Microsoft's Cloud PC service for business and enterprises goes live

Microsoft has announced that its streaming Cloud PC service has reached general availability. Bit-Tech wrote about the announcement of Microsoft Windows 365 and the coming "era of hybrid computing" back on 15th July. One of the questions that intrigued many readers was that of cost/pricing for Windows 365. Now we have that information, and the answer is that there is a wide range of monthly subscription levels based upon whether you are an enterprise or business customer, on the spec of the virtual machine you are renting, and on your requirements.

In brief, a Windows 365 sub can cost as little as US$20.00 user/month for a 1 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 64GB Storage cloud system (see above), to $162.00 user/month for an 8 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 512GB Storage cloud system. Click here to find out the differences between Windows 365 Business and Enterprise, and learn of the hybrid discounts available to business users running this Cloud OS on Windows 10 systems (hybrid discount). Business and Enterprise editions of Windows 365 are priced very similarly, but there is no hybrid benefit option for enterprise customers.

Microsoft boasts about the power, simplicity, and security of a Cloud PC based workplace built around Windows 365. It has created two new blog posts guiding IT managers through setting up its business offering (for businesses with <300 employees) and its enterprise product (organisations with >300 employees).

Many Bit-Tech readers are probably wondering about a consumer version of Windows 365, but such a product is still 'wait and see' as we have seen no announcements about intentions to roll out such a service to home PC, console, or mobile devices users – and thus naturally we have no indication of consumer pricing either.