But to bring it back to a macOS perspective how many generic corporate desktop deployments does macOS really represent in the total overall market?
Although this is an option that will satisfy
some Mac user's Windows needs in a M1 world, I don't think this current development is primarily about Macs. It's more about a potential "new normal" where employees work from home for most of the week, using their own computers, and come in and "hot desk" at the office for one or two days. Each
desk will still need a computer of some type - but they only need to have a basic installation with a remote desktop client or browser, no personal files or settings - so it is ideal for hot desking. Far cheaper than buying and maintaining a personal PC (please excuse the dept. of redundancy dept. there!) for every employee - especially a laptop. No risk of laptops getting left on the train (if a cloud PC may be compromised, just shut it down or change its passwords), no worries about employees bringing in their own laptops, no company files stored in employees homes, employees can even use a tablet if they prefer...
You could even see dedicated desktop terminals - cheap 'thin client' systems that just booted a linux-based client gaining popularity, but in the past* these haven't really been able to compete with the dirt cheap prices of commodity PC hardware.
*NB: All this has happened before, all this will happen again:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Computer
This time round, ubiquitous internet access, improved 'remote desktop' technology, increasing regulations about data protection (much simpler if you outsource everything to a cloud provider and don't have files roaming around on personal laptops) and the hopefully-nearly-post-pandemic trend for home working, it may even work... "it" being either remote-desktop or entirely browser-based compiting.
