Microsoft, why are you still tiptoeing around object storage? You’ve already got one foot in the bucket—now just climb in and splash around. Link to heading

Here’s the scoop:

Why Windows Should Swim in the Object Storage Pool Link to heading

Right now, if you’re using Windows Server and want your data sitting safely in object storage, you’re juggling third-party tools like rclone, WinFSP, and overlay file systems inspired by projects like mergerfs (primarily Linux-based). These solutions show what’s possible, but it’s like duct-taping wings onto a bus—yes, it might fly, but it was never designed to soar.

Imagine a world where Windows natively mounts object storage buckets—S3, Azure Blob, MinIO, Wasabi—as easily as it handles local drives or SMB shares. No hacks, no duct tape.

But Wait, Isn’t This Complex? Link to heading

No. The scaffolding already exists:

  • rclone mounts object storage smoothly with just a few flags.
  • Projects like mergerfs (on Linux) demonstrate managing local write caches and syncing back upstream efficiently. Windows could draw inspiration from these methods.
  • Handling write queues and cache limits is straightforward: Windows already manages similar errors (disk quotas, disconnected shares).

Microsoft, you’re literally halfway there.

How We Know They’re Halfway There Link to heading

  • Azure Blob storage already has an official Linux FUSE driver. Why not Windows?
  • SQL Server 2022 natively supports S3-compatible backup targets. It uses multipart uploads and handles retries robustly. You’ve already written the code!
  • Office applications naturally embrace object storage paradigms—versioning, immutability, co-authoring—albeit hidden behind OneDrive. You’ve built these primitives; just surface them OS-wide.

Microsoft’s own cloud platform is already playing nice with S3. You built the bridge—now walk across it.

What Native Object Storage Integration Would Look Like Link to heading

Here’s the magic you’d get:

  • Backups: Imagine incremental, deduplicated, and immutable backups stored directly into your preferred bucket. Ransomware-resistant out-of-the-box.
  • Audit & SIEM: Security event logs stored immutably in object storage, trivially streamed into SIEM tools or queried on-the-fly.
  • Seamless Home Directories: Why not mount your home folder from object storage, cached locally? Instant cross-device synchronization without layers of bloat.

Imagine C:\Audit is an S3 bucket with local caching. Imagine %APPDATA%\Documents automatically syncs to Wasabi or MinIO. It’s a quietly revolutionary UX upgrade—like when Microsoft finally added WSL, silently changing how developers perceived Windows.

The Bridge to Modernization (and Money!) Link to heading

The real reason Microsoft should do this isn’t just because it’s cool—it’s because it’s incredibly lucrative and desperately needed:

  • Group Policy (GPOs) could evolve into a modern Desired State Configuration (DSC) model using object storage.
  • Event logs and auditing could shift to efficient storage formats like Parquet, making analysis blazing fast and simpler with tools like DuckDB.
  • The infamous Registry—that ancient beast—could also transition to structured object storage, preserving compatibility through a carefully maintained abstraction layer.

Microsoft, you have the cash, resources, and motivation. Using native object storage isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a bridge that could finally modernize Windows’ rotting foundations without breaking compatibility.

Let’s Wrap This Up (Preferably in a Bucket) Link to heading

There’s really no good reason Windows doesn’t natively handle object storage yet. The technology is there, the use cases are crystal clear, and the demand is strong.

Microsoft you’ve got your big blue cloud, but let’s finally get those buckets mounted, shall we?

Trust me: once you jump in, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.