Month: August 2024

Convenience has a cost, privacy has iPhone

August 14, 2024 /

The battle between privacy and convenience in artificial intelligence (AI) has truly begun, as Google introduces its own Pixel take on AI smartphones, making a subtle (and unwise) indirect dig at Apple for being open to working with others.

Because open beats closed, right?

The new Pixel 9 range ships with support for Gemini AI, Google’s ChatGPT/Apple Intelligence competitor. That means these users will have access to that AI, so long as they accept the privacy risk of using cloud-based AI services. 

The cost of that convenience is some sacrifice in privacy (see below).

Google Gemini v. Apple Intelligence

Strangely, in view of its contributions to privacy, Google doesn’t want the conversation to be about privacy. So, it instead focused on convenience, telling Pixel launch attendees that the device is “deeply integrated with Google apps and Android and can handle complex queries without hand-off to third-party AI providers you may not know or trust.”  

That “hand-off” remark seems to be an obvious dig at Apple Intelligence. Google knows that the Pixel is up against the iPhone and Apple Intelligence and needs to foster the perception that there are shortcomings to those products (and to the Macs and iPads that already ship with AI inside). 

The problem is that when it comes to Apple Intelligence, Apple has developed an AI system with privacy at its core.

That means it can handle many tasks on-device, some using Apple’s own secured servers, and others with help from third-party AI services, currently including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and soon perhaps also Google Gemini. However, Apple prizes privacy and iPhone users will be warned before their request is shared with a third-party AI service provider. That means it is intentional. 

Apple has also designed its AI system to gather and store as little information about you, the device, or your request as it can, while offering its services. That’s privacy by design. 

Privacy beats convenience

It is also why I feel that Google is making a somewhat sophisticated argument when it throws shade at Apple for directing complex requests to “third-party AI providers you may not know or trust.” Because Google is collecting a lot of information about you — and you don’t know how it is used or who gets access to it.

This is the information Google Gemini collects when you make a request:

  • Conversations.
  • Usage information.
  • Location Information.
  • Feedback.

Google says it needs this information to improve its product, but anyone who still recalls the outcry when it emerged that Apple’s Siri teams had access to conversations made with HomePod will surely want to raise the same concern on Google’s statement that human reviewers “read, annotate and process your Gemini Apps conversations.” 

Not only that, but also while Google promises to “take steps” to protect privacy as part of this process, including disconnecting conversations from the Google account, it clearly doesn’t see those steps as foolproof, or it wouldn’t also warn (reproduced in bold text, as that’s how Google published it on its own website): “Please don’t enter confidential information in your conversations, or any data you wouldn’t want a reviewer to see or Google to use to improve our products, services and machine learning technologies.”

Who watches the watchmen?

Now, I don’t know who those human reviewers working for Google are, where they might be, how much they are paid, or the extent to which they may have been penetrated by surveillance operatives. But I suspect at least some teams will be working for third-party companies on Google’s behalf. 

If that’s the case, then when you use Gemini, you are also arguably sharing your requests with outside providers you might not “know or trust,” and while that information might be made private in the sense of removing names, telephone numbers, that still leaves the actual request — which in some cases is too much information to share in the first place.

Think about that.  Then consider that conversations that have been reviewed by human reviewers are not deleted for three years, even if you delete your Gemini Apps Activity.  

What you gain in exchange for these privacy risks is access to a sophisticated Generative AI system capable of helping you get challenging tasks successfully done. 

Convenience has a cost, privacy has iPhone

This convenience comes at a price that will be far, far too high for any enterprise professional handling private or restricted data. Those working in regulated industries will almost certainly be advised to forbid employees against using these systems with company information.

Fortunately, there is an alternative: iPhone (and iPad and Mac) and Apple Intelligence. 

While the combination might not (yet) provide everything ChatGPT or Gemini promise, what it does provide is built with privacy in mind, particularly when it comes to edge-based AI. So, the stark choice Google tried to obfuscate during its Pixel launch is that convenience has a cost, while privacy has an iPhone. 

And those complex queries you can solve at the cost of privacy? We’ve managed to resolve many of them most of the time for the last few thousand years, so perhaps it’s OK to wait until Apple Intelligence can match those features in an AI that’s private by design. Just putting it out there. 

More from Jonny Evans

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AI firms face setback in copyright battle with visual artists

August 14, 2024 /

A group of visual artists has scored a significant victory in their legal battle against AI image generators. A California federal judge has ruled that visual artists can continue to pursue some of their copyright claims against AI companies Stability AI, Midjourney, DeviantArt, and Runway AI.

The artists alleged that these companies used their copyrighted images to train their AI models without permission, violating their rights. While the judge dismissed some of the claims, he allowed others to proceed, including allegations that the companies illegally stored copyrighted works on their systems.

US District Judge William Orrick, presiding over the Northern District of California, stated that the artists have made a plausible argument that the companies’ actions could violate their rights.

“Plaintiffs rely on some of those works to plausibly demonstrate that their works were used as training images and that their works or elements of their works can be recreated through the AI products. The identification of those works may not prove liability under the Copyright Act, but they do provide support for the plausibility of plaintiffs’ Copyright Act theories,” the judge said in a 33-page ruling.

This case is part of a broader legal battle concerning the use of copyrighted material in AI training. The artists argued that AI companies have used datasets, such as those from LIAON, which include their copyrighted works without permission.

The judge admitted the artists’ submission.

“Plaintiffs have plausible allegations showing why they believe their works were included in the LAION datasets. And plaintiffs plausibly allege that the Midjourney product produces images – when their own names are used as prompts – that are similar to plaintiffs’ artistic works,” the ruling read.

The judge refused to dismiss related trademark claims but dismissed allegations of unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and violations of a separate US copyright law.

The bone of contention

The core issue in this case revolves around the AI systems’ use of copyrighted works to train their models, particularly the Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion model, which the artists claim contains “compressed copies” of their works. Judge Orrick noted in his ruling that while the full extent of copyright infringement is not yet clear, it is plausible that the Stable Diffusion model could lead to infringement through its use by end-users.

“If an AI company profits from content based on someone else’s copyrighted material, they are obligated to share those earnings, possibly in the form of royalties,” said Prashant Mali, an advocate who specializes in data protection and cyber laws.  “AI technology was never intended to be used freely at the expense of creators’ rights, and this ruling underscores the need for clear guidelines in balancing innovation with copyright protection.”

This ruling follows a previous decision by Judge Orrick, who had dismissed several of the artists’ original claims in October but allowed them to refile their case. The artists, including Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz, refiled their complaint in November with additional plaintiffs.

Judge Orrick’s recent decision now permits them to proceed with their copyright claims.

Mali pointed out that copyright protection exists for any original work created by an artist. “If an artist has provided explicit consent, such as a No Objection Certificate (NOC), their work can be legally used to train AI algorithms.”

“However,” Mali stated, “AI-generated content must be transparent regarding copyright usage, including providing appropriate disclaimers where necessary.”

While the judge dismissed some of their claims due to procedural issues, like the lack of registered copyrights for many of the works in question, the case will continue to move forward on the remaining counts.

This ongoing legal dispute highlights the complexities surrounding copyright issues in the era of AI-generated content. The outcome of this case could set a precedent for other similar lawsuits, such as those filed by Sarah Silverman against Meta and a class action against OpenAI, which are also being heard in the Northern District of California.

For now, the artists have secured a critical victory in their fight to protect their work from what they view as unauthorized use by AI technologies. As the case progresses, it could have far-reaching implications for how copyright law is applied to AI-generated content and the responsibilities of companies that develop and deploy such technologies.

Microsoft to archive unlicensed OneDrive business accounts, charge reactivation fee

August 14, 2024 /

Microsoft plans to begin archiving unlicensed OneDrive user accounts after 90 days beginning Jan. 27, 2025 — with a fee required for account storage and re-activation. 

There are different reasons why businesses might have unlicensed OneDrive accounts, Microsoft said in a blog post on the SharePoint admin site; if a license has been removed when an employee leaves an organization but the OneDrive account remains, for instance, or if an account has been created but not assigned a license. 

These unlicensed accounts can pose security and compliance problems, Microsoft said, and result in file duplication. 

With the coming change to its OneDrive policy, Microsoft will begin to automatically move unlicensed accounts to Microsoft 365 Archive after 90 days. At that point, the OneDrive account will be inaccessible by IT admins and users. 

According to a message on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, seen by Petri, customers will be charged 5 cents per gigabyte each month to store the accounts in the Microsoft 365 Archive; account reactivation will cost 60 cents per gigabyte. 

Microsoft also offered guidance for managing any unlicensed accounts.

First, admins can generate a report via the SharePoint admin center to identify any such accounts across their organization. These reports — which display information such as username, email address, account type and the date of last activity on the account –—will be widely available beginning this Friday, Aug. 16. 

Once unlicensed accounts have been tracked down, they can be deleted, assigned a new license (which requires a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription that includes OneDrive for the user), or kept in the Microsoft 365 Archive.

Microsoft to archive unlicensed OneDrive business accounts, charge reactivation fee

August 14, 2024 /

Microsoft plans to begin archiving unlicensed OneDrive user accounts after 90 days beginning Jan. 27, 2025 — with a fee required for account storage and re-activation. 

There are different reasons why businesses might have unlicensed OneDrive accounts, Microsoft said in a blog post on the SharePoint admin site; if a license has been removed when an employee leaves an organization but the OneDrive account remains, for instance, or if an account has been created but not assigned a license. 

These unlicensed accounts can pose security and compliance problems, Microsoft said, and result in file duplication. 

With the coming change to its OneDrive policy, Microsoft will begin to automatically move unlicensed accounts to Microsoft 365 Archive after 90 days. At that point, the OneDrive account will be inaccessible by IT admins and users. 

According to a message on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, seen by Petri, customers will be charged 5 cents per gigabyte each month to store the accounts in the Microsoft 365 Archive; account reactivation will cost 60 cents per gigabyte. 

Microsoft also offered guidance for managing any unlicensed accounts.

First, admins can generate a report via the SharePoint admin center to identify any such accounts across their organization. These reports — which display information such as username, email address, account type and the date of last activity on the account –—will be widely available beginning this Friday, Aug. 16. 

Once unlicensed accounts have been tracked down, they can be deleted, assigned a new license (which requires a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription that includes OneDrive for the user), or kept in the Microsoft 365 Archive.

Microsoft patches six actively exploited vulnerabilities

August 14, 2024 /

Microsoft fixed 88 vulnerabilities on Tuesday as part of its monthly patching cycle. Six of those flaws were already being actively exploited in the wild before a patch was available and another four were publicly disclosed, putting the total number of zero-day vulnerabilities covered in this release at 10.

Of the 88 vulnerabilities patched only seven are rated critical, 79 are rated important, and one is rated moderate. But severity isn’t everything when it comes to prioritizing patch deployments, as attackers are regularly exploiting non-critical flaws as part of their attack chains.

“While this isn’t the biggest release, it is unusual to see so many bugs listed as public or under active attack in a single release,” researchers from Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) program wrote in an analysis.

Microsoft patches six actively exploited vulnerabilities

August 14, 2024 /

Microsoft fixed 88 vulnerabilities on Tuesday as part of its monthly patching cycle. Six of those flaws were already being actively exploited in the wild before a patch was available and another four were publicly disclosed, putting the total number of zero-day vulnerabilities covered in this release at 10.

Of the 88 vulnerabilities patched only seven are rated critical, 79 are rated important, and one is rated moderate. But severity isn’t everything when it comes to prioritizing patch deployments, as attackers are regularly exploiting non-critical flaws as part of their attack chains.

“While this isn’t the biggest release, it is unusual to see so many bugs listed as public or under active attack in a single release,” researchers from Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) program wrote in an analysis.

Microsoft has a fix for preventing the next CrowdStrike fiasco, but is it a good one?

August 14, 2024 /

The massive worldwide Windows outage caused by a disastrous update from the security company CrowdStrike made clear again just how reliant the world is on technologies few people understand — seemingly even the companies in charge of them.

The incident is a case study in how vulnerable the world is, not just to technology, but to the occasional short-sightedness and incompetence of billion-dollar companies who use them.

In this case, a run-of-the-mill security update of the kind that’s been done thousands of times over the years went wrong because CrowdStrike simply wasn’t paying attention. In the aftermath, there have been calls for changes to the way those kinds of updates are handled to make sure this kind of thing never happens again.

Chief among those calls is one that says CrowdStrike — or any other company — shouldn’t be allowed access to a key part of Windows that could lead to a crash on every system that uses it. By only allowing Microsoft to touch the most vulnerable part of Windows, the thinking goes, Microsoft can keep the OS safe. Those who make this argument say it’s inevitable that if many companies can muck around with the central core of Windows, one of them will make an error and we’ll have more massive crashes like the one caused by CrowdStrike.

But is that really the case — will that solve the problem? To figure that out, we need to first take a look into how the worldwide crash occurred.

Anatomy of a disastrous outage

CrowdStrike offers security software to enterprises and claims it “secures the most critical areas of risk — endpoints and cloud workloads, identity, and data — to keep customers ahead of today’s adversaries and stop breaches.” 

The company says on its website that it is in widespread use among the world’s top companies, including 298 of the Fortune 500 companies, eight of the top 10 financial services firms, six out of the top 10 healthcare providers, and so on.

It provides cybersecurity via its CrowdStrike platform, which, like many other pieces of security software, is composed of two primary parts: the “Falcon sensor,” which is essentially a kind of security engine and “Rapid Response Content,” which contains data the Falcon sensor uses to check for potential cyberattacks and malware. 

The Falcon sensor does not get updated frequently, but the Rapid Response Content is constantly being updated, sometimes multiple times a day.  That’s because cyberattacks and malware are constantly evolving. The Rapid Response Content has information about new potential attacks, and the Falcon sensor uses that information to keep companies safe. The more frequently it’s updated, the safer companies should be.

The Falcon sensor and Rapid Response Content both have access to the Windows kernel — the very core of the operating system. That means if something goes wrong with a CrowdStrike update, it can crash Windows and make it difficult to get the operating system re-started.

That’s exactly what happened here. CrowdStrike didn’t properly vet a Rapid Response Content update, and it brought down every Windows system that received the update with the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. Restarting Windows didn’t solve the problem because the issue affected the Windows kernel. Each PC with the bad update had to be restarted manually, booted into Safe Mode, and then someone had to navigate with File Explorer to Windows > System32 > drivers > CrowdStrike, and delete a specific file. That’s why it took so long to recover from the flawed update; there simply weren’t enough IT staffers available to do the work.

As for why CrowdStrike let a bad update into the Windows kernel, one reason is that Rapid Response Content updates don’t go through as comprehensive checking procedure as a Falcon sensor update. The company apparently thought Rapid Response Content updates couldn’t do as much harm as bad Sensor updates. The company certainly got that wrong and pledged to fix the problem quickly.

Microsoft’s suggestion for better security

Soon after the crash, Microsoft’s John Cable, vice president of program management for Windows servicing and delivery, wrote a blog post about how Windows could better protect against widespread crashes in the future. There wasn’t anything particularly startling in his recommendations, including, “This incident shows clearly that Windows must prioritize change and innovation in the area of end-to-end resilience.” Cable also recommended using technologies that don’t require security companies access the Windows kernel.

Because of that, many people and companies, including CrowdStrike and other security vendors, believed Cable’s comments were a first step towards taking away security companies’ access to the kernel. They fear Microsoft could argue that allowing too many companies to use the kernel makes Windows less secure, and the more companies that access it the more opportunities there are for errors. The companies see that possibility as essentially a land grab by Microsoft; if companies are denied kernel access, Microsoft could take away their business.

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, for example, warns, “Lest we forget, Microsoft themselves had their own eternal screw up where they potentially let a foreign actor read every customer’s email because they failed to adequately secure their session signing keys. We still have no idea how bad the implications of #EternalBlue are.”

At the moment, even if Microsoft wanted to ban access to the kernel, it couldn’t do so An agreement it made with the European Union in 2009 guarantees kernel access to security vendors. But the company could use the CrowdStrike fiasco as a way to reopen negotiations.

Would Windows be safer if only Microsoft had kernel access? Certainly not. Prince is right — Microsoft has a history of big-time security screw-ups. I’ve often written about them, notably lax security practices that allowed Chinese spies to hack the accounts of high-level government officials, including US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). (All of them are involved with the country’s relationship with China.)

The best way to make Windows safer is to give reliable security companies access to the Windows kernel. Collective security is a better bet than allowing Microsoft to go it alone, particularly given its problematic security history. That was true before the CrowdStrike mess, and it remains true in the aftermath.

The 5 best ways to print and save web pages on Windows

August 14, 2024 /

Modern-day websites aren’t usually built for printing. Whether you want to print a web page on paper, save it as a PDF, or capture a clean screenshot for archival purposes, it’s often harder than it should be. Plus, so much junk — advertisements, pop-ups, navigation elements, and more — can get in the way of a nicely printed document.

But printing and saving web pages is still critical. Whether you’re dealing with an online receipt, a confirmation page, important research, or critical business documents, you often want to keep your own copy of a web page — just in case.

These tips will help you capture a clean version of a web page so you can print it on a piece of paper or save it as a file on whatever Windows computer you’re using.

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Windows web printing path #1: Print to PDF

On Windows and in other operating systems, all modern browsers have built-in PDF-printing features. Just select the “Print” option in your browser’s menu and choose “Save as PDF” or “Save to PDF” as your printer device.

You’ll be able to save the PDF file to a document anywhere you like. Simple. Perhaps you want to save it to cloud storage rather than printing it on the office printer.

On modern versions of Windows, you can also print to PDF from any application. Windows 10 and Windows 11 include a built-in “PDF printer.” Start printing in nearly any application and choose the “Microsoft Print to PDF” printer device to use it.

Save as PDF in Chrome
Modern web browsers and operating systems have built-in PDF printers.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

Windows web printing path #2: Reader Mode

If you’re printing a document and there are ads, images, and other unnecessary elements getting in the way, try Reader Mode. This applies to any type of printing — whether you’re printing on paper or printing to PDF.

Reader Mode is easy to activate if you’re using Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Brave, or many other browsers (such as Safari in macOS). Just click the document-shaped button that appears at the right side of your web browser’s address bar while reading an online article.

Google Chrome makes this a little harder. Chrome only offers a “Reading mode” that appears as a sidebar — and you can’t print from there. You’ll need a browser extension to do so; the Reader View extension for Chrome is a good option.

Firefox Reader View
Most web browsers have a one-click Reader Mode you can access from the address bar — but you’ll need a browser extension for a full-page reading mode in Chrome.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

Once you’ve activated Reader Mode in your browser, you can print normally. Right-click the page and select “Print,” or choose “Print” from your browser’s menu. You’ll be printing the simplified view shown in Reader Mode, and it will be much cleaner.

If you’re using the Reader View extension for Chrome, be sure to click the “Print” button at the left side of the reading mode page to get the cleanest possible printout with no buttons in the way.

Windows web printing path #3: Print just part of a page

Modern browsers let you print just part of a web page, too. To do so, select some text and other elements on the web page with your mouse. Then, right-click your selection and, within the Windows context menu for your browser, select “Print” or “Print selection.”

Your browser will then show you a print preview containing just the parts of the page you selected.

Other options in the Windows Print dialog are also useful. For example, you can often save a lot of paper — or get a smaller PDF file with fewer unnecessary pages — by selecting just the pages you want to print in the print dialog. The print preview will help you determine which ones you need to print.

Windows web printing path #4: Save a screenshot

Printing to PDF is fine — especially once you’ve cleaned things up first with Reader Mode. But many pages will look weird once you print them as a PDF. You might want to save a copy of the web page that looks just like it does in your browser.

You can do this by using normal screenshot tools like the Snipping Tool built into Windows — press Windows+Shift+S or Print Screen to launch it. But that’s not ideal, because you can only capture what you see on your screen at that exact moment.

Instead, consider creating a full-page screenshot that captures the entire page — even parts that you have to scroll to see. This is easy if you’re Mozilla Firefox or Edge. Just right-click a page and select the “Screenshot” option in the context menu, then select the “Full Page” option. You’ll get a PNG image file with everything visible on the page.

Edge capture full page
Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox have powerful full-page screenshot tools built in. Google buries a similar feature in Chrome.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

In Chrome, you’ll need a browser extension — unless you want to dig into the developer console, where Google buried this feature. GoFullPage is a good extension that will capture a full-page screenshot.

Note: this will create an image of the web page, so links won’t be clickable. On the other hand, if you create a PDF from a web page, you will have clickable links. There’s a place for both. In fact, if you’re saving a particularly important web page for later, you might even want to create both a screenshot and a PDF.

Windows web printing path #5: Clip to OneNote

If you’re creating a digital copy of a web page as a PDF file or screenshot, you’ll need to organize and archive it. A better solution might be clipping it to a note-taking app you already use.

Microsoft OneNote is one of the best note-taking applications for Windows PCs — and other platforms, too. With OneNote, you can install the OneNote Web Clipper extension and clip either full web pages or sections of them to OneNote, storing them alongside your notes in a way that best fits your organization style. (This extension is available for Chrome, Edge, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers. Unfortunately, Microsoft no longer offers it for Firefox.)

These aren’t bookmarks: You’ll have the full text of the web page, so you can search it, and you’ll have your own copy in case you can no longer access the web page in the future.

You can also just copy-paste parts of a web page directly to OneNote or another note-taking application you use.

Bonus: Access an archived copy later

Since we’re talking about archiving web pages, it’s worth mentioning what to do if you forgot to archive a web page and need to get a copy later. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine at archive.org is the best place to find a cached copy of a web page.

Of course, this won’t work for private web pages — you’re not going to find an archive of your personal online shopping receipt, event booking confirmation page, or document on your company’s private network here. But you will find older copies of publicly visible websites.

For easier access to this and other archives, you can install the Web Archives browser extension, which is available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers.

This piece was inspired by a question from one of my valued newsletter readers! Want more useful PC advice? Come check out my free Windows Intelligence newsletter — I’ll send you three things to try every Friday and free copies of Paul Thurrott’s Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (a $10 value) for signing up.

Windows 365 — Microsoft’s cloud-based OS explained

August 13, 2024 /

Microsoft introduced Windows 365 three years ago, a service that lets the company cut partners out of the money-making loop by providing virtual PCs to customers.

Rather than provide only the operating system or the OS and bits of other software — notably productivity applications in the form of Office — Microsoft also serves up ersatz hardware, virtual machines running on its vast cloud of Azure servers.

Dubbed “desktop as a service” (DaaS, in keeping with other, similar acronyms) by some, Microsoft’s tagged its offering as “Cloud PC” as in “Windows 365 is your PC in the cloud.”

“Just like applications were brought to the cloud with SaaS, we are now bringing the operating system to the cloud, providing organizations with greater flexibility and a secure way to empower their workforce to be more productive and connected, regardless of location,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement at launch.

Windows 365 hasn’t exactly done away with the need for high-powered laptops altogether — Microsoft and its OEM partners have recently focused their attentions on selling “AI PCs” — but the concept has shown some appeal with enterprise firms, and Microsoft cites FedEx, ING, and Carlsberg as customers. Together with Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365 contributed more than $1 billion in revenues last year, Nadella revealed in Microsoft’s 2023 annual investor report, with a third of Microsoft’s enterprise customers paying for “cloud-delivered Windows” as of mid-2023. 

What is Windows 365?

At its simplest, it’s a virtualization service that provides a Windows desktop and first- and third-party applications to users with both PC and non-PC hardware.

Maybe it’s better to think of it as a streaming service. Rather than stream movies and TV shows, it streams the output of a Windows 10- or Windows 11-powered PC. The controller is the keyboard, touchscreen, mouse, even the microphone of whatever device is in front of the user.

It’s also the latest incarnation of the thin computing model, which harks to the beginnings of digital computing when the computer was massive and cost multi-millions — and endpoints were unintelligent terminals. Like that model, Windows 365 runs the virtual desktop on servers at a distance; the data is transferred over the Internet rather than an organization’s network.

How much does Windows 365 cost?

Microsoft charges a flat monthly rate per user, rather than basing the cost on the amount of activity, as in the amount of Azure resources consumed. 

There are 13 virtual machine configurations available. The most basic (two cores, 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage) costs $28 per user per month; the most advanced (16 cores, 64GB RAM and 1TB of storage space) is $315 per user per month — that amounts to a hefty $3,780 each year. That’s for Windows 365 Enterprise;Windows 365 Business customers pay an additional $4 per user a month for each SKU, in comparison. There is, however, a discount when Windows 365 is accessed via a device that runs Windows 11 Pro or Windows 10 Pro,  however; it lowers the cost by $4 a user each month.

As of August 2024, access to Windows 365 machines with GPUs is now available. There are three configuration options, from Standard, for basic graphics workloads, to Max, for the most demanding uses. GPU pricing hasn’t been made public yet, however. 

So we continue to pay for, say, Microsoft 365 E3 licenses and for Windows 365? Isn’t that double billing?

No, though it’s easy to see it that way.

The Microsoft 365 license gives you the right to use the included software, among that collection Windows 10 (and down the road, Windows 11). The Windows 365 license pays for the virtual PC Microsoft’s built, and Microsoft maintains on its servers that run the operating system you paid for.

It’s no different than if you were on a physical PC. You paid for that with one invoice. You paid for the Microsoft 365 license with another.

What are the different versions of Windows 365?

There are two main Windows 365 products. Windows 365 Business, which caters to smaller organizations with up to 300 employees, is more straightforward to get up and running. Then there’s Windows 365 Enterprise, which has no limit on users. The enterprise version provides more control over the management of virtual PCs via Microsoft’s Intune, as well as integration with Microsoft apps such as Entra ID (formerly Active Directory) and Defender for Endpoint. 

There are also two variations of Windows 365 Enterprise. Aimed at organizations with shift and part-time workers, Windows 365 Frontline edition lets up to three employees share a single Windows 365 license, provided they access the virtual PC at different times. Windows 365 Government is designed for US government agencies and contractors that have access to Government Community Cloud (GCC) or GCC High, with stricter security and compliance standards than Windows 365 Enterprise.

What are the requirements for running Windows 365?

This is simple for Windows 365 Business, as all necessary licenses are included in purchases. 

Access to Windows 365 Enterprise and Frontline requires licenses for Windows 11 Enterprise or Windows 10 Enterprise, Intune, and Entra ID P1. 

What powers Windows 365?

Not surprising, Microsoft’s own cloud computing platform, Azure. Specifically, Azure Virtual Desktop, which can be used to create Windows virtual machines on Redmond’s servers, then stream those desktops to PC and non-PC devices.

Windows 365, Microsoft repeatedly said, is essentially an automated Azure Virtual Desktop, in that the former handled all the scut work of creating and assigning the virtual machines, slapped an analytics package on the result and offered a one-stop dashboard for admins.

Elsewhere, Microsoft characterized Windows 365 as a way for admins unfamiliar with virtualization (or hesitant to learn) to call on Azure Virtual Desktop.

On what devices can we run these virtual desktops?

At a basic level, the only requirement is access to an HTML 5 browser, says Microsoft, so most modern devices with online access will do the job, whether they run Windows 11 or 10, macOS, Linux, iOS, or Android.

Those that want to log in to a Windows 365 PC via the Microsoft Remote Desktop app for Windows will need to meet modest hardware requirements such as 1GB RAM (see a full list here), while access to Microsoft Teams requires a device with at least 4GB RAM.

What kind of internet connection do we need for Windows 365?

This will mostly depend on the demands of a particular app or workload. But, roughly speaking, if you’re able to stream video, you should be good to go . 

Microsoft recommends a minimum bandwidth of 1.5Mbps for light workloads, and up to 15Mbps for more demanding scenarios such as video conferencing or 4K video streaming.

Monitor display resolution plays a role, too — a screen resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels would require a faster 15Mbps connection, for example.

What’s new in Windows 365?

As you’d expect, Microsoft has added numerous features to Windows 365 since its launch in 2021, with several aimed at improving the user experience. Windows 365 Boot option — available since September 2023 — is one such addition, enabling users to connect directly to their Windows 365 PC from the login screen of their device.  

More recently, Microsoft has begun to offer GPUs as an option for workers that require high levels of parallel processing power, such as 3D modelling and video rendering. Microsoft also recently announced the availability of “AI recommendations” that provide admins with suggestions around Windows 365 configurations based on analysis of employee usage data. 

Notion adds charts to help visualize work projects

August 13, 2024 /

Notion users can now create charts to display data held in the productivity app, providing a new way to visualize information such as project status.  

Notion Charts, available to paid users as of Tuesday, includes options for bar, donut, and line charts. These are accessible via the new “chart” view in Notion databases that appears in a drop-down menu alongside table and board views. 

It’s also possible to embed a chart into another Notion document. The embedded chart graphic will then update to reflect any new data added to the source database. This can help liven up status report documents, for instance, while several charts can be combined to create a project dashboard doc. 

The chart view is useful for visualizing the status of a project or tracking OKRs [objectives and key results], Notion said. Customers often use the app to track large amounts of information related to work projects and is even used as a sales or CRM tool, the company said. 

“Charts have become a top feature request, since it’s hard to make sense of and understand progress in your tracker once it’s more than a 100 rows,” the company said. “With charts, we want you to confidently add hundreds or even thousands of rows to your Notion database (CSV import in Notion is great for that!). Then, in a couple clicks, you can make sense of all of that data.”

Notion said its AI assistant technology will make it easier to create effective charts by automatically tagging data. This can be a chore when creating graphs, said Notion — a list of user feedback requests might need to be tagged as “bug,” “improvement,” or “new feature,” for example. 

To help with this, Notion AI will provide a list of tags to designate each database entry. “It can do this for multiple rows at once and then automatically tag a newly created row,” the company said. “This gives you more ways to visualize your Notion data without all the manual work.”