windows 12 in the cloud

Windows may be cloud based but you still need local OS to access cloud OS.
Cloud OS will likely be just an option to access more computing power for additional payment, but there is no way to replace regular Windows.

You can replace a full blown PC / full OS with a Thin Client. Very minimal hardware and software. I guess it depends on what you define as an Operating System?

alphanumeric said:

You can replace a full blown PC / full OS with a Thin Client. Very minimal hardware and software. I guess it depends on what you define as an Operating System?

This so unlikely, first computer manufacturers would have to start producing computers that require no computing power because everything will be in the cloud.
Which is really unlikely because expensive computers are produced and sold for gaming everything in the cloud is just impossible I would say for the next 100 years.

unifex said:

I can explain that. I was using Windows 7 for a long time, gave it up just a year ago. I never had any problems with drivers (everything just worked) so I would not know anything about "poor driver support", I don't use (I think) any "secure boot", at least I don't know if I do and I certainly don't care, I never used Hyper-V, all that stuff is permanently off, the printer always worked, nothing "flakey" there, task manager worked - and I certainly don't see any improvement in 10 or 11 with it. At the same time, nobody pushed updates on me, start menu made sense, there was no "store" with its "apps", so yea, I liked it way better than 10 and I see nothing in 11, except that it does feel a bit faster than 10, I just did not have the time to investigate that properly.

Just because it worked for you is not the point. It just cannot handle the range of modern devices. Nostalgia ain't the same as it used to be.

unifex said:

That was not your question. You said, you don't get why people like 7 and gave examples where it's supposed to be lacking. You did not say a word about "modern devices". I explained why I like it and to me, that is the point. I bet there are lots of people with similar usage patterns hence "people rave over W7".

Now, of course 7 does not support modern devices - if nobody writes drivers it can't, can it? That's why I finally installed 10 - there were no drivers for my new motherboard. Would it be impossible to write drivers for 7? I don't believe that. I don't see how 10 is so fundamentally different. The UI is much worse, updates are forcefully pushed, etc., but under the hood? I don't think there is anything revolutionary. But with EOL on the part of Microsoft, vendors just don't work with 7 anymore. So one is forced to the new OS. Does not mean that it's "better". Actually, I don't see anything "better" about it.

There have been major under the hood changes.

It is not just drivers - it is the windows APIs (application programming interfaces) that software needs to access.

These have been extensively rewritten.

W7 is a dinosaur - end of story. No point in discussing any more

zebal said:

This so unlikely, first computer manufacturers would have to start producing computers that require no computing power because everything will be in the cloud.
Which is really unlikely because expensive computers are produced and sold for gaming everything in the cloud is just impossible I would say for the next 100 years.

Thin Clients are out there now, businesses use them. I'm not saying its the answer etc. Just that they do exist, and may be an option for some.
There are some very inexpensive PC's out there that could handle the task of cloud connectivity etc. I have a couple or Raspberry Pi 4B SBC's here that are pretty feature rich for what you pay for them. Mind you I don't game on them. I do that on my XBOX.

3nd said:

MS making it harder and harder for average people to run their OS ...in my opinion

For those preferring to stay in the past that may be true, for those moving forward not so much

The cloud is here and isn't going away just as e-commerce didn't go away.. and today everyone uses it