Mystery New Windows SKU Could Be Resurrection Of Windows RT

Megalith

Megalith

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How embarrassing was Windows RT for Microsoft? Not enough, apparently, since the company is bringing it back in the form of “Windows Cloud”—a name they hope will obscure the fact that it is the very same OS that fizzled out in 2013 and brought the Surface 2 and Nokia Lumia 2520 along with it into the abyss. If you can remember, RT flopped because it was restricted to running Windows Store apps—but now that the store is a little friendlier toward Win32 applications, some would argue that Windows Cloud may actually be relevant once certain restrictions are lifted. The OS is rumored to be positioned as a Chrome OS competitor, but I think that may be a struggle considering the state of the Windows Store.

…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 simplified 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).
 
They really just need to leave that thing dead. The Windows Store is just horrible.
 
I had the misfortune of buying one, long story but seemed like a good idea at the time. Hardware was awesome, but probably subsidized.
 
Travolta said:
In before Heatlesssun praises MS ;)
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From the very beginning of Windows RT I said it was probably going nowhere when one could just get a Windows x86 device and get whatever the Windows Store platform offered on tablets and 2 in 1s and get full Win32 compatibility for one devices that were even cheaper than Windows RT devices. I never bought a Windows RT and never recommended them. So yeah, all that praise I give to Microsoft. /s
 
A Chrome OS competitor... Netbooks were a thing 10 years ago and now Microsoft might have a product.

How do they plan on managing a cloud OS when they can't even keep Windows Update working properly?
 
You could run applications outside of the App store on Windows RT, though the preferred delivery method was via the app store. I think the bigger, but less obvious issue that Windows RT had was that no Visual Basic/Studio was ever made for Windows RT which took away a lot of access for common software development, even Office RT was greatly hindered because of this.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot you had to run a separate command in order to run apps not from the App store. It was so transparent I totally forgot you couldn't to that normally.
 
From the article:

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.
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Who writes this crap? Windows RT was based on Windows 8 / 8.1, and Windows with Bing was used on low-cost x86 machines that could run regular Win32 desktop applications.



Also, Windows RT was awesome for what it was. Desktop Apps are awful with a high DPI touch interface. Nobody complains that their iPad can't run Windows applications. My Surface 2 (RT) is still great at browsing the web and watching NetFlix. What else do you need a tablet for? If I want to, I can even RDP into my desktop and do other things.
 
This or Chromebook is not interesting to me. I like the idea of competition so I hope for at least some success with this.
 
Ahh the windows store, thanks for burning up CPU cycles and data all the GD time keeping me ever up to date on calculator and 100 other apps I never use.
 
gunbust3r said:
Ahh the windows store, thanks for burning up CPU cycles and data all the GD time keeping me ever up to date on calculator and 100 other apps I never use.
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Automatic app updates have always been able to be disabled starting from Windows 8.0. It's a setting in the Store app.
 
krotch said:
They really just need to leave that thing dead. The Windows Store is just horrible.
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You and I must be looking at a different store then. I just looked and there is a considerable amount of good stuff there and it appears to be well laid out now. Also, Resident Evil 7 is there and is another Play Anywhere title, which is good, if you are into that sort of game.
 
westrock2000 said:
You could run applications outside of the App store on Windows RT, though the preferred delivery method was via the app store. I think the bigger, but less obvious issue that Windows RT had was that no Visual Basic/Studio was ever made for Windows RT which took away a lot of access for common software development, even Office RT was greatly hindered because of this.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot you had to run a separate command in order to run apps not from the App store. It was so transparent I totally forgot you couldn't to that normally.
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Maybe you could install RT apps but not Win32 apps. Office was an exception Microsoft made for itself. Then wonders why it died.
 
ManofGod said:
You and I must be looking at a different store then. I just looked and there is a considerable amount of good stuff there and it appears to be well laid out now. Also, Resident Evil 7 is there and is another Play Anywhere title, which is good, if you are into that sort of game.
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And there you go, they have confused it by having things like RE7 in there, you see it on the windows store, go buy the 2017 Surface Cloud Gimp, and then find out, oops, nope it was in the store but not compatible...
 
gunbust3r said:
And there you go, they have confused it by having things like RE7 in there, you see it on the windows store, go buy the 2017 Surface Cloud Gimp, and then find out, oops, nope it was in the store but not compatible...
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Not exactly sure if that's a big problem. You could install RE7 on an x86 Gimp laptop from Steam of the Windows Store without the performance to run a game like this.
 
gunbust3r said:
And there you go, they have confused it by having things like RE7 in there, you see it on the windows store, go buy the 2017 Surface Cloud Gimp, and then find out, oops, nope it was in the store but not compatible...
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He made a.comment on the store and I responded to it. Please take your politically inspired process and shove.....
 
I need a MS alternative to the Chromebooks, I have many Chromebooks running here easily 75+ but the inability for me to tie the logins easily to AD is a pain so I have to manage two user lists with separate password sets it confuses a lot of the users. If MS were to launch a product in the price and hardware range as the existing 13" Chromebooks that could be added to a domain this would be one of my easier decisions to make.
 
ManofGod said:
You and I must be looking at a different store then. I just looked and there is a considerable amount of good stuff there and it appears to be well laid out now. Also, Resident Evil 7 is there and is another Play Anywhere title, which is good, if you are into that sort of game.
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Sure there's a lot of stuff in there. It's layout isn't bad, at least it's not the XBL layout, cause that's horrendous. The problem is, when you actually use any of those products. Most things are some ghetto ported Android/IOS program. I'm actually fine with that, if things were labelled as such. Sometimes you have no idea if you're getting a decent desktop style app or some mobile inspired app. I don't need the mobile crap on my desktop or my laptop. Maybe on my tablet. I just used it yesterday, since I needed to update 8 to 8.1 after install.

I also already bought RE7. $40 on G2A and input code into Steam.
 
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