Microsoft recently filed for a trademark for "Windows 365," which indicates that Windows-as-a-service might not be that far off. Here are the details.

Dan Kobialka, Contributing writer

February 9, 2015

2 Min Read
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Could Microsoft (MSFT) release a subscription-based version of Windows soon? The technology giant recently filed for a trademark for “Windows 365,” which indicates that Windows-as-a-service might not be that far off.

Microsoft officially filed for the trademark on Jan. 29; meanwhile, Microsoft eight days earlier announced that Windows 10 would be delivered as-a-service. The Redmond, Washington-based company also started offering a free upgrade for Windows 10 that would be available to customers running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 who upgrade in the first year.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, said he believes that Windows 10 marked “the beginning of the more personal computing era in the mobile-first, cloud-first world.” He noted that 1.5 billion people are currently using Windows, but this figure could increase over the next few years as well.

“Our ambition is for the 1.5 billion people who are using Windows today to fall in love with Windows 10 and for billions more to decide to make Windows home,” he said in a prepared statement.

So what could a Windows 365 release mean for Microsoft and its customers? To get a better idea, let’s take a closer look at Office 365.

Microsoft launched Office 365 in Jan. 2013, and since that time, many businesses and consumers have embraced the cloud-based service.

The technology giant last month reported that there were over 9.2 million Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers as of the second quarter of fiscal year 2015. ZDNet also pointed out that the number of Office 365 subscribers has increased in each of the past five quarters.

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Additionally, Microsoft recorded $26.5 billion in total revenue in the most recent fiscal quarter, thanks in part to its commercial cloud revenue growth.

Driven by Office 365, Azure and Dynamic CRM Online, Microsoft’s commercial cloud revenue rose 114 percent in the final three months of 2014. Microsoft said its commercial cloud revenue is now on an annualized revenue run rate of $5.5 billion, too.

Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].

About the Author(s)

Dan Kobialka

Contributing writer, Penton Technology

Dan Kobialka is a contributing writer for MSPmentor and Talkin' Cloud. In the past, he has produced content for numerous print and online publications, including the Boston Business Journal, Boston Herald and Patch.com. Dan holds a M.A. in Print and Multimedia Journalism from Emerson College and a B.A. in English from Bridgewater State College (now Bridgewater State University). In his free time, Kobialka enjoys jogging, traveling, playing sports, touring breweries and watching football (Go Patriots!).  

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