On Windows 10 S Going App-Store-Only

Dieter Bohn, on Twitter:

Microsoft beats Apple to releasing a locked down, App Store only computer.

Odd!

I think that fairly captures a lot of people’s reaction to Windows 10 S. But it’s interesting to me that the premise of the tweet ignores the iPad, which has been completely locked to the App Store all along. I’m not accusing Bohn of an oversight here. I don’t think he forgot about the iPad, but rather that he doesn’t even consider the iPad a “computer”.

I, for one, don’t find it the least bit odd or surprising that Microsoft has shipped a version of Windows that’s locked to their app store before Apple has done similarly with MacOS. That’s a fundamental aspect of Apple’s dual OS strategy. Microsoft only has one OS, Windows, so if they want to ship a laptop with the advantages of being restricted to software from an app store, they have to do it in a version of Windows. I wouldn’t go so far as to state with certitude that Apple will never ship a version of MacOS that is App-Store-only, but I would bet against it.

★ Tuesday, 2 May 2017