Is Microsoft running away from developing new features for on premise software. Microsoft has now 100% gone cloud first :(

[Captain Lukey]

What is going on? I run Windows Servers 2025, 2022, and 2019 on-premises for testing, as well as various instances of servers and VMs in the Azure cloud. Looking at the lackluster updates for Server 2025 and the removal of yet more features from on-premises software—for example, Microsoft will stop driver synchronization through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) on April 18, 2025, making it exclusive to Azure—it seems like Microsoft is prioritizing cloud services.

Additionally, authentication fixes in Entra ID appear to be rolled out much faster compared to Active Directory. Has Microsoft shifted the majority of its development teams towards Azure software production and services? It really seems like a push toward $$$ and a pay-as-you-go model. So disappointing... or am i wrong?

 

[MonumentNetworking]

Whos data is it when it is in the "cloud"? Herein is your answer.

 

[Captain Lukey]

Whos data is it when it is in the "cloud"? Herein is your answer.

100% agree, but looking at all new products eg windows 11 - Straight from the MS cookbook.. Windows 11 can track your windows and web browsing activity, including your browsing history and any search terms you type into a Microsoft browser, like Microsoft Edge. It can also keep track of any changes you make to configuration settings. (straight to the cloud) even opting out. Unless you 100% firewall and DMZ it ..

 

[Phence]

Whos data is it when it is in the "cloud"? Herein is your answer.

This for server - that's how they make money on server.

On consumer they "allow" or engineer you to be in a walled garden to sync all with one account as advertising and tracking is where they also make money. So syncing across devices etc it's not a feature, it's a revenue stream...

 

[drdepasquale]

Each new version of Windows Server has fewer and fewer new useful features added compared to the last

 

[Captain Lukey]

Each new version of Windows Server has fewer and fewer new useful features added compared to the last

Exactly, I was just looking for the latest Azure feature set..

• SMB 3.1.1 support (encryption & secure transport), moving to SMB 4
• Kerberos & NTLM authentication (Active Directory integration).
• Azure AD & Microsoft Entra ID integration for identity-based access.
• Soft delete & snapshots for data recovery.
• Geo-redundancy (RA-GRS, GRS, ZRS) for disaster recovery.
• Scale-out performance (up to 100 TiB per file share).
• Hybrid support using Azure File Sync (cache files on-prem).

my conclusion is if you need full control, Windows Server 2025 on-premises is better (NICE) .. But according to MS If you need scalability, cost flexibility, and managed infrastructure Azure is better... Ummm

 

[dracocephalum]

The only reason for me to use Hyper-V is because to run Guest Mode RDMA inside a Windows VM, I need a Windows Hypervisor due to driver support requirements (c'mon both Intel and Chelsio). Otherwise I will just go Linux KVM.