Trying out the Windows 365 Client
In breaking news last week, Microsoft announced that there is a new client for Windows 365 entering preview.
Tap tap… this thing on?
This is significant because there hasn’t been a news announcement or a substantial improvement to the Remote Desktop app in more than a decade.
The closest was when CloudJumper (now Spot PC by NetApp) created a wrapper designed to intelligently update devices for printing purposes and to deliver a smoother support experience for end users. Fun fact - that same client was what unlocked Wake on Demand for AVD well ahead of what Microsoft built and introduced as Start on Connect.
My first thought was, what does this new client deliver that we don’t have today? It has to be a notable step forward, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth the time to build a new app - especially since it’d largely be a duplication of effort. Instead, what I found is that the new client delivers a lot of the improvements the Windows 365 web client does.
The official list of value-add features and functions is below, with the items I’d emphasize in bold:
Use of a Cloud PC as a window or full screen
High-performing, reliable experiences for Microsoft Teams, multimedia redirection, and other Microsoft 365 apps
User actions to Restart, Reset, Restore, Rename, and Troubleshoot Cloud PCs available directly from Windows
A direct single sign-on experience
Support for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Microsoft Authenticator for secure access to Cloud PCs
Accessibility using screen reader and keyboard shortcuts
Regular and automatic app updates to ensure employees are using the most up-to-date version of Windows 365
Rebooting your Cloud PC, or renaming it, is convenient for end users. Troubleshooting it and providing relevant system information? That’s critical to provide to your help desk/support team in order to get a timely resolution to your issues - IF the average end user can find it. Solid improvements. You can also restore it to its base image via the Reset function - something I’d caution end users against doing unless they’re a member of the IT team.
I’m curious if this will also let end users up-size their Cloud PC if needed - that’s a nice feature for users who 1) are coming up against resource constraints and 2) their org has enough licenses of various sizes.
That’s also breezing RIGHT past the benefits of SSO, where users used to have to enter their credentials more than once with the Remote Desktop app… we don’t need to say anymore. That’s a huge UX win.
In summary? I don’t know what about this would still be considered “In Preview”, but in my opinion it’s worth documenting internally, training IT on (please, please, never skip those two steps!) and sending the updated client out to end users straightaway.