Most of the reaction to Windows 10S and Microsoft's new Surface laptops seems fairly positive, but the fly in the ointment is, once again, Microsoft's monopolistic, anti-consumer bullshit. Not only will Windows 10 S not allow you to install programs that you haven't bought through the Windows store, it won't let you change your default browser or search engine, either, and even people who might be more-or-less okay with the first restriction are balking at the second.
Por ejemplo,
Aaron Souppouris at Engadget, who starts by calling Windows 10 S "
a walled garden with a $49 exit," and rambles a bit about how that might still work anyway, before finally getting to the core of the issue:
Regardless of its OS, the first thing I do with a new laptop is
install Google Chrome, and I'm not alone in that preference. Despite
being shipped as the default browser on Windows 10 (and the OS
constantly nagging you to give it a shot), data from last year suggests
that only one in five Windows 10 users are using Edge. The vast majority
are using Google Chrome, which isn't currently available on the Windows
Store.
Even if Google brings Chrome to the store tomorrow, it
won't make things much better. While it wasn't mentioned at yesterday's
event, Microsoft has since said that the default browser cannot be changed in Windows 10 S. That means every time you click a link in an app or message, it'll open Edge.
Microsoft
can and probably will point to improved battery life, RAM usage and
security as a reason for this decision. By restricting user choice, it
can ensure everyone is using a safe, modern browser that won't make
cheaper machines run like garbage. But if that were true, why is it also
locking in Bing as the default search engine? That's right: Unless you
manually navigate to google.com and get searching, all of your search
results are going to come from Bing.
Take
these two restrictions together and it's clear that this has nothing to
do with security or performance. It's Microsoft desperately trying to
prop up its browser and search efforts by restricting choice. Yesterday
Windows chief Terry Myerson described 10 S as "the soul of Windows," but
to me and millions of Windows users around the world, the soul of
Windows is choice, not Edge or Bing. It's an inherently hackable,
customizable platform.
This is clearly user hostile [...] the fact remains that
there are some users, myself included, who aren't happy with this
behavior, and locking 10 S down in this way will only empower those
warning about UWP to create a walled garden within Windows to complain
louder. To me, restricting both the apps that you can install and the
default search engine is pushing users a little too hard
Others, like
Zach Epstein at BGR, are even more blunt, calling Win10 S "a complete non-starter:"
It has only been one day since Microsoft laid out its strategy to win
back the classroom, so it remains to be seen how this new breed of
affordable Windows laptops will be received. Overall, Windows 10 seems
like a solid operating system, but for me personally, there’s one reason
Windows 10 S is a complete non-starter.
[...]
Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser, isn’t even available
for download in the Windows app store right now. But let’s assume that
Google decides to add it in the near future. Once you do install Chrome
on your Windows 10 S laptop, you won’t be able to make it your default
browser. Instead, any links you click on in emails or other apps will
open in Edge.
Nope.
Now, once you’re in the Edge browser and you type a search into the
URL bar, your search will be processed by Bing. Would you rather use
Google as your default search engine like most people on the planet? Too
bad, you won’t be able to change Edge’s default search settings.
Nope nope nope.
Windows 10 S looks like a reasonably good Chrome OS rival, and Microsoft has support from plenty of hardware vendors who are already planning to release Windows 10 S laptops.
You know what? I won’t bother with a single one of those laptops
knowing that Microsoft won’t let me take full advantage of apps and
services I find to be superior to the company’s own alternatives.
Or you could look to
Matthew Hughes at TNW, who points out, I think correctly, that Windows 10 S can't succeed unless Microsoft start learning from their mistakes, and changing their anti-consumer ways:
Yesterday, Microsoft announced its newest operating system: Windows 10 S. The S, we’re told, stands for several things, like speed and security.
Allow me, if I may, to propose an additional S: Slightly reminiscent.
That’s because Windows 10 S feels like a throwback to the short-lived Windows RT, which was a disaster of Michael Bay proportions.
Okay, that’s a bit extreme. There aren’t any gratuitous explosions
here. That’s Samsung’s shtick. But there are clear parallels between
Microsoft’s latest effort, and its previous misstep, Windows RT.
He then goes on the point out that the Windows Store is still a dumpster fire, in spite of Microsoft's ongoing efforts to improve it, and then goes on to ask who Win10 S is intended for, exactly:
One advantage Windows 10 S has over Windows RT is that it has a more clearly defined target audience: School students. The decision to launch it at the Microsoft Education event was smart, and for what it’s worth, I genuinely think it’ll do well in this space.
[...] By having a laser-focus on the lucrative education space, Microsoft will be able to craft a compelling message for Windows 10 S, and effectively market it.
But it seems like Microsoft has fallen back into its own ways, and is trying to pitch Windows 10 S to average consumers and professionals.
A clear example of that is the company’s gorgeous and appealing new flagship laptop, called the Surface Laptop, which is a triumph of style and design in one potent package. It’s expensive, too, retailing at $999. And yes, it runs Windows 10 S.
Why? I genuinely don’t know. It’s a head-scratching decision that only serves to hamstring some truly exceptional hardware. It’s a bit like asking Usain Bolt – the fastest man alive – to run a 200-meter race wearing flip-flops.
So, you have a platform that appears to have been intended for students and teachers, being marketed to everybody and their dog, installed on thousand-dollar laptops that can't even run the world's most popular browser, and which will still do everything Microsoft can imagine to force users to Edge and Bing, two products that The Market has very clearly declared that it has no interest in. Microsoft are still trying to make fetch happen, here, and muddling their message in the process. So, can this all still; work, in spite of Microsoft's own self-destructive habits?
Let's just say that Prabhakar Raghavan, the Google vice-president responsible Google's range of productivity apps, isn't sounding worried. From
Business Insider UK:
"I'm happy to see a validation of the approach we've taken," the exec said mildly. "What educational institutions have demanded is simplicity. It's a real test tube for all of us, whether it's Microsoft or any of us, right."
[...] In short: Google says it's not worried about Microsoft's entry into the market, and they're focusing on looking at the changing ways people use products.
There's been one positive development since the big roll-out: Microsoft, apparently realizing that walled garden with a $49 exit fee may not be an attractive proposition, have announced that "upgrading" your Win10 S laptop to Win10 Pro
will be free for the rest of this year. Of course, they also said that the upgrade to Windows 10 would stop being free, generally, at the end of last July, and that hasn't happened yet, so it's anyone's guess how long this latest "free" offer is actually good for, but it's something, at least.