Microsoft readies 'Mohoro' Windows desktop as a service

[Night Hawk]

Will this be the trend MS is taking? Remote Cloud PC for Surface Tablet?

Microsoft readies 'Mohoro' Windows desktop as a service

Summary: Microsoft is believed to be building a Windows Azure-hosted desktop virtualization service that could be available on a pay-per-use basis.

By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft

May 1, 2013 -- 17:27 GMT (10:27 PDT)

In yet another example of its growing emphasis on remaking itself as a devices and services company, Microsoft looks to be developing a pay-per-use "Windows desktop as a service" that will run on Windows Azure.

The desktop virtualization service, codenamed Mohoro, is in a very early development phase, from what I've heard from sources. I don't know the final launch target, but I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't until the second half of 2014.

Mohoro is a town located on the island of Grande Comore in the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean. Given that members of the Microsoft India Development Center may be playing a key role in Mohoro's development, according to my sources, the codename choice seems appropriate.

Microsoft owns the Mohoro.com and Mohoro.Net domain names.

Mohoro, like another Windows service, Windows Intune, is a product of Microsoft's Server and Tools unit, I hear. Windows Intune is still not yet hosted on Windows Azure (as far as I know), but supposedly the plan is to move it to Azure at some point. Windows Intune already does make use of Windows Azure Active Directory as its directory and authentication service.

see full report

 

[King Arthur]

If I wasn't certain of Desktop's eventual and inevitable forced demise before, I am much more certain now.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
It's all about "Monetisation" -- I.E Screw the customer for all you can get.

This is ONE service I have positively ZERO intention of ever subscribing to -- W7 will still run as a decent OS in 30 years time I suspect if any sort of "Computer" exists then.

Not sure I trust all the "Off shored" and "Out Sourced" stuff anyway --especially in low wage economies where for a bit of extra cash people can resort to all sorts of "Unofficial Trades" such as passwords / account details - Bank card and pin numbers.

My experience also with dealing with "Off shored" or "Out Sourced" stuff on the Sub Continent is usually one of a horrendous disaster -- my biggest pet hate are those "menu driven" Telephone Call centres situated in that part of the world followed by being at the receiving end of some of their I.T projects which have gone totally awry such as the failure of Bank ATM's last summer when it was impossible to access YOUR OWN MONEY for around 2 - 3 weeks --have since changed Banks BTW.

If Ms is going to establish its service base in where I think the OP alluded to where it might be - then as you guys in the US say "I'm Outta Here".

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Night Hawk]

I couldn't agree more! Subscription Desktop won't cut it here any! They grabbed the idea from the Windows4All site which was Silverlight based to create a virtual desktop or Web based OS. That was closed down however while the main page is still seen at windows4all.com - Home

The subscription idea now however is to hook all those tablet users into not only buying a new Surface and then find out tablets are still going to be too limited and Win 8 on desktops suffers severely but now they have a new way to grab the mula by making web desktop addicts out of Surface and Metro users!

Now what about security on Cloud especially with 3rd fingers in the till? Here's one for just a few service providers that should raise some eye brows. Don't trust Apple, Verizon with your data, says EFF's privacy report | ZDNet

 

[Jacee]

Cloud Computing Cloud computing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Too murky for me to want

 

[Bearcatrp]

Being off shore frees Microsoft fron US laws concerning your data. This cloud computing BS is getting out of control and I'm for one would stop using a PC before trusting ANY cloud platform. I'll stick with 7 until forced to move on. Then it's Linux time.

 

[jimbo45]

Being off shore frees Microsoft fron US laws concerning your data. This cloud computing BS is getting out of control and I'm for one would stop using a PC before trusting ANY cloud platform. I'll stick with 7 until forced to move on. Then it's Linux time.

Hi there

I think I'd rather have the security provided by various data protection acts that exist in the USA and other responsible democracies (on the whole the USA whatever one's politics does a reasonable job -- in spite of some glaring glitches such as IRAQ, Afghanistan etc) where at least the people who OWN the data (i.e You and me) have recourse to both civil and criminal redress if things go wrong rather than trusting to services and data protection provided by some off shored low wage Asian country.

Recent experiences with off shored I.T operations and Call centres don't fill me with any confidence whatsoever.

However I certainly won't be using this type of service in any shape or form -- I DO have a FREE dropbox account but that's only for file sharing purposes so I don't have any issues there about data loss etc and I'd rather share my files that way with individuals I choose rather than trust to torrent sites.

If companies think people are going to adopt a subscription service in exchange for what they have been using FREE (once they've bought the OS or had it with the computer when they got their machine) for over 40 years then they are going to be sorely disappointed. Corporates might use it but in their case they will only go for it if it is CHEAPER than the services they are currently paying for and with these types of services once you get locked in it's very hard to disentangle yourself from the contract again.

IMO this will become a new LEGALIZED version of RANSOMWARE.

Incidentally it might be interesting to see the take up of OFFICE 365 rather than Office 2010 / 2013 as this is a subscription model -- Ms is obviously testing the waters here trying to sucker people in with "sweet deals".

As far as Cloud Computing is concerned -- the old English expression describes it properly IMO -- "Cloud Cuckoo Land".

Cheers
jimbo

 

[x BlueRobot]

Cloud Computing Cloud computing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Too murky for me to want

Here's a nice little line from the article:

As a result, there could be unauthorized access to the data.

 

[Wenda]

Cloud Computing Cloud computing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Too murky for me to want

Here's a nice little line from the article:

As a result, there could be unauthorized access to the data.

And IMO that should include foreign governments and 'law enforcement ' agencies.

I'll be keeping my data out of the cloud, and if MS goes 'subscription only' I'll go Linux and freeware.

 

[Sarris]

From one of my previous posts:

I hope everyone realizes that the grand plan is to give everyone a dumb terminal and make all computing in the cloud. That way, "they" control all the content, "they" control customizations, "they" control your personal data, AND "they" will charge you monthly for what you used to own outright.

It's already begun.......

I hope the Sheeple catch on before it's too late, but alas, I fear It's a generational issue. All the millennials think cloud computing with open borders on phones and computers is OK and they think they can trust the internet.

I'm 56 yo, and I been screwed big before. On line, I trust NO ONE. Especially M$hit and the big GOO. Look what happened at Fackbook. After a billion or so folks signed up they told their subscribers "we own you photos and you can't delete them". I would be totally PO'ed if my face appeared in say, a condom ad. But it won't be my face or my information, because I refuse to be a part of social media.

Remember... that if the service is free, then YOU are the product.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Ultimate Goal

This is exactly what I (and a lot of people here) have said was the "ultimate goal" (for the past few years, even before W8).

Sound familiar?

Cassandra was the most beautiful of the daughters of Priam and Hecuba, the king and queen of Troy. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, who wished to seduce her; when she accepted his gift but refused his sexual advances, he deprived her prophecies of the power to persuade.

At the end of the Trojan War, Cassandra foresaw the danger posed by the Trojan horse; the people of Troy ignored her warnings and the Greek soldiers hiding inside the horse were able to capture the city. During the sack of Troy, Cassandra was raped by the Locrian (or "lesser") Ajax, and was then given as a war prize to Agamemnon. She returned to Greece with Agamemnon, and tried to warn him of the danger which awaited him there; once again her prophecy was ignored, and both she and Agamemnon were murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

Cassandra

 

[Night Hawk]

Well to put it in English where everyone can follow the reasoning of why the warning bells were sounding off long before Win 8 arrived in fact even before 7 was in mind with most note this from a 2008 InfoWorld report.

July 07, 2008
The dangers of cloud computing

On-demand apps and services have several security risks that IT should address up front

By Ephraim Schwartz | InfoWorld

The idea of cloud computing -- designed around an architecture whose natural state is a shared pool outside the enterprise -- has gained momentum in recent months as a way to reduce cost and improve IT flexibility. But the use of cloud computing also carries with it security risks, including perils related to compliance, availability, and data integrity.

Yet many companies don't think through those risks upfront. For example, having proper failover technology in place is a component of securing the cloud that is often overlooked, notes Josh Greenbaum, principal at Enterprise Applications Consulting. Yet these same companies make sure they have failover for established services, like electricity. "If you look around, go to any major facility, what is sitting in a box outside is an alternative power supply. They don't rely on just the grid," says Greenbaum. He argues that cloud computing should be no different.

[ For more news on developments in cloud computing, see InfoWorld's special report ]

In some cases, the risk is too great to rely on the cloud. And where the decision is made to put some services and applications in the cloud, the business must ask how that risk should be managed.

David Cearley, a vice president and fellow at Gartner, says placing limits on the use of cloud technology is a subtle issue that companies have to examine closely, measuring the risk against when and where cloud computing can be effective. For example, by giving up some control over the data, companies get in exchange cost economies. IT, along with other C-level executives, must decide if that trade-off is worthwhile. Cearley says that everything will eventually be available as a cloud service -- but at any individual business, not everything will be accessed from the cloud.

"In a shared pool outside the enterprise, you don't have any knowledge or control of where the resources run. So if you have a concern over data location, as an example, that may be a reason for not using it," Cearley says.

You can read through the 3 page report at The dangers of cloud computing and finally reach the Trust your "control freak" impulse at the end of the report there! Would you be considering yourself a control freak by trying to use some foresight as well as a degree of "COMMON SENSE"???!

It can be risky enough simply shopping online and running into some bad sites while Clouding things out just as you would half of your personal data on a social network can lead to more potentially serious problems including identity theft! Be cautious about just what information you have goes out on the web is using some of that grey matter inside the lump sticking out of your neck for a change over being "taken for a joy ride" by MS in particular it would seem.

"meanwhile in the background some unwary user is suddenly finding himself... way back, way back. gone! for an "e" joy ride courtesy of a software giant monopoly who manipulates!" ("e" = Electronic web manipulation by Cloud or clod!)

 

[Night Hawk]

Quote:
I hope everyone realizes that the grand plan is to give everyone a dumb terminal and make all computing in the cloud. That way, "they" control all the content, "they" control customizations, "they" control your personal data, AND "they" will charge you monthly for what you used to own outright.

It's already begun.......

Now THAT'S SCARY !!! i really hadn't thought it about it this way! WOW! I love Windows 7 btw s best operating system I have ever used!

What that amounts to instead of saying "power to the people"(user base) you would soon say "power to the corporate"! You are now "owned by" MS!

Right now while still running 7 while still needing to be activated like a good number of other softwares you can still configure the OS side of things the way you want to see them for the most part. You can change themes, wallpapers, screensavers(if used at all), and other things like tweaking performance as opposed to "We control what you see and what you can do! You have now reached the Outer (MS Clown... Cloud that is :sarc Limits!" of the MS form of Twilight Zone where anything they say is possible while anything you want gets "sorry does not compute on Our Cloud!".

That would be a dumbed down terminal type workstation much like an office worker is faced with on a daily basis working with a company's network to perform "their tasks" with the one main difference of course that being the work place over your personal PC now being an MS Says All situation. But just think back a bit to the Windows4All Sliverlight site's limitations to get the better idea of why Clouding isn't for everyone to begin with. Only so much can be offered on anything web based to begin with.

 

[Dallas 7]

Quote:
I hope everyone realizes that the grand plan is to give everyone a dumb terminal and make all computing in the cloud. That way, "they" control all the content, "they" control customizations, "they" control your personal data, AND "they" will charge you monthly for what you used to own outright.

It's already begun.......

Now THAT'S SCARY !!! i really hadn't thought it about it this way! WOW! I love Windows 7 btw s best operating system I have ever used!

What that amounts to instead of saying "power to the people"(user base) you would soon say "power to the corporate"! You are now "owned by" MS!

Right now while still running 7 while still needing to be activated like a good number of other softwares you can still configure the OS side of things the way you want to see them for the most part. You can change themes, wallpapers, screensavers(if used at all), and other things like tweaking performance as opposed to "We control what you see and what you can do! You have now reached the Outer (MS Clown... Cloud that is :sarc Limits!" of the MS form of Twilight Zone where anything they say is possible while anything you want gets "sorry does not compute on Our Cloud!".

That would be a dumbed down terminal type workstation much like an office worker is faced with on a daily basis working with a company's network to perform "their tasks" with the one main difference of course that being the work place over your personal PC now being an MS Says All situation. But just think back a bit to the Windows4All Sliverlight site's limitations to get the better idea of why Clouding isn't for everyone to begin with. Only so much can be offered on anything web based to begin with.

Then think about your cable bill. You know, that bill you pay month after month, and the more TV stations you want, the more you pay. If you want 5 extra stations, they bundle 30, and you pay for all 30. If you want faster upload/download, thats xtra. If you want a movie channel, thats xtra.

Now after writing a big monthly check to Time Warner or (your cable co. here), think of writing another big monthly check to Microsoft.......Every month. Or M$ cuts you off like TimeWarner would. :shock:

Then Adobe cuts a deal with M$ so Reader, Flash, and Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements become a monthly Cloud service available through M$ at an extra monthly charge of course.

Office? Extra charge.
Games? Extra.
If you can think of more to add to the list, so can M$, extra charge of course.

 

[Gary]

Linux is looking better and better every day.

 

[Layback Bear]

The controlling factor with cloud computing is the lack of control the user has.

 

[HarryHusker]

This is a real shame. I understand that MS is not the UN and they need to make money, but this is really pushing it in my opinion...

 

[smarteyeball]

-- W7 will still run as a decent OS in 30 years time I suspect if any sort of "Computer" exists then.

Who is going to be using a 30 year old OS, really? We will have adapted by then.


But yes the idea stinks. Stinks to high heaven for home users. We 'rent' Windows as is. Bloody well keep it as a one off payment.


It has it's merits, but this 'always on/hosted elsewhere' is not viable for everyone. Being reliant on another country is a bad idea for a multitude of reasons.


It's bad enough not being able to access an app/game because servers are down. Being stuck at a gimped terminal would be infuriating.


Let's hope Linux distros wont go the same route.

 

[King Arthur]

Being reliant on another country is a bad idea for a multitude of reasons.

Made in China.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Fork Them

Let's hope Linux distros wont go the same route.

If the mainstream distros do it (e.g. Ubuntu is a likely suspect) someone will fork an older distro to eliminate this insidious problem.

It's strange; if the US Government tried to "force" people to use the "Cloud", lots of people would be rioting in the streets.