No, Microsoft, it won't. It really, really won't.

From Simon Sharwood at The Reg:

Microsoft says 'majority' of Windows 10 use will be 'streamlined S mode'
Which is just-about an admission Win 10 is a mess

No, Microsoft, it won't.

I mean, we've known for a while that Microsoft would really, really like for S mode, and thus their digital storefront, to be the way that a majority of users experience Windows; this has always been the plan, so it's no surprise that MS see this as the best possible outcome... for them. The only surprise is that they're finally speaking openly about their desire to make this happen, in spite of the fact that consumers' rejection of this vision of personal computing has been pretty much total, up to this point.

Consumers have made it very plain that they do not want this. So much so, in fact, that Microsoft's latest aborted attempt to push it on them anyway has now been walked back. But don't expect MS to stop trying. Forcing every PC user on Earth into their walled-garden Microsoft Store ecosystem is, very plainly, MS's entire plan for Windows, and they will try again.

The Reg's reporting doesn't include anything much that Thurrott.com didn't already cover yesterday, apart from this bit of editorializing:

"We expect the majority of customers to enjoy the benefits of Windows 10 in S mode," Belfiore wrote. Which is hardly a ringing endorsement of Windows 10 in its dominant configuration!

Which is completely accurate - after all, MS wouldn't be having to push WX so hard if it were good enough to sell itself on the product's merits. That isn't, however, the point. The point is that MS want "S mode" to supplant a Windows in which consumers retain control over their PCs, and the software that gets installed on them, and instead relies on Microsoft to serve up everything. The point is raw, naked greed; it's MS wanting to be Apple, with their own iOS-style App Store.

The fact that MS want it to happen, however, doesn't mean that it will happen. Because for all its issues, Windows 10 is still better than its "S mode" counterpart, which is why Windows 10 S flopped in the first place. Making S mode an option for all WX users doesn't do anything to make it more attractive to those users, or alter the fact that the "Universal Windows Platform" has utterly failed to be a thing. The "benefits" of S mode are non-existent; the experience of using S mode is shit, and there's nothing happening which will alter that in any way at all.

Sorry, Joe.

LOL. Microsoft store denied! by Google.

Well played, Google. Well played.

As reported by The Verge:

In a surprise move, Google has published Chrome in the Windows Store this week, but not in the way you might be expecting.

Google has simply packaged an app for Windows 10 that opens itself to the Chrome download page. Downloading Chrome will then open up the link in your default Windows 10 browser. It’s a hilarious snub of the Windows Store, and makes it clear Google isn’t planning to bring its browser to Microsoft’s store any time soon.

There are many reasons Google won’t likely bring Chrome to the Windows Store, but the primary reason is probably related to Microsoft’s Windows 10 S restrictions. Windows Store apps that browse the web must use HTML and JavaScript engines provided by Windows 10, and Google’s Chrome browser uses its own Blink rendering engine. Google would have to create a special Chrome app specifically for Windows 10 S, much like it would have needed to do to support Windows Phone years ago. It’s extremely unlikely that Google is even considering the work involved in such a project.

It's good business, and good trolling, all in one tiny gesture. This "app" won't help anyone on Windows 10 S who wants to use Chrome, of course, but there are so few of them that it's not especially likely that Google gives a shit.

Or, as Mehedi Hassan at Thurrott.com puts it:

At the end of the day, the Google Chrome Installer is still very, very pointless — the only functionality of the so-called installer is to open the download link for Chrome on your default browser. It basically removes the need for you to open Internet Explorer (or Microsoft Edge) and manually go to the Chrome download page everytime you set up a new Windows 10 installation.

-5/5 stars.

That's not pointless at all; that's some solid value. If there's anything pointless in this picture, it would have to be the Windows Microsoft Store itself.

Oh, well. Maybe next year...

UPDATED DEC. 20th:

Aaaaaaaand it's gone. From The Verge:

Google published a Chrome app in the Windows Store earlier today, which just directed users to a download link to install the browser. Microsoft isn’t impressed with Google’s obvious snub of the Windows Store, and it’s taking action. “We have removed the Google Chrome Installer App from Microsoft Store, as it violates our Microsoft Store policies,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

Citing the need to ensure apps “provide unique and distinct value,” Microsoft says “we welcome Google to build a Microsoft Store browser app compliant with our Microsoft Store policies.” That’s an invitation that Google is unlikely to accept.

[...]

The Verge understands Google created this installer app to combat the fake Chrome apps that can be found in the Windows Store, a problem Microsoft has been trying to address for years. Google’s workaround has now been removed from the Windows Store, so Windows 10 users will have to continue using Microsoft Edge to access the download site for Chrome if they want to access Google’s browser.

Wow. You'd almost think that Microsoft lack a sense of humour about their horrible digital storefront.

Having missed Back To School with Windows 10 S, Microsoft tries to regroup and rebrand.

From Mark Hachman at PC World:

On Monday at its Ignite conference for corporate partners, Microsoft unveiled four new Windows 10 S laptops from Acer, HP, and Lenovo, together with a new shorthand for the services they'll provide: Microsoft 365.

The new Windows 10 S machines will be sold to such customers later this year, and all cost less than $350. They're part of the cadre of low-cost Windows 10 S devices that Microsoft showed off at the introduction of Windows 10 S last year. Contrary to that event's educational bent, however, these machines are being positioned as business PCs for what Microsoft terms "firstline workers" but might better be known as "front-line" workers—the staff you meet on support lines or at service counters, who interface with the public.

Yeah... good luck with that.

The whole point of Windows 10 S was that it worked for slightly less powerful, but also less expensive, student laptops, so the fact that Microsoft's hardware partners couldn't get product to market in time the Back To School season was a huge miss. It's not surprising that both Microsoft, and their partners, would want to try to salvage something out of that debacle.

But 10 S has received terrible reviews, pretty much across the board, for being basically impossible to work with in a normal office environment due to its lack of apps, and enterprises have been slow to switch to Windows 10 generally, in part because they don't want to buy new hardware and might need to. Whether Microsoft will be able to sell them on Windows 10 migration by way of new (and underpowered) laptops is still an open question, but it seems unlikely.

And I get the feeling that Microsoft also thinks that it's unlikely, which is why they've just published this new "roadmap" which shows the better Windows 10 SKUs that your 10 S installation can be transformed into:

If Windows 10 S is only interesting because it can be turned into the Pro or Enterprise versions, which haven't proved all that interesting to enterprise customers, either, then I have to wonder who Microsoft think they're pitching this to, especially since the first crop of Windows 10 S laptops aren't all that interesting as laptops. Who is this for?

I guess the "S" is for Still Not Ready...

Microsoft have managed to self-inflict another rake-related injury.

From Rafia Shaikh at WCCFTech:

Microsoft Kind of Admits Windows 10 S Isn’t Good Enough (Yet) – Extends Free Windows 10 Pro Offer

Microsoft has announced to extend the offer for Surface Laptop buyers to avail the free Windows 10 Pro upgrade offer by 3 months. The offer was supposed to end this year, but is now being extended until March 31st, 2018.

“Don’t forget that Surface Laptop comes with the streamlined security and performance of Windows 10 S, and verified apps in the Windows Store,” Microsoft wrote in today’s announcement (emphasis is ours).

For those that find they need an application that isn’t yet available in the Store and must be installed from another source, we’re extending the ability to switch from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro for free until March 31, 2018. We hope this provides increased flexibility for those people searching for the perfect back-to-school or holiday gift.

The latest statement proves that Windows 10 S while initially touted as a direct Chrome OS competitor isn’t yet ready for primetime. The Redmond Windows maker introduced the new operating system with its premium Surface Laptop, but many believed that Microsoft was aware that it won’t work with the lightweight Windows 10 S that is highly dependent on the horror story that is Windows Store.

For anyone that's paying attention, the "horror story" of the Windows Store has become something of an unfortunate theme for Microsoft's efforts to build a walled-garden Windows 10 ecosystem. It goes beyond the "app gap," and even beyond the evident failure of UWP. Much like the early Android Marketplace, Microsoft's storefront is, bluntly, filled to bursting with shit -- something of an embarrassment considering that Microsoft is touting their careful curation of the Store as one of its selling points.

Microsoft's failure to sell the Windows Store to developers of quality apps has left them in an awkward position, trying to sell a new Windows 10 SKU which is utterly dependent on the Store for its software, and utterly unworkable as a result. Reactions have been predictably scathing.

Por ejemplo, this headline from Laptop Mag:

You Have Three Extra Months To Save Yourself From Windows 10 S

Or this, from Betanews:

Microsoft shows weakness by extending the free Windows 10 S to Pro upgrade deadline

 Not exactly a good look for the Redmond crew.

Doubling down on failure

Up to now, reactions to Microsoft's gimped OS, Windows 10 S, have been pretty uniformly negative. Its smaller footprint apparently does make it slightly quicker to start, but the app gap has not gone anywhere, turning the experience of actually working with the thing into an exercise in frustration. Worse, the market that Microsoft appeared to be targeting with 10 S, namely students and educational institutions, will not be buying Windows 10 S laptops this year, since the only one on the market, Microsoft's own, is prohibitively expensive, and the low-cost versions from Microsoft's partners won't be available to buy until well after the back-to-school shopping season has ended.

To call this a misfire would, I think, be to grossly underestimate how badly the Windows 10 S rollout has gone. The product is not useful, to anybody, and the market that Microsoft thought might be tempted won't even be considering 10 S for another year... a year in which these institutions will have bought even more deeply into the Chromebook ecosystem. But Windows 10 S, with its Windows Store requirement, i.e. requiring users to buy all their software again, but through Microsoft, this time... that really is Microsoft's vision of Windows' future, apparently, and they're not done trying to put it on users that have shown no interest whatsoever.

From Windows Report:

Microsoft just made it much easier for users to try Windows 10 S on all Windows 10 PCs. The company will release an installer for Windows 10 S that will allow users to install the OS on other versions of Windows 10.

This installer comes as a standard executable file, will download Windows 10 S, and then install it on your machine regardless of what version of Windows 10 you might be running. The only important thing is that you are not a Windows 10 Home user.

Microsoft also launched an official ISO for Windows 10 S the other week that offers users the opportunity to try out the operating system on a virtual machine or an actual hardware. This new installer, on the other hand, makes thing much easier and users can try out the latest version of Windows quicker now.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, asked for this, and nobody is going to care. Seriously, who is this for?

Aimed at students, low-cost Windows 10 S laptops will not be ready for the start of school.

Oops?

From PC World:

Windows 10 S laptops by companies like Asus, Dell, and HP will apparently miss the back-to-school sales season—a serious blow for Microsoft’s new OS for the education market.

Microsoft said Tuesday that universities can begin to order Windows 10 S devices, including its own Surface Laptop. That's the only Windows 10 S device already shipping, but with a starting price of $999 ($899.10 with student discount) it's not attainable for many budget-strapped schools, let alone individual students.

At the same time, the low-cost Windows 10 S hardware from Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, and HP that Microsoft showed off this past May isn’t available yet. Microsoft said additional hardware will be introduced “in the coming months”—after school has already begun.

Why this matters: If Windows 10 S hardware misses the fall semester, that's a bad start for an education-oriented product trying to compete with the entrenched Chromebook platform. The fancy Surface Laptop may be leading the Windows 10 S charge with a traditional notebook that’s designed to replace the MacBook Air in a university setting, but it's the far cheaper, ruggedized hardware for elementary and middle schools that will compete directly with cheap, ruggedized Chromebooks.

Well, would you look at that? It appears to be another rake for Microsoft to step on.

No, Windows 10 S doesn't "deserve a chance."

Oy, vey.

From Napier Lopez at TNW:

Windows 10 S gets a bad rap, in part, because of Windows RT. That OS could only run touch-friendly ‘Metro’ apps – which further had to be compatible with ARM processors.

There’s nothing wrong with that in principle, but it meant developers had to write completely new apps for an OS they weren’t sure would have any legs. It was a kind of self fulfilling prophecy: Developers didn’t make Windows RT apps because nobody would use Windows RT. Which of course became true, because nobody would make apps for it.

Windows 10 S, on the other hand, has the crucial difference that it can run most of the old-school apps – known as Win32 programs – you’re already using. At a basic level, all developers have to do is repackage the apps to make them available on the Windows Store.

Wow, that sounds really great! Just one little problem... it's mostly bullshit.

Windows 10 S only runs programs that have been installed from the Windows Store, and the Win32 programs that you're already using cannot be installed from the Windows Store. The developers of those programs might choose to use the Project Centennial Desktop App Bridge (PCDAB) to port those programs over to the Windows Store, so that you can purchase them again through Microsoft, with Microsoft taking a cut of the proceeds, but it is developers who must do this; consumers cannot PCDAB their own apps. Unless and until that happens, the software "you're already using" simply will not work with Microsoft's gimped OS.

This is the defining quality of Windows 10 S. It is the thing which sets it apart from vanilla Windows 10, and from every other iteration of Windows.... except for Windows RT, of course. Which means that Win10 S's bad rap is entirely deserved, for the simple reason that it really is Windows RT Redux. The only difference is that Microsoft is using security-based scare tactics to sell 10 S, instead of relying on the short-lived "touch" fad that was the driving force behind Windows RT... and Windows 8, which was its fuller-featured cousin.

Yet again, I find myself unsure whether this is a falsehood (i.e. the result of simple ignorance or incompetence), or a lie (i.e. the result of intentional deception). Either way, though, Mr. Lopez should be ashamed of himself. This is not hair-splitting; it is quite literally the most important thing that a consumer will want to consider, when weighing the decision to buy (or not to buy) a machine with Windows 10 S installed, and TNW couldn't be bothered to get it right. Excelsior!

I can hardly wait to see how many other lazy, ignorant hacks pick up this piece of apologist tripe, and run it verbatim, without bothering to check any of its facts.

Microsoft's determination to make "fetch" happen may prevent Windows 10 S from happening, too.

In Microsoft's ongoing quest to become Amazon, and Apple, and Google, and Sony, few things have been as ineffectual, as desperate, or as irritating, as the way they're insisted on forcing Edge, and Bing with it, onto all their customers. Nailing Edge to Bing has prevented it from catching on among Windows 10 users - and since Windows 10 S limits users to Edge only, it may discourage users from picking up that version of the OS as well, along with the PCs that run it.

That's the argument put forth by Michael Allison, over at mspoweruser:

My issue with Windows 10 S lies in two aspects: search and the browser. With Windows 10 S, the browser remains locked to Microsoft Edge (or store skins of it), and Microsoft has now mandated that users of Edge use Bing — and only Bing as their primary search engine. This means that students who use Windows 10 S won’t be able to use Google Chrome, including its vast number of recommended extensions for education (cue the Microsoft fans arguing that you don’t NEED X extension because Y does just as well if you ignore its shortcomings in Z). [...]

Now, for fans of Microsoft products, there’s no reason why someone wouldn’t want to use Microsoft Edge or Bing. Both services are victims of a “works perfectly for me” mentality, and it is easy to imagine that both are completely serviceable apps and services with their own advantages. In the real world, however, many users aren’t a fan of Microsoft Edge, with users actively downloading and installing Chrome on their PCs despite Microsoft’s best attempts. Bing for its part is a lovely search engine, but it remains the punchline to many ribald jokes. [...]

I’d say that most people who use Google’s excellent Chrome browser don’t use it because it’s a classic Windows app, or because they have any particular love for Google, it is just that Chrome has a lot to offer. [...] It is in some ways its own web standard, with sites almost always guaranteed to be working with Chrome. [...] Similarly, most people who use Google use it because it is a good search engine. Google the company may have some odd practices, but that doesn’t matter to most people. Google the search engine is a pretty useful tool for research and general work. [...]

It has been argued in comments, in social media like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and elsewhere that the lack of these two services isn’t a problem since Microsoft’s services can be almost as good as Google’s if you give them a chance — or so the saying goes. Well, I disagree. Just like people who prefer different brands of similarly tasting pizza, people simply prefer Google to Bing. You can make all sorts of arguments about why they should give your preferred pizza a try, but if there are choices, there’s no reason for them to favor your brand over their choices (especially if you happen to own the said brand).

It may be trivial right now to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro — but next year when comparing a new MacBook to a Surface Laptop, a consumer will see a £1000 laptop that doesn’t run Google Chrome until you pony up, and a £900 one that does.

I don't really have a whole lot to add this, except to say that the whole article is well worth reading. Allison's occasional cheerleading aside, I agreed with most of what he writes, including the assertion (near the end) that "Universal Windows Apps aren’t going to take off ever," a conclusion that I'd reached already - it's interesting to see others not only having come to the same realization, but mentioning it in passing while making larger points, as if the failure of UWP was a foregone conclusion, unworthy of elaboration.

Seriously, though... Microsoft need to stop trying to make "fetch" happen, here, If Bing wasn't good enough for people to use it when Microsoft was offering to pay them to do so, then it certainly isn't so good that Microsoft should be barring them from using alternatives. You'd almost think that they don't have any faith in their own product, or something...

"S" is for sucks - Windows 10 S gets roasted by reviewers.

This is the part where I'm supposed to say that I hate saying, "I told you so," but I'd be lying. For one thing, I actually love saying that. Also, I told you so.

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.

Chromebook shipments surge, cutting into Windows 10 PC sales

When Microsoft announced Windows 10 S earlier in the week, their obvious "Chromebook killer" that was locked to Edge and Bing as unchangeable defaults, and laden with even stronger software-installation restrictions (Windows Store only!), Google didn't seem to be worried about it. Given the way sales are trending in their favour, that attitude would seem to be entirely justified.

From ARN from IDG:

In a slowing PC market, Chromebooks siphoned market share away from Windows PCs in 2016 as their popularity grew outside the education market.

Chromebook shipments grew by a stunning 38 percent in 2016 compared to 2015. Gartner estimated 9.4 million Chromebooks shipped, compared to 6.8 million units in 2015.

The number is just a fraction of overall PC shipments, but growth came in an otherwise down PC market. Overall PC shipments in 2016 were about 270 million units, a decline of about 6.2 percent, according to Gartner.

Looking forward, 2016 may go down as the best year ever for Chromebook shipment growth. Gartner is estimating shipments to continue growing in the coming years but at a slower pace.

[...] Analyst firm IDC has also predicted Chromebook shipments will grow by double-digit percentages in coming years. Most of the Chromebooks are shipping to classrooms in the U.S., Nordic countries, Australia and New Zealand.

There is also growing interest in Chromebooks from businesses in the finance and retail sectors. Companies are using Chromebooks as no-frills mobile thin clients, considering they are cheap to deploy and easy to manage, said Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner.

Yes, Microsoft would definitely like a piece of this segment of the market; whether the Surface Laptop, with its hobbled OS, is good enough to make that happen for them, is anyone's guess. 

PC sales have been declining for years, a situation which was only exacerbated by Microsoft's high-profile Windows 10 giveaway (a giveaway which isn't actually over yet, although its profile is certainly lower), so the fact that Chromebook sales are up by 38% is more than merely significant. This looks like a huge shift from from Windows PCs and towards any viable alternative; one has to wonder if Apple could be reaping more reward from this same shift if they weren't so busy dropping the ball with their own laptop line.

It remains to be seen whether consumers will be willing to accept Microsoft's anti-consumer Win10 S bullshit in ordet to get cheaper laptops. The fact that Microsoft has already backed off the $49 fee to upgrade from Win10 S to Win10 Pro, at least for the rest of this year, speaks volumes about Microsoft's own confidence about that happening. 

What we are seeing already, though, is that consumers really aren't waiting for Microsoft to get their heads out of their asses; they're looking for alternatives, and anyone who has their shit together can probably make a lot of hay out of Microsoft's disarray. Makers of Linux laptops should take note; if they're wanting to be one of those alternatives, it's probably now or never.

The soul of Windows is choice, not Edge or Bing

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.