Remote Desktop Shakeup, AI for Licensing, and Search Struggles

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This Week in IT, Microsoft is set to discontinue the Remote Desktop App, a new AI startup aims to help organizations with Microsoft licensing, and workers are spending 9 hours a week searching for information.

Links and resources

Microsoft to Discontinue Remote Desktop App for Windows
Windows App to replace Remote Desktop app for Windows – Windows IT Pro Blog
‘Microsoft Might Not Like It’ – Ex SoftwareOne Duo Unveil AI Start-up
‘Digital hide-and-seek’: Workers are wasting hundreds of hours a year sourcing the information they need to carry out their role | ITPro

Episode overview

Microsoft is discontinuing its Remote Desktop app on May 27, 2025, recommending users to migrate to the Windows app, which offers better security and new features. A new AI startup, Onyx, aims to simplify Microsoft licensing through a specialized large language model. Additionally, research from Atlassian reveals workers waste up to nine hours a week searching for information.

Microsoft to discontinue Remote Desktop app Microsoft will discontinue the remote desktop app on May 27, 2025, and recommends migrating to the Windows app for improved security and new features.
Windows app features and benefits The Windows app includes customizable home screens, multi-monitor support, dynamic display resolutions, and Microsoft Teams optimizations.
Transition to Windows app IT administrators should assist users in adopting the Windows app by updating documentation and providing training.
Onyx AI startup for Microsoft licensing Onyx aims to simplify Microsoft licensing using a specialized large language model to provide quick and accurate answers to pricing and licensing questions.
Challenges with general large language models General large language models often produce unreliable answers for specific licensing questions, leading Onyx to develop its own model with safeguards.
Onyx service expansion plans Onyx plans to expand its service to other vendors like SAP and Oracle and provide strategies for optimizing licensing.
Workers waste time searching for information Atlassian research indicates workers waste up to nine hours a week searching for information, causing delays and duplicated tasks.
Recommendations to improve productivity Recommendations include streamlining technology, educating users on cross-functional productivity, and utilizing features like Copilot and workspaces in Microsoft Edge.

Russell Smith

Editorial Director at Petri IT Knowledgebase. Russell has more than 20 years' experience working in IT. From small business to large government IT infrastructure projects. Russell started his writing career for Windows IT Pro magazine in the early 2000s. Since then, Russell has contributed to a variety of publications, including Petri, CDW's list of publications, and various industry blogs including Netwrix, BeyondTrust, and others. In addition to more than 1000 articles Russell has authored, he has also written a book on Windows security and co-authored another for Microsoft's MOAC series. Russell has also authored several courses for Pluralsight.