Microsoft is ready to release a new version of Windows 10 into the wild that runs exclusively in the cloud. But does it have the potential to be a Chrome OS killer?
Being dubbed “Windows Cloud” by those in the know, the latest version cropped alongside existing Windows 10 editions as long ago as Windows 10 development kit 15003 and was spotted by this eagle-eyed Twitter user. That’s about as clear as things get though.
https://twitter.com/statuses/825706128021430275
Whilst there is little cast-iron information on the OS version as it stands, it’s thought to be a stripped down version of Windows 10 and it will only be able to run Unified Windows Platform (UWP) apps installed directly from the Windows Store.
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It seems clear that Windows 10 Cloud is the Redmond-based firm’s latest attempt to stymie the gains being made by Google’s Chrome OS. Various companies who traditionally relied heavily on the Windows PC market have been shifting Chromebooks at a rate of knots. Microsoft reacted to this earlier this month by releasing Intune for Education, an app specifically targeted at the education sector where Chromebooks have been doing so well.
Microsoft has gone down the bargain basement route before with its OEMs. Windows 8.1 with Bing, which first saw the light of day as far back as May 2014, was a cheaper alternative to its full fat version of the OS. The trade-off for device manufacturers looking for a cheap slice of the pie was that Bing shipped as Internet Explorer’s default search engine to try to encourage take up from users for the fledgling search engine.
Even back then there were suggestions that move was made to specifically target Google’s Chromebooks, but it did no such thing as traditional PCs continued to decline, while Chromebooks going the other way. Chromebooks even outsold Apple range of Macs in the US last year to further underline their success.
Windows 10 Cloud is almost definitely on the way given that it is already present in Windows 10 Creators Update test builds and with the Creators Update being readied for mainstream users in the coming months, it’s likely we’ll hear more as 2017 develops.
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Will Microsoft ever be able to overtake Google’s Chrome OS? Let us know in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
