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Microsoft Unveils Windows 10 S, an Education Edition Limited To Windows Store Apps (venturebeat.com)
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a new edition of its latest operating system: Windows 10 S. Available on first-party and third-party hardware -- Microsoft will be releasing its own Windows 10 S device and will also let manufacturers sell their own -- Windows 10 S is a streamlined edition of Windows 10 aimed at the education market. From a report: "We really are working hard to deliver the best platform for education, for students of all ages and school districts of all devices," said Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president in Microsoft's operating systems group, about the new Windows 10 S release. The main way that Windows 10 S differs from the other editions is that it can only run apps from the Windows Store. That includes Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps and Win32 apps that Microsoft has approved into its app store. The goal is to avoid the problems of traditional Win32 apps that often run in the background and push their own updates. Microsoft wants to stop apps from hooking into the boot and sign-in process to handle all their own updates, which in turn slows down startup time. Windows Store can take care of this today, but Windows 10 S makes it the only way to install and update apps. As a result, Microsoft hopes Windows 10 S will be able to offer faster sign-in times and better battery life. This is still a full version of Windows 10. It's just locked down to only work with apps that Microsoft has approved, similar to how Apple and Google lock down iOS and Android to their respective app stores. The operating system follows the company's Intune for Education announcement back in January. Those systems created by third-party hardware partners like Acer, Asus, HP, Dell and Toshiba, start at $189.
....just like Windows RT was? I believe someone opened that up if I'm not mistaken.
I'm sure someone with decision making power will buy this and force implementation on some unfortunate soul.
Why have the opportunity to get applications from multiple sources when you can restrict everyone to only purchasing from Microsoft! Who cares if they have made available the actual programs we would like to use, when there are others with half as much functionality (and the added benefit of Microsoft getting a cut of the sales from) they can force you to use?
Why aren't we dumping large amounts of money into ReactOS and WINE? It seems like it's high time to put together a real alternative to a Windows that can still run a Windows software.
Mark my words, this version of W10 has nothing to do with the education markets. Microsoft is just using them as a lab rat to get people used to the notion of having everything locked down to their app store. Soon enough, Secure Boot will become mandatory, and you'll find yourself having to jailbreak a fucking PC just to make it useful again.
Walled-garden Edition. Also rhymes with ME, another colossal MS failure.
If this gets adopted, expect it to become the norm at some point in the future for all editions. Once software devs adapt their distribution to not lock themselves out of the edu market, it will be very easy to throw the switch and wall off the rest of the OS.
Humph. I hope there is a "install app from unknown sources" checkbox as Android have.
Another os that'll track, record every thing and advertise to my child... from birth to death. A parents dream!
Microsoft can't help but see how profitable it is for Google and Apple to have walled gardens, whereby each gets a huge cut of the profit for each app on their respective stores. It's only natural that Microsoft wants in on that as well, and since its phone market is nonexistent, it has to turn to PCs.
Forget the 3rd Party, I'm worried about the 1st party updates. Windows Update is far from fixed, optimized or efficient in anything except taking absurd amounts of time to copy files and edit the registry.
My guess is this is a hobbled version of the Signature Edition (probably what MS wants the S to mean, but I'm sure it will get a different moniker) that removes the msiserver service to prevent installs. That's OK, I'm sure portable applications will still work fine for the unfortunate people that get stuck with this.
They want to "educate" you to believe that Windows Store apps are all that there is.
For those who might have already learned otherwise, Microsoft will eventually offer special summer camps for a more "intensive education" to allow students "relearn" what they've learned incorrectly. These will be called Windows Reeducation Camps.
education market some times in house apps / customized software just for that school district.
Also what about java / flash / other plug in / activex web sites that may be needed?
MS is trying to copy Apples walled garden approach... and it's a BAD idea.
I got news for you, assholes... NOBODY buys windows to get locked into using only certain apps... they buy it to have a more CHOICES...
There's a reason Apple has lost market share in schools in recent years, and it's not just the cost of hardware.
Can that sandbox work with system wide app data and not sandboxes user only data?
In the past not all systems in the edu market had per student logins.
games in the windows store will need full modding and be able to have more then 1 exe say a game exe and an map edit exe.
In game mod workshop systems / manual mod installing. civ 6 has workshop and manual install with an in game mod manager.
I guess English speakers know what the 'S' stands for :)
They really want to try Windows RT again. Good luck. I get that outside applications using updater services is annoying, but that's nothing but a scapegoat here. It's pretty obvious to everyone that MS eventually wants a cut of every application sold.
Also what about java / flash / other plug in / activex web sites that may be needed?
You're right! Just like little kids should be allowed to get a scraped knee from time to time while playing, they should also be get their computers infected from time to time.
It's a learning process.
So on a lark I went to the Microsoft store web site and tried to find a few applications I knew would be useful in education - R, yEd and QGIS.
I gave up. I couldn't even find a friggin' search box.
What the hell, Microsoft? Why are they making it hard to search their own online store?!?
...is to severely lock down what they can do!
Yet another brick on the road to absolute tyranny.
Another vendor wants to control everything.. in pursuit keep churning out nonsensical justifications... oh...it's more secure... uh huh.. can't even prevent their own software from being unintentionally compromised when they fully control source code and all aspects of development...I'm sure they have the power to properly vet all the shitware CAUSED by race to the bottom app store environments... jails and hypervisors keep users safe not preventing unblessed execution... oh and the ever priceless when everyone implements the same shit we do THEY suck at it... Particularly rich argument given how resource intensive windows update is. If they wanted to they could create a useful vendor independent interface for managing updates the same way software installation interfaces are standardized and widely used because they provide a useful path of least resistance and value to users and vendors alike.
No this is nothing more than a selfish power grab. Many are clamoring to bring about a "future" in which unclean hands are forbidden from owning general purpose computers where all software is locked down for approval by state/megacorp. Centralized control, centralized extraction of value from the market, monopolistic dominance and pervasive monitoring. As we have seen demonstrated with iPhone's denying rights/censorship using technical measures divorced from anything resembling representative governance.
A more likely outcome is sufficient number of people abandon Windows forever allocating more resources for development of alternatives hastening a future in which MS is no longer relevant. I fully expect Microsoft will "die trying" to turn Windows into the next Apple iPhone.
MS management couldn't even understand desktop users didn't want crummy watered down interfaces.. or locked down windows that couldn't run their software (RT) when they started down their path to madness starting with Windows 8 "metro" shell... Now after fully embracing the same business practices as malware vendors they have become incapable of performing the basic function of provisioning more value to their customers. Inevitably someone else will fill the vacuum.
So Microsoft offers a Windows ecosystem vs a Google one with Chrome OS. That's all it really comes down too. Cheap hardware, locked into a cloud system and app store. I wouldn't myself buy into either one because its too restrictive to be really useful.
Microsoft to teach a new generation of students that Jailbreaking is necessary to get basic functioanlity out of their laptops.
Obviously this is the Windows 10 Sucks edition. Now, I know you're thinking that it should be Windows 10 SM (Sucks More), but Microsoft actually thinks that Windows 10 is a good product. They argue, but it starts up fast! Even if they constantly break drivers, supported hardware doesn't work at all and they constantly spy on you.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
Microsoft Paranoia still reigns, and with some good reason, but I think the walled garden approach here is mainly about Chromebooks. Schools are buying Chromebooks because they are simple to maintain, and MS is producing a locked down windows product to compete. Whether this indicates long term plans of MS to try and implement on all of Windows, feel free to speculate away. I think a hybrid approach is more likely. They want a cut of the walled garden, but they still have to accommodate a large portion of their customers.
Too young and dumb to know any better. Plus, in a scholastic setting, where they're limited to start with -- bonus points! The word I want to use here is 'indoctrination'. Just Say No, everyone; think of the children!
The goal is to avoid the problems of traditional Win32 apps that often run in the background and push their own updates. Microsoft wants to stop apps from hooking into the boot and sign-in process to handle all their own updates, which in turn slows down startup time.
In defense of Microsoft's decision I think this is a good idea (partially).
As a system's administrator I do what I can to shut-down scheduled jobs and launch on startup from apps that don't need it. I especially try to prevent apps that annoy the user by begging for updates from having their beg service run. Everything Adobe has touched in the past 20+ years, Java, even browsers do this. I use a Kace K1000 system to push updates to users, and I handle updates to those apps. I don't need users calling me for updates within an hour of Adobe releasing a new point revision on Acrobat reader. I'll have it pushed to the users within a couple of days depending on my work load.
That's what I do at work. I'm a Linux user at home. I've been saying for years using the Apt Package manager is easier than maintaining software on Windows. It's also easier than keeping up with software on a Mac. I've got both stand-alone software and software manager software both at work and at home - gamers - tell me Steam isn't 100x's better than the old fashioned keep up with the boxes, the disks and every single patch from a different website as well as the drivers in the days of yore.
I realize Microsoft is evil.
Apple I can chose between the store or manual installs - though it does progressively harass you more about unsigned stuff with each OS release.
Linux - I can use an apt repository like I do for nearly everything, or I can download/install it separately like I do for Calibre and MakeMKV.
For students the lock-down thing may not be a bad idea. For corporations on the full-blown MS bandwagon it may not be a bad idea. That being said I've never worked for any company that didn't have one piece of poorly written software that doesn't comply to normal or modern conventions the whole place nearly runs on. That shitty software is going to have to run on something other than one of these - I see up uptick in Citrix use in the future...
I would jailbreak and replace the OS on this like I do nearly everything else for my own personal use, no surprise there, I haven't used Windows at home since 2000 was now. For handing out to users that don't have the good sense not to download stupid shit and cause problems for me, I could get behind something like this at a corporation.
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This WinX-S version is a play for the market dominated by the iOS walled garden and Chromebook hosted apps, being sold as one-laptop-per-child crowd [schools etc.]. While I love the ReactOS project it's not a viable alternative for a supported roll-out.
only to keep free software away from their garden... sincerely, my next machine will run only GNU/Linux
What makes you think modifying anything will be allowed in such a bleak future?
And they'll teach us it's great to be limited in options and to give up all the flexibility and freedom PCs traditionally provide. We will gladly learn whatever they teach, and praise them for their wisdom and courage in destroying the PC, the last menace to an ordered software world, supervised by Microsoft for our own good.
It wouldn't be surprising if there's quite a bit of encouragement to login, give details and tell kids it's ok to tell us all information. Oh wait, we commit personal information theft regardless. It's in the EULA.
steam to is big to lock out and if you do nvidia / amd can cut windows off from the good video drivers and do most of there dev time on the Linux drivers.
but only 1 app store that has censorship that is not even if you can't have adult games then why is ok to have HBO / MAX in the app store?
So it's an education version, but it will be available everywhere? I don't get it. That's not an EDU version of software. It's just another consumer confusing version of Windows 10. Unaware consumers walking into their local big box store will end up machines with S on it unaware of it's restrictions.
Sent from my TARDIS
For crying out loud, it says right in the article that it can be upgraded to Pro if you want to. How did this place go straight to irrational stupidity and brain dead morons to outright retardation?
Has anything been said about PAE or are the rumors wrong? (I remember it mentioning 4GB of RAM but also a 32-bit version for only 32GB of storage for example.)
....just like Windows RT was?
Apparently not quite - it seems that it is a full version of Windows, unlike RT, just with a restriction to only run MS store apps. The article says it will be free for students and educators to upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro and $49 (I presume US) for everyone else. So there is not much motivation for someone to hack around the restriction since the vast majority of those it is aimed at can remove the restriction for free.
I suspect they are really aiming Windows 10S at an institute's machines which they want to be able to manage and control easily and not at personal devices where people want a lot more freedom.
Next major version: App Store Only. No upgrades.
You heard it here, first.
Windows SUCKS?
Windows SHIT EDITION?
Windows Sustains-Microsoft's-Bottom-Line-Edition?
Microsoft Steals-Money-Every-Time-You-Want-To-Do-Anything-With-It-By-Preventing-You-Installing-Your-Own-Software?
Windows Screws-You-Again-and-Again?
Windows Someday-You'll-Learn-NOT-to-Buy-Shit-from-Microsoft?
Also, I thought "10" (which is really 9, they just didn't want people to see how behind Mac OS X they are...) was supposed to be their last version of Windows. Now they're just tacking on LETTERS? They think they're really clever but it's Microsoft... which means, as Admiral Akbar warned...
"IT'S A TRAP!"
The full version of windows 10 is not limited to store apps. That is a huge limitation when their store has had little success with developers and users. This BS is not full windows 10 and that should be clear to everyone. The motivation is obviously to try to save their failing store by leaving users no alternative.
I call bullshit on "similar to how Apple and Google lock down iOS and Android to their respective app stores.". I have never seen an Android system where you could not sideload apps. I seem to recall it is a Google requirement that Android devices always support sideloading. Microsoft may be trying to join Apple with their control of the user purchases but I don't think you can lump Google in with them at this stage.
This is the future for 'windows'...
....and still looking for bandaid solutions to what's going to turn out to be gangrene. Cut it off already!
The less restricted version of windows costs more so this will be more popular by default, with OEMs who want to charge less for their devices, for users who want to pay less and have Genuine Windows, and for people sick of fixing malware infested windows machines
Is it just me or does Windows 10 S sound like Windows Tennis? Listen to this MS guy talking about it here
These things can already be accomplished. How do you think workstations get locked down?
Only runs programs from the windows store... Great.
Luckly for everybody, the best operating system for schools is already in place. Something called Linux, I belive, and it even costs nothing. Moreover, you are not required to operate a mouse in order to use it! Unbeliveable! No left/right click programming!