the EU. 

RELATED: Amazon and Microsoft to sign $1 billion ‘megadeal’ for cloud productivity

The organization further added Microsoft's dominance in cloud computing and productivity software didn't give its competitors a chance, as it restricted choice and inflated costs as customers sought to transition to the cloud.

What you need to know

• A South African-based agency is reportedly set to look into Microsoft over its cloud computing licensing practices.
• According to a source familiar with the issue, the case is quite similar to the one Microsoft is currently facing against the EU regulator, which forced it to unbundle Teams from Office 365 globally.
• Microsoft responded via email addressing the issue and indicated that it wasn't aware of a case filed against it over cloud computing business practices from South Africa.

Microsoft can't seem to catch a break this week. First, it was forced to unbundle Microsoft Teams from its Office 365 package worldwide after Salesforce-owned Slack complained to the EU Commission, citing anti-competitive practices. And as it now seems, the tech giant has landed itself into more antitrust-related issues.

According to a report by Reuters, a South African antitrust agency is expected to investigate Microsoft's cloud computing licensing practices. A source with knowledge of the matter disclosed that the South African case is similar to the European Union antitrust case in many aspects.

Strangely enough, while making a statement regarding the issue via email, Microsoft categorically indicated that it wasn't aware of any case filed against it by the South African-based agency. 

Microsoft is no stranger to cloud computing controversies and rivalry

While details about this issue remain slim, Microsoft is no stranger to accusations from rivals in the cloud computing landscape. In 2022, trade group CISPE complained about Microsoft to the European Union watchdog, indicating that its then newly imposed contractual terms and other "unfair practices" were negatively impacting the cloud computing ecosystem in Europe.

The trade group shared the following sentiments as the basis for its complaints:

"Leveraging its dominance in productivity software, Microsoft restricts choice and inflates costs as European customers look to move to the cloud, thus distorting Europe's digital economy."

Elsewhere, Amazon and Microsoft are under scrutiny by the Competition and Markets Authority for limiting competition through its "hyper-scale" services in the cloud computing market, which account for roughly 60% to 70% of total cloud spend per Ofcom's report.

These practices make it extremely difficult for UK-based businesses to switch to other cloud providers or even use multiple cloud services. Google echoed these sentiments when it sent a letter to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), petitioning it to take action against Microsoft's anti-competitive business practices in cloud computing.

What you need to know

• Reportedly, Google has sent a letter to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), petitioning it to take action against business practices Microsoft uses in cloud computing that it views as anticompetitive.
• Specifically, Google argues that Microsoft should not be able to restrict the use of its softwares to Azure, and that it shouldn't cost more to use them with other cloud providers.
• Google included six recommendations in its letter, including a request to force Microsoft to make Azure more interoperable with other cloud providers and one to ensure that security updates won't be blocked for anyone who moves to a new one.
• The UK's communications regulator Ofcom found that Amazon and Microsoft owned a combined 70-80% of the UK cloud computing market in 2022 earlier this year, referring the situation to the CMA for investigation. 

UPDATE Dec. 6 @ 1:37 p.m. ET: Amazon has joined Google in its criticism of Microsoft's business practices in the UK cloud market in a new letter posted on the CMA's website. Like Google, Amazon argues that Microsoft's licensing policies are unfairly anticompetitive.

“To use many of Microsoft’s software products with these other cloud services providers, a customer must purchase a separate license even if they already own the software,” Amazon said. “This often makes it financially unviable for a customer to choose a provider other than Microsoft.”

Our original story follows below.

According to a report, Google has petitioned the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — the UK's business regulator — to pursue action against Microsoft over business practices in the cloud computing market it views as unfair.

The report indicates that in a letter Google sent to the CMA, it argued that Microsoft Azure licensing policies drive users away from using other providers to an unreasonable degree.

“With Microsoft’s licensing restrictions in particular, UK customers are left with no economically reasonable alternative but to use Azure as their cloud services provider, even if they prefer the prices, quality, security, innovations, and features of rivals,” Google said.

Google, in total, reportedly made six recommendations to the CMA in its letter. One was to demand that Microsoft improve interoperability between Azure and other cloud options, while another was to ensure that the Redmond firm couldn't block software security improvements for anyone that chose to move to a different provider.

Notably, this October, Britain's communications watchdog Ofcom shared its findings that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure had a combined 70-80% of UK cloud computing market share in 2022, with Google following them at 5-10%. Ofcom referred the market to the CMA for further investigation, which began shortly afterward.

In 2022, Microsoft updated its cloud policies in an effort to assuage antitrust concerns. However, these changes did not placate Google, which is taking issue with the fact that some types of Microsoft software aren't compatible with major platforms that rival Azure, and that folks using ones that are are saddled with extra costs.

"On premises, they could run it on any hardware, there was no restriction really," said Google Cloud Vice President Amit Zavery in an interview in June. "But now if you want to run it on any other cloud provider, you have to pay a tax and penalty to Microsoft if it's not running on Azure, or in the preferred providers of their choice."

Even though Amazon controls a larger portion of the market than Microsoft does, Zavery says Google isn't as concerned about AWS since it doesn't enforce the same restrictions.

“There are some issues, in terms of cloud interoperability, but we can fix that. That's a discussion between providers, which is much understood, and customers are forcing that conversation,” he said, speaking to Reuters. “The problem we run into with Microsoft is that there's no technical issue, but you have licensing restrictions which means we are now being prevented from competing.”

What you need to know

• Microsoft is investing a total of $3.2 Billion in Australia.
• It is adding more datacenters to increase its capabilities in AI and cloud computing.
• Microsoft says this is the largest investment it has made in Australia in its 40-year history.

Economies across the world are struggling right now, but Microsoft is making more moves to secure its future prosperity. And today it announced a $3.2 Billion investment in Australia over a period of two years. This is to boost the number of datacenters in the country and with that increase its AI and cloud computing capabilities. This will be increased from 20 to 29 datacenter sites; a 45% increase, across Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

Microsoft also stated that in addition to this large investment it would also support the training of 300,000 Australians in "digital economy" occupations, as well as sharing more information on cybersecurity threats. Microsoft says that this is the biggest investment they have ever made in the country of Australia in the company's 40-year history.

Steve Worrall, Microsoft's managing Director in Australia, said this spending would:

This investment was announced a day into Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's four-day visit to the US. Technology is expected to be high on the list of topics of conversation during the state dinner hosted by President Biden at the White House, along with the hot topic of critical mineral acquisition.

It is likely this relationship will develop further in future due to the recent Aukus agreement, signed back in 2021 between the US, UK and Australia. This means the countries will be working together more closely in the areas of AI, quantum computing, military intelligence and more. It offers more opportunities for Microsoft to invest in key areas.

Read the full announcement here.

What you need to know

• Another complaint has been filed against Microsoft, this time of the EU antitrust variety (it was filed months ago but not publicly reported on).
• This is one more in a string of complaints lodged against Microsoft in Europe due to the company's various advantages and tactics.
• This most recent cloud-focused complaint comes from OVHcloud and several unnamed companies.

Microsoft's cloud business is yet another item in the company's roster of products to attract antitrust scrutiny. The freshly reported instance comes from OVHcloud, which claims it filed a complaint alongside other companies, though OVHcloud declined to name said companies.

It's said that the core of the complaint is thus: Due to the way Microsoft licenses Office, it's cheaper to go with Azure than it is other cloud offerings (via The Wall Street Journal). Here is what a spokeswoman for OVHcloud had to say: "Through abusing its dominant position, Microsoft undermines fair competition and limits consumer choice in the cloud computing services market."

Microsoft had its own statement. "Cloud providers enjoy many options to provide cloud services to their customers using Microsoft software, whether purchased by the customer or the partner," a company spokesperson said. "We're continuously evaluating how we can best support partners and make Microsoft software available to customers across all environments, including those of other cloud providers."

Microsoft is known for walking between the raindrops when it comes to legal scrutiny, so much so that company CEO Satya Nadella has claimed it's not about dominant market positions or lobbying efforts, but rather that "Microsoft is on the right side of history." The home of Windows 11 has faced EU complaints before, as well as negative attention from the UK, and it will likely deal with many more of these situations in the future.

What you need to know

• Microsoft's Cloud + AI business is seeing a shakeup.
• One part of that shakeup is the creation of a new unit: The Strategic Missions and Technologies team.
• It will serve to help emerging businesses within the company.

Microsoft's Cloud + AI business is undergoing changes. As stated by internal Microsoft emails from November 17, 2021, which were viewed and discussed by ZDNet, the tech giant's cloud business is seeing an organizational shakeup and welcoming a new unit: The Strategic Missions and Technologies team, which will be headed by Executive Vice President of Azure, Jason Zander.

This new team will collect a few existing arms of Microsoft: The company's U.S. Federal business, as well as Azure Quantum, Azure for Operators, and Azure Space & Engineering. If you're wondering what that last team does, recall when Azure partnered with the International Space Station to give it an assist. Or when Azure, Nokia, and South Australia huddled up for space tech initiatives.

Zander spearheading the Strategic Missions and Technologies team is resulting in a Cloud + AI business reorganization for Microsoft. The Azure Dedicated team and Azure Global Infrastructure team will move under the Azure Core team umbrella. And, on top of those changes, another new unit will emerge: The Cloud for Industry and Global Expansion team.

According to the emails these updates were gathered from, all changes are effective immediately.

This isn't the first or last time Microsoft will shake up its cloud operations, given how central the sector is to the company's overall business strategy both presently as well as in the immediate and distant foreseeable futures. News about Microsoft inserting cloud ops into Mars chocolates is just the tip of the iceberg for what may result as the company refines its strategies and aligns itself with bigger-picture goals.

What you need to know

• In 2021, Microsoft's JEDI cloud contract with the U.S. government died.
• A contributing factor to JEDI's demise may have been Amazon's extensive legal efforts protesting the contract's awarding procedure.
• Now, Microsoft is reversing the situation by protesting an Amazon cloud contract awarded by the NSA.
• The tech giant's protest has been sustained.

For those of you who keep up on Microsoft's Azure activities, you know its cloud contracts are a big deal for the company. As such, when Microsoft's Pentagon-awarded JEDI cloud contract got dissolved, it was a less-than-ideal situation for the company. Doubly so as, based on the timing of JEDI's termination, the decision seemed to have come in part due to Amazon's lengthy legal battle with the U.S. government over the deal's awarding procedure and potential Trump administration interference.

Now, Microsoft's pulling something of an Uno reverse card with a complaint about the NSA awarding a cloud contract to Amazon. Not only that, but the protest has been officially sustained by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Here's an excerpt from the GAO statement:

There's no telling how long of an ordeal could materialize from Microsoft's protest. For reference, the JEDI battle lasted roughly two years.

What you need to know

• Microsoft has released a new report stating that Nobelium, a "Russian nation-state actor," is targeting companies in the global IT supply chain ecosystem.
• This hacking group is cited as being the same one responsible for the SolarWinds situation that took place across 2020 and early 2021, which was a big enough cyberattack that the U.S. government had to directly combat it.
• The latest Nobelium strike targets resellers and those providing cloud technology services.

Microsoft President Brad Smith called late 2020's SolarWinds hack "the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen," when discussing the severity of the situation on 60 Minutes. Now, the group behind that infamous attack, Russian state actor Nobelium, is back at it again, according to a new Microsoft report.

Microsoft's been keeping an eye on the situation since May 2021, and has notified over 140 companies to watch their backs in the wake of Nobelium's latest efforts. Microsoft reports that up to 14 companies have been compromised by the new attacks. As to what that said attacks are, here's how the Redmond tech giant describes the Russian hackers' recent activities:

Microsoft's report says the aforementioned findings are being shared so that cloud service resellers are aware of the threat and can better avoid falling victim to Nobelium's activities. If you need a refresher on how much of 2021 has been dominated by Russian hackers, Microsoft has in-depth findings on that exact topic as well.

What you need to know

• The Microsoft Emissions Impact Dashboard previously went by the name of the Microsoft Sustainability Calculator.
• It lets you know what the greenhouse gas impact is of Microsoft cloud services.
• It debuted in January 2020 and is now hitting general availability.

Microsoft has finally let its Emissions Impact Dashboard (formerly known as the Microsoft Sustainability Calculator) enter general availability, so any organization interested in learning about its carbon emission output with relation to its Microsoft cloud services usage can now be informed and better tackle sustainability challenges.

This tool from Microsoft has been around since January 2020, though it's been expanded between then and now, allowing it to do more and, by extension, offer users more valuable insights and data with which to help organizations in their sustainability planning. Here's how Microsoft describes its tool:

You can learn more about the Emissions Impact Dashboard over at Microsoft's blog post discussing the service's move to general availability. Microsoft has a history of focusing on how its cloud operations, and those of other organizations, affect sustainability efforts, hence why it has released offerings such as its Cloud for Sustainability package.

Many of Microsoft's operations rely on the cloud, especially as it's the foundation of key partnerships with giants including Mars and Wells Fargo. The company's calculator and other assorted tools are measures to keep an eye on all those initiatives' overall ecological impact.

What you need to know

• Windows 365 is Microsoft's new cloud PC service.
• It contains a big security vulnerability.
• Using the right program, users can acquire logged-in users' Azure credentials via Windows 365.

No more than a few days ever pass between massive Windows-related PC vulnerability stories. Currently, there's the neverending PrintNightmare saga, as well as a serious vulnerability affecting Windows 365, Microsoft's new cloud PC service. The issue would allow a malicious individual to gain the Azure credentials of individuals logged into Windows 365.

As reported by BleepingComputer, you'd need to have administrative privileges in order to run the specific program capable of exploiting the vulnerability and putting Azure credentials in plaintext. So, for most people, there won't be a major risk, assuming they're not sharing PC admin privileges with anyone they don't trust. However, imagine you're one of the many people who fall victim to phishing schemes, which then results in handing over control of your PC to a cybercriminal. Once they're in there and can remotely run applications and programs on your machine, they can easily utilize the program to sweep up your Azure credentials through Windows 365.

Given that Windows 365 is a business-and-enterprise-focused feature, one can imagine how dangerous credential theft would be if one threat actor infiltrates a W365 machine with corporate info running the backend of things.

As Benjamin Delpy told BleepingComputer, Windows Hello, 2FA, Windows Defender Remote Credential Guard, and other tools would typically be the way to prevent the above issue from existing and threatening users, but said tools aren't in Windows 365 yet, leaving it particularly vulnerable.

Windows 365 is a new service from Microsoft, so there's a chance all the aforementioned security items will be added in time. For now, watch out. As useful as a cloud Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC can be, it's not without risks.

What you need to know

• A malware that targets Windows containers was discovered in March 2021.
• The man who found it, Daniel Prizmant, dubbed it "Siloscape."
• Siloscape aims to steal data and inject cryptocurrency miners.

Unit 42's Daniel Prizmant says he's discovered "the first known malware targeting Windows containers." Unit 42 is the cybersecurity consulting group for Palo Alto Networks that has announced its discovery of Siloscape and disclosed the dangers the malware has for cloud environments as we know them. Though the group has seen malware that goes after containers in Linux "due to the popularity of that operating system in cloud environments," it gives Siloscape the distinction of being the first to go after Windows containers.

"Siloscape is heavily obfuscated malware targeting Kubernetes clusters through Windows containers," Prizmant said in his highly technical blog post outlining Siloscape and the threat it poses. "Its main purpose is to open a backdoor into poorly configured Kubernetes clusters in order to run malicious containers."

Compromising entire clusters means that Siloscape can allow its hacker to cause a lot more trouble than had they just gotten access to a single container by itself. With access to a cluster, a hacker can get a hold of a lot more info, be it usernames, login credentials, or entire databases. Whatever's hosted in the cluster and the apps it's running, Siloscape may exfiltrate.

Exfiltration of stolen data isn't the only activity Siloscape is built for. It can also inject cryptojackers to divert computational resources toward crypto mining activities.

"We identified 23 active Siloscape victims and discovered that the server was being used to host 313 users in total, implying that Siloscape was a small part of a broader campaign," Prizmant stated in his post. "I also discovered that this campaign has been taking place for more than a year."

The post recommends that users take Microsoft's advice on not using Windows containers for security purposes, recommending Hyper-V containers instead. If you want the full scoop on Siloscape, check out the blog post linked above. The key takeaway here is to know that the era of mainstream cloud hacking is upon us.

Over the last decade, there have been clear trends with laptops, including, at one time, pundits claiming the category's death knell. Whether it's Intel's "Ultrabook" initiative or Microsoft's 2-in-1 tablet versus laptop theory, there has been convergence on a lot of it.

For about the last year, though, a new push has begun to emerge: ultra-powerful computing. NVIDIA is partially responsible for this with its Studio effort starting back in the summer of 2019.

But there's an opposite end of that spectrum too: the super-thin and rapidly approaching dual screen (or folding display) designs.

Such a bifurcation will result in a new world of mobile computing. Thin clients that are heavily reliant on the cloud, 5G connectivity, and the OS is agile. At the other end, larger workstations for "creators" who need raw, localized power. Both are driven by the changing economy and technology.

Rise of the Studio workstation

NVIDIA's push for the Studio line is impressive. At its core, it is a marketing ploy, and, yes, money is given to OEMs to push laptop designs into this direction. The tradeoff is NVIDIA gets to push Studio as a viable alternative to professionals gravitating towards gaming laptops and away from Apple.

It was no coincidence that in the summer of 2019, dozens of laptops suddenly had RTX Studio program validation. This effort was a concerted push by the industry to give a hard nudge to where the market was already headed.

HP knows this well. In a recent press briefing the company cited some thought-provoking numbers from its own research:

• 61 percent of people use their PC to create
• Creative jobs are #1 on the list of remote work opportunities
• 91 percent of Gen Zers use their PC to collaborate
• Gen Z spends 45 percent more time using their PC than millennials

Other data backs up these observations about the rise of remote work.

A lot of this is also just driven by technology. It is now possible to have laptops with eight-cores, or powerful RTX video cards like the new "super" series from NVIDIA. And not just in some giant, heavy laptop, but slim ones that are under 4 pounds (1.8kg). See HP's recent ZBook Create.

Thin display bezels and 500-nit HDR displays also are driving this industry, leading to laptops with significantly smaller footprints. Dell learned this years ago with its InfinityEdge display technology.

No longer do people need to get a gaming laptop, but instead, they can get customized hardware that ranges from Intel Core and Xeon processors to AMD's latest Ryzen ones.

Razer, in many ways, helped kick this off. Its popular Razer Blade quickly became the darling of "pro" video editors and people who needed power but did not want a clichéd gamer aesthetic.

Super thin clients and cloud computing

Another trend is quickly emerging too for thin client PCs, and Apple drives much of this. The iPad has pushed the idea of computing forward, though with some caveats. Apple is now working to improve those limitations by thoughtfully enhancing iPadOS while adding PC-like hardware experiences. This move is mobile OS to desktop OS convergence.

Microsoft comes from the other direction with the iconic Surface Pro. It, along with the forthcoming Windows 10X, is a desktop OS to mobile OS intersection.

I have little doubt that in the next five years, Microsoft will begin to push Azure as a system to power "Windows" on consumer hardware. Google is also poised to go this route as it already has with Chromebooks. These devices will be thin-client laptops (Samsung Galaxy Book S), dual-screen PCs like (Surface Neo), or a single display tablet that folds in half (ThinkPad X1 Fold).

These devices are aimed at those who trade in information for a living — e.g., big data, emails, IT, web developers, Office and Teams collaboration, education, etc. That is quite a different group than those who need RTX or Quadro graphics to render 4K (and now 8K) video remotely or crush data in MATLAB.

While 5G is certainly overhyped in 2020, there is little doubt that in the coming years, it will open the door to new computing opportunities. Some of that is evident today with efforts like game streaming (Project xCloud).

But pushing the OS itself to the cloud for ambient and ubiquitous computing paradigms is also going to happen.

Running parts, or all, of the OS from the cloud so that your operating system follows you to your hardware with app-streaming is a potent combination, especially if the device can fold into your pocket.

There is always room in the middle

None of this is to say that laptops that do a bit of both, aka the more traditional 13 to 14-inch Ultrabook, are going to go away. Indeed, the beauty of the PC market is how robust it is in its range of possibilities. Whether it is 17-inch Ultrabook, or 13-inch gaming laptop, some company is still going to create those devices.

But the trends will continue to shift towards two categories:

• Discrete, localized computing with a lot of power
• Cloud, ambient computing in radically thin and light hardware

The current coronavirus pandemic, with its necessitated "work from home" (WFH) mandate, is going to have a massive impact on jobs. While some people will return to work, many companies are now discovering that remote work is not only possible, but it is preferable.

The idea that people in specific, but increasingly growing, industries can work wherever they want means that PC hardware must go there too. The two models of computing laid out here will be the driving trend for the foreseeable future to meet that demand.

Who knows, maybe we'll finally get good web cameras too.

What you need to know

• The Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General released a report on the selection process of the JEDI cloud contract.
• The report states that no evidence that was found suggests the White House intervened with the selection process.
• The report notes that due to assertions of "presidential communications privilege" the office "could not review this matter fully."

The Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General released a 313-page report today on the selection process of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract (via CNBC). The report concludes that based on the evidence discovered that the Department of Defense (DoD) personnel who awarded the JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft "were not pressured about their decision on the award of the contract by any DoD leaders more senior to them, who may have communicated with the White House."

The report from today is the latest in a series of legal battles surrounding the cloud contract. Amazon claims that President Trump's bias against Jeff Bezos affected the decision by the DoD to go with Microsoft over Amazon.

The JEDI cloud contract could be worth up to $10 billion over a ten-year period. The contract provides cloud services, artificial intelligence processing, machine learning, and other technologies powered by the cloud.

The report specifies that the review did not look at price evaluations or technical evaluations of the proposals from Microsoft and Amazon. Instead, it focuses on the source selection process and if it was "in compliance with applicable statutes, policies, and the evaluation process described in the Request for Proposals." The review also aimed to determine if outside pressure influenced the decision-making process

The review involved examining 31.2GB of e-mails and 1.05GB of relevant documents. The review also included interviewing program managers, attorneys, ethics officials, and other DoD officials. The investigation did, however, run into barriers regarding certain information. The report states:

While the report states that they could "not review this matter fully," it concludes that based on evidence, there was no outside pressure to make a specific decision. The report states:

In addition to determining that no outside pressure affected the selection process, the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General also decided that the decision to award the contract to a single company is "reasonable."

In a statement following the Inspector General's report, Microsoft corporate vice president of communications, Frank Shaw, told CNBC: "The Inspector General's report makes clear the DoD established a proper procurement process. It's now apparent that Amazon bid too high a price and is seeking a do-over so it can bid again. As the IG's report indicates, Amazon has proprietary information about Microsoft's bid that it should never have had. At this stage, Amazon is both delaying critical work for the nation's military and trying to undo the mistake it made when it bid too high a price."

What you need to know

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke at a recent media event about the company's focus on growing its cloud business.
• Nadella emphasized Microsoft is bullish on having a piece of the next 46 billion internet-connected devices with its cloud business.
• Windows, iOS, and Android are still important, Nadella says, but IoT, data centers, and the connected edge will become a greater focus for Microsoft going forward.

Since he took over as Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has shifted the company's focus past Windows' billion users and toward a cloud-connected future. This is evident in the company's surging year-over-year growth with each successive quarter, a significant portion of which is because of its cloud success. Now, Nadella has offered some insight into how he sees Microsoft's cloud business, and why it's become such a point of focus for the company.

At a media event last week, reported by The Verge, Nadella laid out the case for Microsoft's cloud future.

"The way I look at it is Windows is the billion user install base of ours. We continue to add a couple of hundred million PCs every year, and we want to serve that in a super good way," Nadella said. "The thing that we also want to think about is the broader context. We don't want to be defined by just what we achieved. We look at if there's going to be 50 billion endpoints. Windows with its billion is good, Android with its 2 billion is good, iOS with its billion is good — but there is 46 billion more. So let's go and look at what that 46 billion plus 4 [billion] looks like, and define a strategy for that, and then have everything have a place under the sun."

The sphere of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is rapidly growing, and Azure offers Microsoft an opportunity to take part in that growth. Looking at Windows, Nadella explained he's even started to view it as an extension of Azure.

"Sometimes I say, 'Hey, look. Should I call Windows... Azure Edge?" Nadella said. "Our new organization that manages all of this at the core kernel level and the hardware ... that team is the same. Whether it is something that is on Surface or something on Azure host, it's literally the same people."

The push for cloud dominance has left some Microsoft watchers fearful that Microsoft is somehow giving up its bread and butter: Windows. However, Nadella continued to point out that Microsoft's emphasis on the cloud as its "next big thing" doesn't mean it's sacrificing other platforms.

"We are absolutely, no question, allocating a lot to what is that next big thing," Nadella told reporters. "But at the same time, we're also not saying that's our way back to saying all of iOS, all of Android, and all of Windows will suddenly be subsumed by this one thing. If anything, what people have come to realize is that Windows is there with a billion users, iOS is there with a billion users, and Android is there with 2 billion users. It's not like one killed the other."

What you need to know

• Microsoft and Amazon are competing for a contract to build the U.S. military a war cloud.
• The contract is valued at $10 billion.
• Legal challenges have surrounded the selection process.

Microsoft and Amazon are competing to win the opportunity to create a "war cloud" computing system for the U.S. military. The opportunity is valued at $10 billion and would last a decade (via AP).

The project used to be called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure plan (JEDI). The project would store and process classified data and allow the Pentagon to use AI to improve war planning. The amount of data required for a project is massive, so the U.S. military is doing its due diligence. The competition has already seen major players eliminated from the running. Both Oracle and IBM were eliminated earlier during the competition.

Legal issues surround the competition as Oracle has raised concerns regarding if the Pentagon unfairly favors Amazon. Oracle and IBM lodged formal protests last year as reported by the Associated Press. Following the protests being dismissed, Oracle took the case to the Court of Federal Claims citing what it believes to be conflicts of interest between Amazon and the U.S. government. The legal issues are ongoing, with oral arguments scheduled for Wednesday, July 10, 2019. The central piece of Oracle's argument regards a Defense Department official who went to work for Amazon. Amazon states that Oracle has "exaggerated that employee's role in the procurement."

With legal issues ongoing, the project winner might not be announced for some time. The Wall Street Journal reports that the project is "under fire." When the issues are resolved, the winning company will have a decade long contract to create a unique "war cloud."

Portable (and affordable) power accessories we love

Each and every one of these charging gadgets will keep your favorite gear and gadgets going for longer, and none of them costs more than $30.

VisionTek 8,000 mAh micro-USB power bank ($13 at Dell)

This compact dual-output powerbank can speedily recharge any and all your devices, thanks to a two-amp "fast charge feature," using its micro-USB out port. Its simple design includes an LED indicator, and it costs about as much as a single ticket to the movies.

Panasonic eneloop AA batteries (From $13 at Dell)

Panasonic's rechargeable batteries are among the best available, and just a couple of them will keep your favorite remote, mice or other peripherals powered up when you need them. They're also eco. And the company's affordable charger fits and charges both AA and AAA batteries at the same time.

Belkin Qi Wireless Charging Pad ($30 at Dell)

This unobtrusive Qi wireless charging pad looks good (and kind of like a UFO …) and easily charges all your Qi-compatible device up to 5W. Its LED indicator lights up when you're charging. And it costs just $30.

As we head into yet another Microsoft Build developer event, the focus of the company shifting will likely be more evident than ever. That's not to say, as some like to repeat, that Microsoft is becoming analogous to IBM (a company whose stock is down significantly from its peak in 2013). Rather, Redmond is positioning itself for the next generation of computing.

Navigating that new world as a consumer-orientated site and reporter is challenging. While covering the latest updates to Office or various new messenger strategies was never thrilling, artificial intelligence (A.I.), the "cloud," "intelligent edge," and seemingly abstract concepts like quantum computing feel like science fiction at times.

Microsoft's strategy for the future

Compared to Apple or even Google – which develop their OSes behind closed doors – Microsoft is building Windows 10 out in the open for everyone to see. The Windows Insider Program (WIP) is Microsoft making its OS as an ongoing, beta project. While the company announces some new surprise features, it does so on a cadence of every few weeks, instead of a once-a-year press extravaganza.

There are no significant surprises anymore because Microsoft lets you into the kitchen. And you mostly know what's for dinner.

This Windows development strategy results in a situation where you don't quite realize how you get to where you are because it happens so steadily (versus one giant "update" like going to Windows Vista).

In that sense, I get how Microsoft Build might feel like a let down for some Windows enthusiasts. For Microsoft, it's no longer about creating whizbang new apps that attempt to catch up to its rivals, or even new hardware — it saves that for independent Surface events where the message is more focused.

I'm now starting to see and even understand where Microsoft is heading in 2018 and beyond. The strategy is very much like the pre-Internet days where people just imagined everyone having a PC that was connected via the world wide web, standards for web browsers, omnipresent 3G, 4G, and even 5G data networks, GPS for consumers (instead of only missile guidance systems), USB for peripherals, and microprocessors to power it all. There was a time when none of that existed, yet people imagined it would happen.

Microsoft leading the tech charge

Microsoft had little role in shaping that world. While it used Internet Explorer to benefit from it, the company was mostly reacting, not leading.

The next evolution of computing is not desktop PCs, laptops, or even smartphones.It's ubiquitous and ambient computing. It's Internet of Things (IoT), where your thermostat is not only connected to the internet but has a smart assistant letting it talk and answer questions. Whether it's intelligent speakers that act on your vocal commands, smart ovens that ensure you don't burn a casserole, or doorbells with full HD cameras in them, we're heading into some strange times.

Computing is now going to be distributed, parallel, cloud-based, ambient, and ubiquitous. The reason for such systems is to improve efficiency, speed, and the simple fact that local, centralized computing networks – or even cloud-based ones – simply cannot keep up with having these many devices constantly connected to them, each vying for precious resources and algorithmic processing. It'll also be inclusive because everyone should be able to participate.

The computer in your bag or phone in your pocket will continue to evolve, but now it's time to make the rest of world "smart" and connected. Instead of configuring computers to our liking, the computers will learn about us, suggesting ideas, things to buy, reminders, and more (much of this is already active if you use Amazon).

Whoever gets to build this world – and the backbone for it – will be in a position of strength decades from now. Think of how Netflix attacked watching movies compared to Blockbuster video. While sending DVDs in the mail was catching on, and it was still well ahead of Blockbuster, Netflix immediately shifted to streaming movies, well ahead of anyone else. The rest, as they say, is history.

That is what Microsoft is doing ... or it's trying to. Whether it is Azure, AI, Cortana, Machine Learning, containers, cognitive services, or bot frameworks — these are the tools that other companies will use from Microsoft to build your next consumer products. Microsoft's technologies, in theory, are what will help self-driving cars, drones, sensors, smart-home devices, and more. Google, Amazon, and to a much lesser extent, Apple, are all attempting similar programs.

We are seeing some of this now. Microsoft's new Timeline feature for the April 2018 update is part of this "intelligent edge". The idea that your PC history follows you in the cloud from device to device (and beyond PCs) is the start of this idea of always-connected, ubiquitous computing.

A bright future for Microsoft — and for you

I appreciate why some consumers may find all this esoteric jargon and future computing talk boring. At Microsoft Build, don't expect Surface head Panos Panay to get on stage to reveal a new phone, or Xbox head Phil Spencer to announce a new Xbox One X mini.

Like the pre-Internet days in the 1990s, it was difficult to imagine 4K video conference calls, 1Gbps internet to your home, or using your phone as an independent navigation tool. But that's all possible now. The intelligent edge, cloud, AI, IoT, and ambient computing are all coming slowly but surely to fruition.

Your technological world is changing right before your eyes, but if you don't pay attention, you'll miss it.

Microsoft has been busy on the researching side of the border for some time with their mobile platform. It has yet ceased to halt at its lightning pace. An interesting update with this path is the release of a Software Development Kit (SDK) for cloud services on WP7, which is designed to aid with Project Hawaii. 

This all sounds quite interesting, and would be great to see how WP7 can interact with Microsoft’s cloud – imagine having the processes and services that take majority of your smartphone resources to be carried out on a remote platform.

The Hawaii team is working on speech-to-text, OCR in the cloud that allows photos to be taken and any text present in any given image will be returned as a Unicode string, and more. You can check out the SDK, which has been released here.

Source: ZDNet

At the end of that Cannes Lions video, Kostas takes a photo and it is immediately uploaded to Windows Live SkyDrive. That ability is going to be key to Windows Phone 7 as well as anyone who uses Office Live Workspace. And combined with Sharepoint, you have some serious cloud computing going on.

In short, we just got word that Office Live Workspace will be combining with SkyDrive to offer that additional 25GB of storage space, as well as further integration with Hotmail and Messenger, allowing seamless manipulation of documents and photos.

The merger is scheduled to occur over the "next few months", no doubt in preparation for Windows Phone 7.

[Thanks, Mark W, for the tip!]

As we move into the future of cloud computing, online storage and retrieval is becoming more and more important.

Dropbox is a popular free file hosting site which offers 2gb of storage (and up to 100gb for paying customers). Like other services e.g. SugarSync, they offer a desktop client which allows drag-n-drop from your computer to the cloud.

The iPhone, Android, BlackBerry (soon) and even the iPad all have "official" clients from Dropbox themselves but alas Windows Mobile and WebOS are absent. Luckily Ruttensoft has stepped up to the plate to make their own client and truth be told, we're 90% sure they did a better job than what Dropbox could have managed.

If you're looking for a solution to cloud-based storage and management on your Windows phone, look no further. Read more after the jump for our review of CloudFiles.

First thing to note about CloudFiles is that it is in beta (0.7 was used for this article) albeit a late stage, meaning at this point we have a very good idea about how good it is plus it is nearly feature complete.

Second is that these betas "expire" and the reason for that is yes, CloudFiles will be a pay app. Clearly this is a downside to non-official programs from 3rd party developers. On the other hand, once you run CloudFiles and you see the detail and elegance that the author has instilled in the coding, you won't think twice about forking over some dollars (assuming they price it less than $10).

Seriously, the app is that good. When people want to see what Windows phones are capable of doing or showing off the UI, this app comes to mind. Part of that is that Ruttensoft has taking key UI designs from Windows Phone 7 and darn it all, it sure looks nice. We also hope this means Ruttensoft will carry over the program to WP7 (and pre-purchased licenses?) to our new baby OS.

On to the app...

Here are the main features (so far) of CloudFiles:

• Browse through your Dropbox Files and Folders
• Create/Delete/Move/Copy Folders
• Delete/Move/Copy Files
• See properties of a file (Name, Folder, Size & Last modified)
• Upload a new file
• Upload a whole folder (!)
• Download a file
• Download a whole folder (!)
• Create a new Text note using the builtin text editor
• Edit text-files within the application, it will directly be saved to your Dropbox account
• Edit all other file types in your favorite Windows Mobile App, afterwards reupload it to your Dropbox account with one click!
• Share your files by sending a link per Email
•  ==> All files using a 30-day-expiration link
•  ==> Move/Copy a file to the public folder and then share it with one click
• Share your files by sending the file as Email Attachment (Downloading it to the device first)
• Create folder favorites to quickly browse to them
• See your Dropbox Account informations (Username, ID, Space used/Free)
• Lots of file type's are skinned in the list
• Autorotation of the app (if supported)
• Landscape & Portrait-Support
• All Touch Screen Devices supported from WM 6.0+, might work on WM 5.0 too.
• Shoot & Upload pictures with one click (!). It will be stored with continuous numbers (SomeName001, SomeName002) directly in your gallery!
• Bit.ly support for short share links (using your own Bit.ly-Account)
• Create a new Dropbox account (new in v0.7)
• And lots more

Catch all of that? There is basically nothing CloudFiles cannot do that your desktop client can. For version 0.8 (coming next week), they are also adding "retry up/download for failed files".

Overall, the app works as advertised with an easy to navigate UI, responsive actions and lets be frank, it's just nice to look at. There are still some little bugs here and there, for instance if left running in the background, the connection to the server will die off and when it tries to reconnect the app may crash (it relies on .NET CF). Also on my LG eXpo, the launch camera/direct post feature returned a "No camera hardware" error and disabled my ambient-light control.

Sharing files with others is easy as you can email the file to anyone. It will download and auto-attach the file or send the public link in a configurable email template. You can also just download the file, edit it directly, copy it or delete. Uploading is also easy with just a simple menu select, you can even overwrite existing files with newer versions (it thankfully prompts you).

What else to say? The program is a perfect solution for Dropbox users and if you are not one, this should sway you to look at it as a viable alternative to whatever it is you currently do to save those valuable photos, .cab files, documents or whatever you want.

What about Microsoft's Mesh? While an excellent desktop client exists, the mobile version pales in comparison to CloudFiles in terms of direct features and options. We do hope Microsoft does not forget about Mesh in Windows Phone 7 because for now, we find Dropbox/CloudFiles a much more robust and powerful solution.

We'll revisit this program once it goes official 1.0 and see if the pricing is as great as the app itself. For now, you can download it right here.