The Blog Subscribe

Like me if you’ve been paying attention over the last week you’ve had a chance digest the recent Microsoft education event when they unveiled new hardware and a new OS. But just in case you missed it here goes…

So there is a new version of Windows. It’s Windows 10 per say, but it isn’t. It’s Windows 10 S. S is a version of Windows that acts and performs in basically the same way as normal Windows 10 but you can’t install your own apps. You have to go and get them from the Windows Store (if you can find them) so any of those Win32 apps you love are no good. Wait. Some Win32 apps like Office are coming to the store with more to follow, so it’s not that the OS won’t run native Windows apps, it just doesn’t want to unless Microsoft deem it so.

But that’s not a problem. Fed up with being tied to an app store? They have this sorted for you. If you pre-order now you can upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free until the end of the year. If you’re in education you can do the same for free. If you’re a muggle then it’s $50. So the question is WTF?

Then there’s the hardware. They have released a Surface laptop that starts at $1000 that comes pre-installed with the cutdown OS. I mean. What were they thinking? If you were looking at these specs and this price you would at least want proper Windows on there.

There is a home for Windows 10 S if you ignore that it is simply a play to cut into the market currently occupied by Chromebooks and iPads, that being that if an institution is engrained into the Microsoft ecosystem then this is a good option as the apps are sandboxed and the devices are easily maintained and vulnerable from the majority of viruses much in the same way as their competitors.

The advantage comes from the hardware that is on the way from Microsoft’s OEM partners such as Acer, Asus and HP who are promising devices starting sub $200. With the cutdown, more manageable OS plus the affordable hardware there may be a cut in during this specific dance. Time will tell.

Got that?

Author

Paul Wright

Gold Subscriber : $20.00 USD - monthly Silver Subscriber : $10.00 USD - monthly Bronze Subscriber : $5.00 USD - monthly