Microsoft plans to consolidate all Microsoft 365 applications into a single domain, cloud.microsoft. Microsoft’s applications are currently scattered across many different domains. This can make it difficult to locate a particular service, especially if it is not memorized.
Microsoft uses a lot domains. Microsoft has created a word cloud that shows just a few domains Microsoft users have to navigate through.
But under this new system, you can instead use URLs like “outlook.cloud.microsoft” and “teams.cloud.microsoft” to get to the app you’re looking for, as shown in the below GIF from the company. It’s much cleaner.
Microsoft states that only “net-new” services will be deployed in this domain. Microsoft says that “existing workloads” will be transitioned at a slower rate because they have a wider range of implications. The company did not specify the length of time this transition would take. Microsoft says that you will not need to change anything in “most cases” to continue using Microsoft 365 applications.
Microsoft’s decision to use a top-level domain with the ‘dotbrand’ extension is meant to increase trust and security. This is similar to.gov sites, which have a certain level of integrity. Microsoft wanted to make sure it was right the first time, so it chose.cloud as the domain before the new one. This is because of its durability and extensibility, and the hope that the new services would work with it.
You can’t use.cloud.microsoft right away. Only new apps will be treated at launch. Existing offerings are likely to take longer due to the complexity and dependencies.
The company did not give a timeframe beyond mentioning a “slower rate,” but it intends to make sure that users don’t need to take any additional steps to use the updated services.
Microsoft announced the news in its company’s blog.
This fragmentation has caused increasing difficulties for the end-user navigation, administrative ease, and cross-app experiences. We’re happy to announce today that Microsoft will begin to reduce fragmentation of Microsoft 365 by bringing user-facing apps and services to a single domain, cloud.microsoft.
