Windows in the Cloud

Microsoft Windows is headed to the Cloud. Well, sort of. Several industry pundits or tech bloggers have reportedly gotten their hands on it recently. One of the leaked copies was released to Paul Thurrott, a technology proponent and champion of all things Microsoft. Another blogger MSPowerUser also obtained a leaked copy. Evidently, it is very real and not just vaporware. Moreover, it is a very specialized version of Windows.

Enter Windows Cloud, or the name attributed to it by the bloggers who delved deep into the operating system’s code and discovered its use by Microsoft. I say operating system or OS, because most of them report that it is indeed a traditional standalone operating system—not a pure cloud play like Google Chrome OS. So, the tentative title attributed to this unique version of Windows is indeed somewhat of a misnomer. Presumably, Windows Cloud is more of a hybrid OS.

Although “Windows Cloud” is very much a traditional operating system, it may very well break the bonds of the so-called “Wintel” consortium. That is, the proverbial Windows and Intel portmanteau or acronym that has existed for decades ever since Microsoft and Intel joined forces in the early eighties. Alternatively, Windows Cloud will most likely run on ARM processors as well developed by the likes of Qualcomm and others in the industry. So, how does the cloud come into play with all of this?

Here’s the kicker. The cloud aspect of Windows Cloud, if any, are the apps that run on it—not the OS, or at least for now. Apparently, from those that have gotten their hands on it, Windows Cloud only runs apps from the Microsoft Store which resides purely in the Cloud. Apps that are sold or offered for free in the store are called Universal Windows Platform Apps. They utilize the Windows Runtime API as opposed to the more traditional Windows apps that rely on the older and more vulnerable Win32 API and Windows registry.

And as most hackers know, the registry is truly Windows’ Achilles heel.

And therein lies the rub. Windows Cloud is most likely an attempt by Microsoft to sandbox Windows and its apps against the insidious nature of black hat hackers. By eradicating the use of the Windows registry and thereby highly vulnerable Win32 apps, Microsoft can drastically reduce the attack vectors of both Windows and the apps themselves. It is important to note that UWP apps can run both in the cloud and standalone, albeit with less functionality for the latter, unlike Chrome OS.

From both a commercial and security perspective, Windows Cloud, for all intents and purposes, seems to be a strong competitor to Google’s Chrome OS. That is, out of the gate, it is intended to be a lightweight and far more secure operating system, particularly for low end devices or hardware, no matter what the form factor (e.g. phone, mobile, desktop, laptop).

While Microsoft’s motives with Windows Cloud are most likely focused on end user security and ease of use, much as Google Chrome is, no amount of operating system and application security can prevent hackers from reaching end users via malicious spam or email. Phishing is now one of the leading causes of breaches in information security. 

Thus, Security Awareness Training seems to be the only remedy for phishing schemes in the foreseeable future, despite the advent of sandboxed operating systems like Windows Cloud, and for that matter, Google Chrome.

William Jeansonne is founder and CEO of IT Specialist Network and IT Specialist.com. Join Will and many others for discussions on all things IT via the IT Specialist Network group on LinkedIn - https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/37485 .