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Windows App now available on all major platforms

techcommunity.microsoft.com

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Re: Windows App now available on all major platforms

#41

Post by nixosbestos »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #34
sys32768 wrote: post #13

Have you tried the Windows App? You mean Windows? No, I mean the app. Which app? The Windows app. Is it in the Windows app store? Yes, and you can use it to connect to your other devices. Oh, so like RDP? Sort of. But you need an MS 365 subscription to use it. Also, you cannot connect to remote desktop services from a Windows OS using Windows App, only MacOS, iOS or Android. So I should get a Mac or Android to use th…

Azure has already been renamed ‘Entra’. Get with the times.

Well, not quite. Azure AD was renamed to Microsoft Entra.

Re: Windows App now available on all major platforms

#42

Post by basch »

drpossum wrote: post #15
johnklos wrote: post #9

Microsoft has an app called, "Windows App". Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising from a company that named their OS after a single featur, but this name is so much worse. What does it do? The name doesn't say at all. Did it really occur to nobody at Microsoft that "now open the Windows App app" is going to confuse a lot of people? Even after reading the whole article, all I can infer is that this is a "seamless" repl…

Microsoft seems to be terrible at naming things, but their strategy is to confuse people when their products get labeled as garbage and have a stigma attached so they can just change the name again.

youre telling me https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14160809

terrible is the understatement of the century. naming, renaming. different products with the same name. the same products with different names in different contexts. ugh.

Re: Windows App now available on all major platforms

#45

Post by twoodfin »

tsujamin wrote: post #11
johnklos wrote: post #9

Microsoft has an app called, "Windows App". Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising from a company that named their OS after a single featur, but this name is so much worse. What does it do? The name doesn't say at all. Did it really occur to nobody at Microsoft that "now open the Windows App app" is going to confuse a lot of people? Even after reading the whole article, all I can infer is that this is a "seamless" repl…

On non-Windows platforms its a partial UI rework on the existing Remote Desktop Client, but I think on Windows its separate to the existing Remote Desktop Client/App(s) and its specifically for accessing cloud-hosted Windows PCs (Windows365, DevBox, Azure VDI etc)

More specifically, I get the impression it’s part of a strategy to recenter the Windows desktop experience from “the PC on your desk” to “an aggregated view of your workplace-focused cloud services”.

Re: Windows App now available on all major platforms

#46

Post by amanzi »

tsujamin wrote: post #7

Just remember fam: you can use the Windows App on macOS to connect to a Linux RDP session, but you cannot use the Windows App on Windows to connect to a regular Windows RDP session :) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-app/get-started-co...

I haven't tried this on Windows yet because it appears to require a Work or School app. I'm really confused as to why you can't connect to a remote PC from Windows with this app? Is this an intentional strategy, or is it "coming later"? It looks like the "metro" version of Remote Desktop Client app is still available in the Windows store, and as long as I can Start -> Run "mstsc", I'm happy. :-)

Also, on macOS they have renamed the Remote Desktop Client to Windows App and it appears to work exactly like the old app. Which is different to how the Windows version of the app works.

Crazy stuff...

Re: Windows App now available on all major platforms

#47

Post by amanzi »

ryandrake wrote: post #33
xnx wrote: post #10

"With this general availability launch, users of Remote Desktop clients for Windows, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and web will transition to Windows App." I installed the Windows App on Windows and the first screen prompts with "Connect to your cloud resources with a work or school account. Sign in". This definitely does not make Windows App seem like a replacement for Remote Desktop, which requires no cloud account.

Microsoft's desperation to have everyone make a Microsoft account is becoming pervasive throughout their operating system and application portfolio.

But it's worse than that. Anyone can create a free "Microsoft account", but you need more than that to sign in to this app. You need a "Work or school account", which is similar to a Microsoft account, but not the same thing. A "Work or school account" is an account tied to a commercial M365 subscription.

Re: Windows App now available on all major platforms

#49

Post by TowerTall »

Gave it a shot and downloaded the app on win 11 with the intention of trying to rdp from my laptop to my desktop.

When the app started it asked me to sign in (WTF), entered my Microsoft Account (personal, not azure AD) and was meet with the error message: Personal accounts are not supported (WTF).

Utterly useless app at least for accessing on-prem devices on a home network.

I go back to the good old remote desktop app that comes with windows because that is working flawless.

Of course it doesn't work flawless.

If you have been a good boy and followed Microsoft best practice and configured your Microsoft Account to be passwordless account as I have you of course cannot login because, as you would expect, the RDP app doesn't work with passwordless accounts.

It only like 4 - 5 years since Microsoft introduced passwordless accounts so of course that too little time for an organization with 100K+ developers to implement their own best practices in their own products. sigh.

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