It seems that Windows 10X will not find its way to the shelves after all. The operating system, which was supposed to compete with ChromeOS, was expected to be released this year.
Those plans have been jettisoned, Petri sources say. Microsoft has put the developers who worked on Windows 10X back on Windows 10, and Windows 10X will definitely not be released this year. It may still happen later, but it won’t look like the screenshots that were leaked earlier.
OS for Surface Neo became ChromeOS competitor
Microsoft announced Windows 10X a few years ago. The operating system was originally intended for the Surface Neo, a kind of double folding tablet with two screens. That device never came out, because Microsoft was still working on the development of the operating system intended for it.
In time, however, the scope of the project expanded and Windows 10X became an operating system for cheaper devices with long battery life. A large part of the features in Windows 10 were removed, in order to make an operating system as simple and secure as possible. The whole system would mainly revolve around the web browser and classic desktop applications could not be installed. That last feature would come later. With this, Microsoft would directly compete with Google’s ChromeOS.
In the past few months, rumours about Windows 10X kept popping up. Several outsiders managed to get their hands on early versions of the operating system and shared screenshots with the world. They showed a fairly complete operating system, which was very reminiscent of ChromeOS.
Similar products were unsuccessful
Why Microsoft is pulling the plug on the project is unclear. Perhaps Microsoft has learned from all its previous attempts to release devices where applications could only be installed via the Microsoft Store. Both Windows RT and Windows 10S were not a success. In any case, the increased focus on Windows 10 development can do little harm, as several promised features are still pending, including emulation of 64bit x86 applications on ARM processors.
Sun Valley
Elements of Windows 10X will likely return to Windows 10 later. Rumours speak of a future major update called Sun Valley. This update should bring a significant change to the user interface and is planned for this autumn. This month sees the release of update 21H1, although the changes are less dramatic.
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