Windows sleuths have discovered mention of a so-far unannounced new version of Windows 10 inside some of the recent Insider test builds.
Credit: The Walking Cat
This new edition, currently known as
"Windows Cloud," is listed alongside other existing Windows 10 editions inside builds as far back as Windows 10 software development kit 15003, as noted by
"The Walking Cat" on Twitter. There are
listings for both Cloud and CloudN (for the version without Media Player pre-installed, as noted by Brad Sams on Petri.com) inside recent Insider test builds.
So what, exactly, is Windows Cloud? A version of Windows 10 streamed from Azure? Another
new Windows 10 subscription plan, in the vein of Windows 10 Enterprise E3/E5? The dreaded (and still nonexistent)
Windows 365?
None of the above, my sources say.
Windows 10 Cloud is a simplifed version of Windows 10 that will be able to run only Unified Windows Platform (UWP) apps installed from the Windows Store, my contacts say. Think of it as being similar to the version of Windows 10 formerly known as Windows RT or the Windows 8.1 with Bing SKU.
Windows 10 Cloud is meant to help Microsoft in
its ongoing campaign to attempt to thwart Chromebooks with a simpler, safer, cheaper version of Windows 10, my contacts say, though Microsoft is unlikely to position it that way (publicly).
Windows 10 Cloud seemingly has little or nothing to do with the cloud, however, from what my sources are saying I guess the reason Microsoft chose that name is because the company is supposed to be all about "cloud first" these days? Or maybe the Cloud moniker is meant to indicate that this is Microsoft's competitor to Chrome OS/Chromebooks? Or maybe Microsoft intends to claim that Cortana/machine learning in this version makes it a "cloud" OS? Got me....
I reached out to Microsoft to see if the company would share more about Windows 10 Cloud...
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