From PCR:
Microsoft has announced two new versions of Windows, specifically catering to schools.
The two new versions of the OS – Windows 10 Pro Education and Windows 10 Education – “provide education-specific default settings for the evolving landscape in K-12 education IT environments."
Most interestingly from the list of omissions from both versions is the removal of Cortana. The Microsoft Store and other productivity tips will not appear either.
Cortana, one of Microsoft's biggest selling points since its introduction in 2014, being left out of this latest update to Windows for education can be seen as an admission that the service is, as many have claimed, overly invasive.
[...]
Anybody who purchased Windows 10 Pro under an Academic Licence will see the upgrade happen automatically. This means that education users will lose the features specified by Microsoft, regardless of if they want them or not.
With this upgrade, Microsoft are announcing that it believes the most secure and education-friendly versions of Windows omits both Cortana and its own Windows help features. Some users with other licences might like to see this trend follow suit across future Windows 10 updates.
With CNIL waiting to impose sanctions on Microsoft over the invasiveness of Windows 10's data collection, I find it slightly surprising that Redmond are (a) forcing consumers to keep Cortana active, and married to Win10's built-in search functionality, while also (b) tacitly admitting that Cortana really is invasive enough that they didn't think forcing it on schools would be defensible. I have a feeling that might make things awkward for them in the coming months, as they try to find some way to convince CNIL to let them keep pursuing all of their anti-competitive and anti-consumer (but profitable!) initiatives.
Also: Yes, this is a forced update.... that will remove functionality from the OS for some users. Yay?