Microsoft had been working on a new operating system called Windows 10X since 2019. This system came to be, broadly speaking, a limited and reduced version of normal Windows 10, focused on touch devices and designed to run only universal UWP applications. A fast, simple and safer system . This year the first version of this operating system was going to arrive, and for next year a big update was going to arrive to make it compatible, for example, with dual-screen devices. However, it seems that in the end there is going to be a last minute change.
This same weekend Microsoft has announced an indefinite pause in the development of this operating system. The company wants to focus all efforts on Windows 10 and the big Sun Valley update that will reach users in the fall. Microsoft has admitted that it is not clear what the future of that operating system will be. Development may resume after Sun Valley’s arrival, or this SW may go down in history before it even sees the light of day. However, what is it that has made users disinterested in it?
Windows 10X: the operating system that nobody wanted
Windows 10X was not intended to succeed Windows 10. Not even to be an alternative or a version of this system. This OS was intended to be an alternative to Chrome OS , an operating system for relatively low-power devices (mainly tablets), intended to be used on touch screens and, originally, for dual-screen devices.
Microsoft’s first mistake has been to create this operating system as an OEM version , impossible to install by hand on any PC. Since its announcement, users have looked for a way to test it and install it on their computers, but they have only encountered problems and impediments. The same goes for Chrome OS. Another impediment that users who have tried it have found was that, although it looked very nice, the functionality left much to be desired . Windows 10X came to be a version of Windows 10, without many functions and only compatible with some universal applications, no Win32. Computing is not yet available to kill Win32 apps, although it is on its way.
Microsoft should have focused the development of this operating system on a kind of Windows 10 Lite , a light version of Windows 10, compatible only with UWP applications, that anyone could download and install on any computer from its corresponding ISO image. A version of Windows Mode S , but improved, better optimized and more complete.
What we will miss from this OS
Despite everything, the ideas that Windows 10X implemented were not bad. There was more than one feature that we would all like to have in our normal Windows 10. For example, the centered taskbar , in true macOS style, was very elegant and useful. In addition, this system had a feature that allowed us to hide this taskbar automatically based on the computer screen.
The start menu of this system was also very elegant, a complete renovation of the Windows 10 menu that not everyone ends up convincing. It would be great news to see these and other 10X features on the desktop version of Windows 10. However, the truth is that it is complicated. Either Microsoft will remotely develop Windows 10X in the future, or all its features will disappear with it.
