Microsoft cuts cloudy desktop prices by 20 percent, warns they’ll wake up slowly

Microsoft has told its channel partners to get ready for a 20 percent price cut for Windows 365 cloud PCs, effective May 1st.

The software giant told partners it will cut prices “to make Cloud PCs more cost-effective for small and medium businesses.”

Microsoft has framed the price cuts as an “update” to the service that will change its performance in two ways:

• Cloud PCs stay powered on for one hour after sign-out/disconnect;
• Reconnects after more than an hour might take slightly longer as the Cloud PC resumes from hibernation (with the same performance once connected).

Microsoft calls the above behaviors “a new on-demand start experience” and says it “helps deliver a lower price point while preserving the full Windows 365 Business value and capabilities partners and customers expect.”

Windows 365 for Business offers three cloudy PCs: a Basic $31/month machine with a pair of vCPUs and 4GB ...