Microsoft has been doing so good community wise and I think this is the most evil thing they could have done. They are trying to be a walled garden.
edit: deleted one word and spelling on one word
>Recent numbers from consulting firm Futuresource paint a similar picture, with Google commanding 58 percent of U.S. K-12 schools. Windows is in second with around 22 percent and the combined impact of MacOS and iOS are close behind at 19 percent. It’s a rapidly shifting landscape. Three years earlier, Apple’s products represented nearly half of devices being shipped to U.S. classrooms
Can students install anything like Steam on Chromebooks or iPads without jailbreaking them?
It feels like once people see 'Microsoft' in the headline they lose all sense of perspective and automatically scream murder but Google and Apple get a complete free pass to do whatever lockdown they want.
Turning on "developer mode" isn't exactly jailbreaking, so yes, they have access to the underlying Linux and can even run a Linux desktop environment of their choice on top of ChromeOS. They can't install Steam because that only supports x86 but you can't blame ChromeOS for that.
I'm pretty sure you won't be able to do that with Windows S, so, no, it's not exactly like ChromeOS.
edit: See http://www.dudleymediagroup.com/Detail/id/how-to-game-with-s...
You are correct, it's not. You can turn Windows 10S into full, unlocked Windows 10 Pro in a few seconds, and that's fee for education users.
However, Windows 10S does solve a lot of problems for education users in preventing kids from downloading non-Store apps that may not be easily removable.
I may be wrong, but isn't that basically AppLocker? Why introduce a custom version of your operating system if you could easy merge such a feature into already existing administrative tools (assuming that it isn't, I'm not that familiar with AppLocker)?
Windows 10S is much more flexible and requires no set-up and no maintenance. If it's in the Windows Store, you can install it.
Bear in mind that schools run fleets of PCs and children do not have their own. They get whichever comes off the trolley. The Windows store installs whichever apps they use when they log on.
> How is ChromeOS not a limited version of Gentoo that it's based on and locked to Google's cloud for "ease of use and deployment"?
I don't understand the statement regarding Chrome is advertised as a solution for certain people but is not a general purpose computer?
Windows 10 S has some very capable general purpose computers that are limited.
If you cover the whole market from thumbdrives to server farms, you're obviously going to make different versions to fit different usage scenarios. People do that with Linux, too.
Windows 10S is just a new version of Windows 10 Pro that addresses certain needs in the education market in particular.
If you don't want it, don't buy it. If you buy it and decide you don't like it, you can upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro. No big deal.
It's frankly insane to have hissy fits about it destroying civilization as we know it. It's not.
Instead, the Chromebook posts and comments on here are mostly about how they're malware free and perfect for older parents and kids, and how they're selling like hotcakes taking over the education market from Windows and Macbooks.
Chrome OS was a new system to basically be just a browser that made it easy for my mom and daughter who have serious issues keeping Windows or OS X systems stable. I hand them the Chromebook and tell them that if they need anything they can download it. It works for them and I don't have to save them from disasters all the time.
So I see it as a tool that works for these types of people and is much better then a tablet.
I don't see how Windows 10S is different. It'd be free of malware like "codecs" and spyware that's so common because everything has to run in a strict sandbox plus approved through the Store approval process.
Everything you said applies to Windows 10S as well and if you decide as a parent that you want your child to run whatever they want there's an option to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. They're marketing it to Education users just like Chromebooks are, not as a 'general purpose computer'.
Windows 10 will still be available on all other devices so I don't understand how you perceive these devices to be so different from Chromebooks. You can hand them to kids and parents and not risk them getting unstable or harmed by downloads.
Your 100% right but
1) The Hardware. They have a $999 Surface Laptop that screams general purpose laptop, but it is Windows 10 S. That right their is the reason why I brought up Steam. That is a laptop very capable of doing a lot but instead it is a Chromebook lock down?
2) The world knows Windows as a general computer operating system. Now we had RT and now S that changes that.
Each time I think they've changed, they make it clear that they haven't
They've been acting evil like this for 40 years now; what makes you think they're ever going to change?
New blood, and fear. Gates is gone, and Ballmer was humiliated by the iPhone. Management now has to be in constant fear of ceding more ground in the consumer space. And they know that as consumer goes, so goes business... 20 years later.
Many of Microsoft's recent moves are heartening. Supporting Mono officially. Implementing web standards quickly. Backing off this signed app stuff in Win10.
MS has never had as much commercial pressure as they have now. They can't afford to alienate their niche supporters they way they could when they were the de facto everything. That gave me hope.
Of course old habits die hard, but I don't think it's impossible for a company to evolve. IBM did. Apple did.
MS is masking their fear of being ridiculed for ugliness by focusing unduly on design. The result has been "form over function." And now, MS pays lip service to productivity.
They also focus intently on security to avoid being ridiculed for unsecure software (viruses, bugs, crashes compared to Mac and linux). The result? Closed Windows Phone and Windows Apps which unfortunately doomed both; and forced updates with intrusive data collection.
Last but most important, MS's is as fast as a tortoise compared to Google, Apple, Amazon... They can't seem to make up their minds on features, app and OS design - hence the multiple reboots of Music turned Groove; Universal apps/Metro apps/UWP; Wp7,8,8.1,10->?, skype/message app, Metro skype and now UWP skype.
For a company which built itself on compatibility, the constant change in direction is death by a thousand cuts.
Stockholm Syndrome.
"...something just irks the hell out of me that they think that this is a cool thing to do."
Yeah, restricted freedom and anti-democratic business practices irks a whole lot of us. :)
Microsoft's just been trying to be Apple ever since the Zune.
Long story short: you can still decide when you want to update Windows - 10 steps instead of one.
Detailed Steps:
Open Computer Management
After disabling the Windows Update service in the Computer Management Console, click on the Recovery Tab. There, turn first three options to "Take No Action." Else, the service will reactivate itself after a while.
This way, you control when you want to update.
Note: If you use Defender, manually turn on the Update Service when you want to update the definitions.
That seems risky security-wise.
I'll just stick to my Linux machines, which update without bringing me down for half an hour.
No, some of us bitch and moan about Apple whenever it's on topic and this is also a logical fallacy of sorts ... if Apple does it, that doesn't make Microsoft's actions OK.
No, some of us take the down votes and voice our opinion. :)
It may take a decade or more, but if Microsoft sidelines Win32, the market will find an alternative. Hundreds of millions of Windows users will not be ignored and will not surrender commercial freedoms that Microsoft itself has proven technically possible.
How is that any different from Steam? Every major company today wants to be a walled garden controlled by proprietary systems. Its either that, or they wan't to be a subscription service or a toll booth. Its unfortunate, but simply selling software is going away..
Is it a feature of Steam OS to allow multiple stores to be installed?
Steam isn't a walled garden, because you don't have to use Steam. You can use gog.com or humblebundle.com or gamersgate.com. Heck you can buy a game on Steam and gog.com will have the game for you on galaxy. You can buy humble bundles and get steam keys.
Steam is a store and you can buy the same exact products and use them on your computer. Windows 10 S you have one store and can only buy it from one place.
That's as arbitrary a definition as any.
Walled garden = A hyper-controlled environment where you have zero control over access to content and services.
If steam is "just a store" why do I need steam installed _AT ALL_ after I purchase the game? Why can't I just run the binary? After all, I paid for it. Next, Valve can ban my entire steam account at any point in time for any reason, without any recourse, and kick me outside the 'garden' and locking me out of every single game that I purchased. They have complete control over who gets to play in their garden and how they play. Now, I happen to like _SOME_ of the things Valve does, but I don't kid myself into thinking its something it isn't.
>Windows 10 S you have one store and can only buy it from one place.
Steam is an application, not an OS. Now I wonder if Valve will allow Microsoft to have a store on Steam OS. That would be an apples-to-apples comparison.