The Sams Report: What is Windows Lite?

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Brad Sams in Podcasts, The Sams Report with 14 Comments

On this edition of the Sams report, a closer look at Windows Lite, Edge updates, 8CX, and answering many of your questions.

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Comments (14)

14 responses to “The Sams Report: What is Windows Lite?”

  1. CMDV

    Modern File Explorer is "C:Windowsexplorer.exe shell:AppsFolderc5e2524a-ea46-4f67-841f-6a9465d9d515_cw5n1h2txyewy!App"

    3 years ago
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  2. waethorn

    "Tastes great. Less filling."

    3 years ago
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  3. Winner

    Given the Windows 10s failure, Microsoft obviously knows that their W10 OS is too big of a convoluted hairball of code to be competitive in certain ways. The question is whether they can make a Windows OS that is streamlined enough to be decent and still be Windows.

    If it were me (which it is not), I would make a Windows 11 that gets rid of the advertising crap, gets rid of most legacy backwards-compatibility, fixes the UI issues in W10, and REWRITES a bunch of the code to be modular, more secure, efficient, and smaller - while preserving existing Win32 application and API compatibility. And I'd structure it so that updates can mostly occur without reboots - like Linux or Android.


    But that won't happen as they a) won't spend that much effort; and b) would need to monetize all that work

    3 years ago
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    • skane2600

      In reply to Winner:

      I don't see any consistency between stating get "rid of most legacy backwards-compatibility" and "preserving existing Win32 application and API compatibility". What non-Win32 or non-API compatibility are you suggesting Windows should get rid of?


      In any case, your suggestions (valid or not) are from a developer or techie POV, but not the average Windows user. It's those users who determine if Windows is a viable product or not.

      3 years ago
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      • Winner

        In reply to skane2600:

        I'm not deeply technical here, but it seems that there are things like XP mode, like ancient utilities, ancient menus, crap like "There's a lot of stuff on the clipboard, do you want to delete it?" when you are closing an application, etc. That's all ancient legacy code crap and I'm sure there's a lot more. You need to preserve the ability to run the largest legacy apps (photoshop, browsers, etc.) but not the back to MS-DOS days stuff. And get rid of all that ancient UI stuff and modernize the hell out of it. And clean up the UI mess of Win10.

        3 years ago
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        • skane2600

          In reply to Winner:

          You can't sell Windows on the basis of saying it supports all the big name applications but not the lessor known ones because there's a wide variety of applications people depend on. Windows 10 doesn't include an XP mode and doesn't run MS-DOS applications.


          We can debate the usefulness of the clipboard warning, but it's a UI philosophical question and has nothing to do with being old or modern. There's a subset of users who think that UI style is critical, but I believe most people are just happy if there are visual indications of what is or is not a button. Sadly MS like Google and others have fallen into the fad of hiding control elements so that it's like finding a snowman in a snowstorm.

          3 years ago
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  4. Bats

    No. That won't work because businesses (Microsoft's bread and butter) won't go for a version of Windows you describe.


    The best overall solution is to create a brand new OS, that is an simple to use and maintain as Chrome OS. Most importantly....don't call it "Windows."


    LOL...I've only said it a few hundred times this past year and last. I also said, that Microsoft needs to focus on the web, particularly the browser. Had Microsoft done exactly what I have suggested, Windows Phone would not be dead. I started saying that 2 years ago. Gosh....I am a genius. 


    As we approach the end of the year, let's think back to genius statements:


    "Xbox One X" is gonna do nothing, No one is going to buy that" (and no one did)


    "Why buy the new Pixel at launch? It's going to go on sale for half the price for the Holidays." (When I said that, I was imaging a BOGO offer, like I saw Verizon offering last year. It was better than that. I got my Pixel 3 XL (64GB) for less than $380 not including taxes.)


    "Xbox Games Pass and all of Microsoft's attempts to be relevant in the gaming world, will make Sony stronger." (And it did. Sony is dominating, not just in unit sales, but also online memberships and Playstation Now).


    "Gorgeous?....no one is gonna buy that thermostat Medhi and it's not." (Not only did no one buy the Johnson Controls thermostat, no one even talks about it.)

    3 years ago
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  5. Thom77

    But will it still force me to download an update the moment i connect to a insanely slow public internet connection? If not, it will not be the full Windows 10 experience.


    The only reason I need Windows is because of gaming. Other then that, I would be on Linux full time.

    3 years ago
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  6. skane2600

    Sounds like Windows RT Version 3. How many times must they make a non-Windows Windows before they realize nobody wants one?

    3 years ago
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    • shameermulji

      In reply to skane2600:

      That's essentially what it is => RT 3.0 but the biggest problem with RT was that it had Windows branding in the name of the OS. If MS had branded it something else, like Apple has macOS & iOS, it would have been far less of an issue.

      3 years ago
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      • skane2600

        In reply to shameermulji:

        That was half the problem. The other half was creating Windows 8 and aligning it with RT in order to promote it. A failed mobile platform and a damaged desktop platform was the result. And now MS appears to be tripling-down on that failed strategy.


        3 years ago
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  7. yuvitec

    nice articel about Windows lite.

    3 years ago
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  8. mano793

    Nice post. Compiler vs Interpreter

    3 years ago
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