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Microsoft 'Windows App' Offers Access to Windows PCs From Any Device

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Microsoft is launching a "Windows App" that can remotely connect to a Windows PC and provide access to it from any platform. Available for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, PCs, and web browsers, the app also provides a gateway to Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft Dev Box, and the company's Remote Desktop Services.

windows-app-overview.jpg

The Windows app includes a customizable Home Screen from which users can access multiple different cloud services and remote PCs. The app features multiple monitor support, custom display resolutions, dynamic display resolutions and scaling, peripheral redirection, and more.

Microsoft has offered the Remote Desktop Connection app in Windows for years now, but the Windows app signals a broader shift to cloud computing for Windows more generally.

For now the app is only available as a preview for enterprise accounts, but it is likely to support regular customers in time, although the option to sign in using a personal Microsoft account doesn't currently work, according to The Verge. The Mac version requires macOS 12 or later, while the iOS/iPadOS app needs a device running iOS or iPadOS 16 or later. The web version of the app can be accessed by going to windows.cloud.microsoft.

Article Link: Microsoft 'Windows App' Offers Access to Windows PCs From Any Device
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/11/16/microsoft-windows-app-access-any-device/
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Along those lines, just the other day I was thinking of the old "Back to My Mac" that Apple discontinued. I read that it was not reliable for many, but I never had a problem with it that I remember. I have an M1 MBP that I dock at my office and take with me when I leave. But I have been playing with the idea of getting a base model Mac mini to use at my office and the MBP to use while on the go and at home. What I would love is to be able to use something like Back to My Mac on my laptop to view my computer at my office that is plugged into several external hard drives.

Does anything come to mind as a Back to My Mac replacement?
 
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syklee26 said:
So no more Parallels?
Click to expand...
No, this doesn't replace all of the use cases for a virtual machine. This would require some physical machine running Windows to be accessible to you, either locally or via the cloud. It's more like Remote Desktop than Parallels, with the difference being the cloud components built into it.

Parallels would still be useful for when you need to run Windows directly on the same machine.
 
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jcshas said:
Isn’t this essentially the same as Microsoft Remote Desktop, or what am I missing here?
Click to expand...

Yes. This is basically a rebrand of their previous RDP client. Some of the previous UI is also still there:

1700141567036.png


They do seem to have improved a few things. Resizing the window to set the resolution now sort of works, although I find text to be blurry on on-Retina Displays.

Copying files finally seems to be implemented.

I still prefer Royal, but my use cases are more advanced…
 
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Isn't this just Remote Desktop but now Apple devices can use it?

I mean I'm not complaining but this ain't really new this is a feature Windows has had for a long time just rebranded
 
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tonywalker23 said:
Along those lines, just the other day I was thinking of the old "Back to My Mac" that Apple discontinued. I read that it was not reliable for many, but I never had a problem with it that I remember. I have an M1 MBP that I dock at my office and take with me when I leave. But I have been playing with the idea of getting a base model Mac mini to use at my office and the MBP to use while on the go and at home. What I would love is to be able to use something like Back to My Mac on my laptop to view my computer at my office that is plugged into several external hard drives.

Does anything come to mind as a Back to My Mac replacement?
Click to expand...

It's a bummer that they killed it, but "all" it effectively did was streamline the process. If you have, say, a VPN at work, you can achieve the same thing by connecting to the VPN, then to your Mac mini.
 
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jcshas said:
Isn’t this essentially the same as Microsoft Remote Desktop, or what am I missing here?
Click to expand...

It does that and it integrates cloud computing like GeFroceNow for gaming. It's to get people used to rent a pc with a subscription.
 
MacRumors said:


Microsoft is launching a "Windows App" that can remotely connect to a Windows PC and provide access to it from any platform. Available for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, PCs, and web browsers, the app also provides a gateway to Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft Dev Box, and the company's Remote Desktop Services.

windows-app-overview.jpg

The Windows app includes a customizable Home Screen from which users can access multiple different cloud services and remote PCs. The app features multiple monitor support, custom display resolutions, dynamic display resolutions and scaling, peripheral redirection, and more.

Microsoft has offered the Remote Desktop Connection app in Windows for years now, but the Windows app signals a broader shift to cloud computing for Windows more generally.

For now the app is only available as a preview for enterprise accounts, but it is likely to support regular customers in time, although the option to sign in using a personal Microsoft account doesn't currently work, according to The Verge. The Mac version requires macOS 12 or later, while the iOS/iPadOS app needs a device running iOS or iPadOS 16 or later. The web version of the app can be accessed by going to windows.cloud.microsoft.

Article Link: Microsoft 'Windows App' Offers Access to Windows PCs From Any Device
Click to expand...
Oh look. Another way for Windows to run better on a Mac than on a PC.
 
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tonywalker23 said:
Along those lines, just the other day I was thinking of the old "Back to My Mac" that Apple discontinued. I read that it was not reliable for many, but I never had a problem with it that I remember. I have an M1 MBP that I dock at my office and take with me when I leave. But I have been playing with the idea of getting a base model Mac mini to use at my office and the MBP to use while on the go and at home. What I would love is to be able to use something like Back to My Mac on my laptop to view my computer at my office that is plugged into several external hard drives.

Does anything come to mind as a Back to My Mac replacement?
Click to expand...
I have used Splashtop for remote login to a Mac. It works great. I used it for some consulting work to log in to a client's computer in CA from SC.
 
Will this have the bandwidth and refresh rate to play a game on a local gaming PC in another room on the same network as your computer? Or is there some specialized software that's better for that?
 
If you want a perfect working system, get a Mac and / or a PC-System with Linux. If you still don't now why you shoud avoid Microsoft, read they're User Terms.
 
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First thought…oh does this mean I can now access my Alienware laptop to play games on my MBP while traveling for work?

Second thought…I wonder how well it can run the Microsoft version of Excel. I have an Excel plug-in I use most days for work on a dedicated Windows laptop because it doesn’t have Excel for Mac functionality. Would be nice to not have to carry 2 laptops when traveling.

If the gaming angle works for me to run a sim game where frame rates and latency aren’t a huge issue that would be a nice win.

If the excel play somehow works then it’s a grand slam!
 
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