Good news for PC users: Windows desktop software isn’t going anywhere. In fact, every operating system wants to run it.
A decade ago, the tech media was full of pronouncements that “PCs are dying” at the hands of the iPad. But in 2023, the hot new commodity is Windows desktop software. More and more operating systems are now running Windows desktop apps it once seemed everyone — including Microsoft itself — wanted to leave behind.
At a glance, it’s easy to say this is just about Windows business applications, or it’s just about PC gaming, or it’s just about people wanting to offer access to decades’ worth of software on their devices. Itss definitely about all of those things — and more.
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Windows apps are increasingly running in the cloud
Increasingly, Windows desktop applications run in the cloud so you can access them from any device. If your iPad or Chromebook or smart TV can’t run Windows software, just run Windows software remotely on a server and access it there. These classic desktop applications are often called “Win32” software, though they can be 64-bit applications as well.
Microsoft is betting big on this with Windows 365. Currently available only for businesses, Windows 365 is a Windows desktop-as-a-service hosted by Microsoft. Businesses can set up their employees with remotely accessed Windows desktops. Those employees can access them through nearly any device: a Chromebook, Mac, iPad, Android tablet, smart TV, smartphone, or whatever — even from a PC. Microsoft is building better support for accessing Windows 365 desktops into Windows 11, letting you flip between your cloud PC and local PC from the “Task View” button on your taskbar or even boot straight to a Windows 365 cloud PC desktop on a physical Windows 11 PC.
While this is only for businesses at the moment, internal documents show Microsoft is working on Windows 365 cloud PC plans for home users.
It’s not just about Microsoft, either. Even Google now has a new solution for running Windows apps natively in ChromeOS called “ChromeOS Virtual App Delivery.” It turns those Windows desktop apps running remotely into apps that integrate with ChromeOS. It’s like Windows 365, but Google is offering just individual apps and not a full Windows desktop.
Even consumer services are finding more success running Windows software remotely. Just take a quick glance at the cloud gaming space: Google’s shuttered Stadia cloud gaming service relied on game developers porting their games to run on Stadia’s Linux-based system. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service is running on Windows, using Windows games. Betting on Windows software (rather than…
2023-09-09 10:48:02
Source from www.computerworld.com rnrn