Microsoft is working on a new Cloud SKU for Windows 10 which is expected to be Redmond’s next take on Chromebooks. As it was recently reported by several publications, Windows 10 Cloud would be a lightweight version of Windows, possibly for Microsoft’s Windows 10 on ARM plans.
An early version of Windows 10 Cloud has been leaked online which gives us a tiny glimpse at what Microsoft is cooking up at Redmond. An ISO of a Windows 10 Cloud build was leaked by Twitter user @adguard, which you can actually install today. Needless to say, we wouldn’t recommend installing it on an actual machine, so make sure to install it on a virtual machine instead.
As previous reports indicated, Windows 10 Cloud will only allow users to run Universal Windows Platform apps from the Windows Store. In the screenshot below, I tried installing Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code which is a Win32 app — and Windows 10 Cloud showed an alert stating that the app I was trying to install “isn’t designed for this version of Windows.” Moreover, the dialog states that “this version [Windows 10 Cloud] was made to help protect you and your device by exclusively running Windows Store apps” which, once again, confirms that the SKU will only allow users to run apps from the Windows Store: