Microsoft announces new version of Windows 10 S designed for Businesses

[AlTech]

Windows 10 S was a controversial launch earlier this year and now Microsoft wants to bring Windows 10 S to Businesses with the new Windows 10 Enterprise S Mode.

 

 

This new Edition of Windows 10 will be officially launched in 2018 and is designed to be

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streamlined for security and a low total cost of ownership

 

This sounds similar to the pitch of Windows 10 S with most Windows 10 S devices being low cost devices starting at around $200-300 USD.

 

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Microsoft first unveiled its Windows 10 S in May, this year. The operating system is a lightweight version of Windows 10 Pro that is restricted to Windows Store for its app needs but keeps other Pro features. At the time of its introduction and subsequent release, it was touted as the Chrome OS competitor, targeting only the company’s educational customers. Redmond software maker’s OEM partners are already delivering notebooks powered by Windows 10 S, with an upgrade option to Windows 10 Pro.

However, since businesses are Microsoft’s bread and butter, it isn’t surprising that the company is now extending the same concept to its enterprise customers, where it will probably succeed more. Folks at Neowin report that the company announced a new range of hardware at its Ignite event yesterday, that will be aimed squarely at the “frontline workers” aka businesses.

Giving it the name of Windows 10 Enterprise in S mode, the operating system will be released in Spring 2018

 

 

The naming of this is frankly awful. It should have been called Windows 10 S Enterprise or Windows 10 Enterprise S.

 

Anyhow, so long as this version allows UWP apps to be sideloaded from a Businesses' IT department then this will be a great addition to the Windows 10 Familiy.

 

Source:

http://wccftech.com/windows-10-enterprise-in-s-mode/

 

EDIT: Ayyy anybody else thinking Windows 10 SE ? That would actually be a cool name.

[Max Caulfield]

So what exactly was changed from regular Windows? 

[AlTech]

Just now, Max Caulfield said:

So what exactly was changed from regular Windows? 

This is basically Windows 10 S but based off of Windows 10 Enterprise.

 

So in theory it has all the awesome stuff like BitLocker to go and running Live OS off of USB sticks etc.

[DocSwag]

1 minute ago, Max Caulfield said:

So what exactly was changed from regular Windows? 

A lot of stuff is stripped down. For example, you can only download apps from the Microsoft store.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

A lot of stuff is stripped down. For example, you can only download apps from the Microsoft store.

In this case we don't know if businesses can sideload UWP apps.

[Sauron]

The S stands for Shi...p?

 

I still think this is idiotic and nobody should pay money for it. The only attractive of windows is compatibility, strip that away and it's pure garbage, you might as well just run android or even chrome os. It doesn't help that the Windows Store is awful and needs to die in a fire.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

The S stands for Shi...p?

 

I still think this is idiotic and nobody should pay money for it. The only attractive of windows is compatibility, strip that away and it's pure garbage, you might as well just run android or even chrome os. It doesn't help that the Windows Store is awful and needs to die in a fire.

For better or worse, Windows Store isn't going anywhere. Many businesses have their own apps and stuff for Windows 10.

 

Alaska airlines for example has multiple Windows 10 apps (most are for employees whilst 1 is for consumers) and many other business have their own.

[Sauron]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

For better or worse, Windows Store isn't going anywhere. Many businesses have their own apps and stuff for Windows 10.

 

Alaska airlines for example has multiple Windows 10 apps (most are for employees whilst 1 is for consumers) and many other business have their own.

Does games for windows live ring a bell? It may still die (and I hope it does) even if it manages to grab a few exclusives. If it doesn't die, hopefully windows slowly becomes less and less relevant in the future. I know for sure the next pc I build will run windows in a vm with pcie passthrough for compatibility and I will do everything else on Linux.

[vorticalbox]

11 minutes ago, Sauron said:

The S stands for Shi...p?

 

I still think this is idiotic and nobody should pay money for it. The only attractive of windows is compatibility, strip that away and it's pure garbage, you might as well just run android or even chrome os. It doesn't help that the Windows Store is awful and needs to die in a fire.

Exactly why not add the ability to block win32 applications in normal windows 10 and have it as a feature rather then something you have to PAY to turn off.

[Shiv78]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Does games for windows live ring a bell

LOL
I have a legit retail disc copy of GTA IV and when I went to install it I had to use some ratchet workaround because GFWL didn't support Windows 10

[Sauron]

1 minute ago, vorticalbox said:

Exactly why not add the ability to block win32 applications in normal windows 10 and have it as a feature rather then something you have to PAY to turn off.

Scratch that, why want a "feature" that is only there to turn off other features in the first place? We already have administrative utilities to control who can install what, if this is ever a problem your sysadmin is not doing their job properly.

[AlTech]

5 minutes ago, vorticalbox said:

Exactly why not add the ability to block win32 applications in normal windows 10 and have it as a feature rather then something you have to PAY to turn off.

............

 

You can turn off Win32 apps in regular Windows 10 if you like. Windows 10 S and S Mode for Enterprise come with non Windows Store apps disabled. Premium Windows 10 S devices costing around $1000 or more are eligible to upgrade to Pro or Enterprise for Free

[vorticalbox]

22 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Scratch that, why want a "feature" that is only there to turn off other features in the first place? We already have administrative utilities to control who can install what, if this is ever a problem your sysadmin is not doing their job properly.

true but blocking win32 would include portable apps and what not as well so if you downloaded a virus it wouldn't able to run.

 

You know what would be good? If we have to mark an exe as executable before it was able to run? and maybe require a password rather than a simple pop up?

 

they just seem like a better way to solve this problem .

18 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

............

 

You can turn off Win32 apps in regular Windows 10 if you like. Windows 10 S and S Mode for Enterprise come with non Windows Store apps disabled. Premium Windows 10 S devices costing around $1000 or more are eligible to upgrade to Pro or Enterprise for Free

isn't turning off win32 and only allowing store apps exactly the same thing? 

[Shiv78]

20 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Windows 10 S is the same greedy cunning strategy as their Xbox. They get you hooked to this closed ecosystem that has low barriers to entry, and later gouge your organs out for the apps you want to use.

 

What? I don't get the Xbox analogy... and W10S upgrade to W10 on a decent laptop is free

[Sauron]

Just now, vorticalbox said:

true but blocking win32 would include portable apps and what not as well so if you downloaded a virus it wouldn't able to run.

 

You know what would be good? If we have to mark an exe as executable before it was able to run? and maybe require a password rather than a simple pop up?

 

they just seem like a better way to solve this problem .

Linux and everything remotely unix-like has that, windows is behind the curve as with everything else that isn't videogames and drivers. But, modern anti-virus and anti-malware software have some pretty advanced filtering options which may help with that. Either way getting a virus/malware in through portable executables from an unprivileged user is quite hard, usually to do any real damage malware needs some sort of registry access or administrative privileges.

[Sauron]

3 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

What? I don't get the Xbox analogy... and W10S upgrade to W10 on a decent laptop is free

I'm not sure about the xbox, but most people will stick to whatever is preinstalled on their computer without even knowing you can upgrade, or what the difference is. The strategy here is to hook this sort of customer in to the windows store and artificially boost its marketshare that way. If the pitch is that it's cheaper, you can rest assured you are being milked in other ways.

[vorticalbox]

25 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Linux and everything remotely unix-like has that, windows is behind the curve as with everything else that isn't videogames and drivers. But, modern anti-virus and anti-malware software have some pretty advanced filtering options which may help with that. Either way getting a virus/malware in through portable executables from an unprivileged user is quite hard, usually to do any real damage malware needs some sort of registry access or administrative privileges.

That's true but software is never bug free and a bug in the Av software can open you up to more problems in the long run.

 

100% on drivers and games though, its the only reason I dual boot windows is for the nice Minecraft with cross platform play. Actually really nice lol

[LAwLz]

Let's all hope this fails and dies just like Windows RT did.

At the end of the day, this is bad for consumers. It's Microsoft's latest strategy to force everyone into the UWP ecosystem which is basically just glorified smartphone apps.

[AlTech]

39 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I'm not sure about the xbox, but most people will stick to whatever is preinstalled on their computer without even knowing you can upgrade, or what the difference is. The strategy here is to hook this sort of customer in to the windows store and artificially boost its marketshare that way. If the pitch is that it's cheaper, you can rest assured you are being milked in other ways.

A nontechie person in my flat got a new computer and she uses Edge. if Chrome was pre-installed with Windows she'd probably use that but since Edge was pre-installed and works, she's fine with it.

 

Search Engine change to Google was required but otherwise it's fine.

[Sauron]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

A nontechie person in my flat got a new computer and she uses Edge. if Chrome was pre-installed with Windows she'd probably use that but since Edge was pre-installed and works, she's fine with it.

 

Search Engine change to Google was required but otherwise it's fine.

Exactly, and this is why both IE/Edge and Bing still have a significant marketshare. If they do the same with UWP eventually they'll have a market by default.

[Princess Luna]

1 hour ago, DocSwag said:

A lot of stuff is stripped down. For example, you can only download apps from the Microsoft store.

Because locking freedom and options is every thing users wants right?

[Doobeedoo]

So again W10 S variant first targeted for so called students, like any student would use S and not upgrade and now with Enterprise extras for businesse hmm. 

 

Why... why can't they just make one or two or just maybe three verions and be done with it. And ditch 32bit.

Like Home Pro Enterprise all 64 bit done. 

[ashypanda]

jesus christ, how much is microsoft spending on these different versions, but is also explains how come the user base became the QA team, and why W10 is a bit of a buggy mess.

[Shiv78]

50 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

A nontechie person in my flat got a new computer and she uses Edge. if Chrome was pre-installed with Windows she'd probably use that but since Edge was pre-installed and works, she's fine with it.

 

Edge isn't bad. I use chrome but in touchscreen mode Edge is much better, I also really like the clean lines

[Shreyas1]

next they're going to add windows s pro