From DailyTech: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Jan. 29 submitted a pretty intriguing trademark finding to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In the filing it applies for a trademark on the term "Windows 365." The filing was first spotted by a reader of Neowin.
What at first looks like a ho-hum filing really hints at a potentially market-changing upcoming product. Imagine, for a second a Lumia 635 budget smartphone that could destroy the most powerful iPhone in gaming graphics at a tenth the cost That's the radical promise of Windows 365.
So from the filing we can tell that Microsoft is possibly planning Windows 365 as a consumer aimed offering (as evidenced by the "entertainment, music, and interactive games" bit) for mobile devices (traditional PCs are not mentioned).
In other words Microsoft appears to be plotting some sort of cloud-driven Windows on a super-thin client -- a phone. Think Windows Azure only for consumers.
It appears that key features of this "platform as a service" (PaaS) would be remote IT support and troubleshooting (including remote restoration and debugging of crashes). Remote support would also be leveraged to educate the consumer on platform features. The IT support services could give Microsoft a way to monetize the OS in the consumer space, where it would likely be offered at no mandatory cost to consumers under the "freemium" model.
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