WIN10X WAS TO BE, essentially, Windows Lite. It was a cut-down, modular version intended for more limited hardware platforms, where Windows’ increasingly bulky footprint would overwhelm the hardware. Basically, a rival for Chrome OS, which powers all those Chromebooks that cut into Microsoft’s share of the laptop market. Win10X was first in revealed in 2019, and Microsoft teased us with the Surface Neo Duo and dual-screen Surface Neo, which required Win10X to work— neither arrived. Eventually the Surface Duo emerged, but Android-powered, and poorly promoted. Then Win10X was “refocused” to x86 hardware, ditching the idea of using sandbox containers to run other platforms. The market has swung to ARM-based designs more markedly since then. It also became clear that stripping Windows down to run on small devices removes much of what makes Windows so good in the first place.
Microsoft’s attempts to get operating systems on devices smaller than a laptop have been notable for their lack of success. Remember the truly awful WinCE? At least it had an apposite name. Then there was Windows RT, Windows S, and Windows Mobile—all best forgotten. Microsoft should have bought Android (somebody is probably still kicking themselves over that lost opportunity), instead of spending hundreds of millions trying to fit Windows on to devices that were never intended to host it. Starting with code so integrated with x86 architecture for devices that aren’t doesn’t help. Full-fat Windows is what Microsoft does best; wasting vast sums to unsuccessfully compete in other markets is pure hubris.
Microsoft is to concentrate on the 21H2 update instead, complete with the Sun Valley UI update, with its new icons. Some of Win10X’s UI tweaks are being ported across to the forthcoming update, so at least some work has been salvaged. The buzz is that Windows is to be “rejuvenated.” Let’s hope this is the last time Microsoft tries to foist Windows on to unsuitable platforms.