Microsoft is about to kill off its weirdest Windows 10 experiment (Windows 10 S)

[LASER_oneXM]

If the rumors are true, Microsoft is about to ditch Windows 10 S. After struggling with this unmanageable operating system recently, I say good riddance.

When Microsoft released Windows 10 S last May, I was as skeptical as anyone. In fact, I called this weirdo operating system variant "the future (but not the present) of the desktop PC."

I'm going to speculate that the S stands for someday. Because this new Windows edition is probably not one you want to run today, but it is clearly version 1.0 of something we'll see in two or three years.
[Y]ou should consider Windows 10 S, in its current state, to be a not particularly sophisticated version 1.0.

As introduced on the Surface Laptop and, much later, on a wave of low-cost third-party PCs aimed at the education market, Windows 10 S was basically Windows 10 Pro, with a locked-down configuration that prevents users from running any apps that aren't included with Windows 10 or available through the Windows Store.

That's not a bad concept, but it was terribly executed. And so, nine months later, it appears that Microsoft is about to kill off Windows 10 S the operating system and instead turn it into a feature: "S Mode on Windows 10."

Good riddance.

That change might deal with the fatal flaw of Windows 10 S as introduced. The point of this operating system variant, I observed last year, is to solve "the biggest problem in personal computing: the clueless PC user who can't resist the siren song of unwanted software."

On a PC running Windows 10 S, technically unsophisticated users can't download and run executable files (including third-party browsers like Google Chrome), nor can they use a command prompt to run scripts or PowerShell commands.

Unfortunately, neither can technically sophisticated users. Which means when something goes wrong in Windows, those same security features effectively prevent an administrator from using standard repair tools.

 

[TheJokerz]

Interesting, I was wondering how long they where going to roll with that crappy variant of windows. It seemed to me they were trying to compete with chrome books and that just did not seem like a smart move.

 

[212eta]

Typical Microsoft Experimentation...

 

[Ink]

ZDNet has a misleading title, here's a better one:
Microsoft ditches Windows 10 S in favor of new ‘S Mode’

Neowin first spotted that Microsoft is planning a new “S Mode” for Windows 10 Home, Enterprise, and Pro.
This S Mode will essentially lock down any copy of Windows 10 so it can only run apps from the Microsoft Store, and does exactly what the dedicated Windows 10 S operating system was built to do.

Rather than being introduced as a restricted OS, "S Mode" might have some potential popularity.

As does the appeal to buy a Chromebook that support Android apps.