Windows 10 ‘Cloud’

Mary Jo Foley:

So what, exactly, is Windows Cloud? A version of Windows 10 streamed from Azure? Another new Windows 10 subscription plan, in the vein of Windows 10 Enterprise E3/E5? The dreaded (and still nonexistent) Windows 365?

None of the above, my sources say.

Windows 10 Cloud is a simplified version of Windows 10 that will be able to run only Unified Windows Platform (UWP) apps installed from the Windows Store, my contacts say. Think of it as being similar to the version of Windows 10 formerly known as Windows RT or the Windows 8.1 with Bing SKU.

Windows 10 Cloud is meant to help Microsoft in its ongoing campaign to attempt to thwart Chromebooks with a simpler, safer, cheaper version of Windows 10, my contacts say, though Microsoft is unlikely to position it that way (publicly).

For all of the success of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac in recent years, Chrome OS is more of a threat to Windows than anything the industry has ever seen. The low-end of the market has always been the main source of oxygen for Microsoft’s “Windows everywhere” strategy.

★ Tuesday, 31 January 2017