The Windows 10X Problem (Premium)

I’m sure you’ve seen the news: Microsoft is delaying the release of Windows 10X---and the dual-screen Surface Neo---until 2021. The knee-jerk reaction is to blame the Coronavirus. But as Mary Jo Foley reports, Windows 10X has serious issues. Including the one I’ve raised since the beginning: Microsoft’s weird preoccupation with dual-screen devices was always a feint to generate more interest in a system it needed to succeed where Windows RT, Windows 10 S Mode, and Windows 10 on ARM had failed. And it always intended---always---to bring its new user experience to traditional single-screen devices. You know. PCs.

This is a big deal.

Windows 10X will bring two kinds of new, and neither is less important than the other. As relevant to this discussion, neither needs to be relegated to what is essentially a weird offshoot of traditional Windows 10 product editions, at least in the beginning.

The first is the simplified user experience, of course. Today’s Windows 10 user interface is to UI what the Windows 10 codebase is to code: A jumped mess of old and new. And while old-timers and/or power users like myself can use such a system efficiently thanks to years of experience, it just confuses the normal people who came of age with simpler mobile UIs like those found in iOS/iPadOS and Android.

The second is a new system architecture in which legacy desktop applications are shunted off into a virtual environment in a software container and not allowed to infect the rest of the system with instability, insecurity, poor battery life, and the other issues that are common with Win32 software. But this container system has always been problematic for performance and compatibility reasons. And part of Ms. Foley’s report focuses on that, noting that “compatibility levels were not great.”

My theory was that Microsoft intended to ship these two key elements of the future of Windows in the Windows 10X offshoot, positioned and available only for niche dual-screen devices so that it could basically test their value in public with limited risk. Only enthusiasts would ever take a risky bet on Surface Neo or other Windows 10X in year one, after all. And assuming Microsoft could work out the kinks---via updates to Windows 10X over time---it could then incorporate them into traditional Windows 10. (Or what Microsoft now calls Windows 10 desktop to differentiate it from 10X.)

I still believe that was the plan.

But with Panos Panay taking over Windows development, two possibilities emerge. One, that the long-time Surface leader understands that that business can’t afford another failure and that Windows 10X is in such tough shape that shipping product this year would scuttle any chance at success. And two, that Panay sees his combined responsibilities as a chance to dramatically rev both Windows and the hardware. That is, Windows 10X, whatever. This needs to be in Windows 10 desktop and ship on a volume of PCs. And it is just not ...

Gain unlimited access to Premium articles.

With technology shaping our everyday lives, how could we not dig deeper?

Thurrott Premium delivers an honest and thorough perspective about the technologies we use and rely on everyday. Discover deeper content as a Premium member.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC