From ZDNet:
Microsoft debuted its first true laptop last week, and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, even downright effusive.
For the hardware, that is.
Microsoft chose to debut a new edition of Windows with the Surface Laptop, and the same reviewers who loved its elegant design and performance were almost uniformly scathing in their rejection of the brand-new Windows 10 S.
And rightly so. Whoever made the decision to debut Windows 10 S on this particular piece of hardware was not thinking clearly. This is an ultralight premium laptop, sold at a premium price. It competes with devices like the MacBook Air, Dell's XPS 13, and HP's Envy x360 [and] starts at $1000 and the highest-spec configuration costs a hefty $2200. If you're willing to pay that price, you want to run the full range of Windows software.
By contrast, the machines that will ultimately form the installed base for Windows 10 S are low-cost PCs designed for use in classrooms, managed by professional IT staff. [...] The mismatch between the hardware and software could not have been more profound, and the reaction from reviewers could not have been more predictable.Windows 10 S represents Microsoft's truest vision of Windows 10, with users wedded to the UWP and the Windows Store, utterly dependent on Microsoft for everything. It's not a new vision; Windows 8 was exactly this same package, and pretty much everybody hated it then, too.
With their Surface Laptops, Microsoft has apparently made a really decent piece of hardware, and then loaded it with a gimped OS that proves, beyond any doubt whatsoever, not only that MS have absolutely no understanding of what makes Google's Chromebooks so popular, but also that MS have zero understanding of what's kept Windows at 90% or more of the PC OS market for decades.
(Here's a hint: it's got absolutely nothing to do with the walled garden storefronts, in either case.)
GG, Microsoft. GG.