Microsoft Doubles Down on its Efforts Against Chrome OS in The Education Market With Windows 10 Lite
Microsoft’s streamlined approach with Windows 10 has taken different turns over the years in an effort to rival Google’s dominance in the education market. These attempts have come in the form of “Windows 10 S” which later morphed to 10 S and more than likely, a 10 Lite. All three forms reiterate the idea of Microsoft’s hunger for a piece of the pie in the education sector.
Up until now, that effort has mostly been bleak and hasn’t managed to make a turnaround for Redmond giant. It is in light of this rather slow development that Microsoft has decided to take some drastic steps to win the education market over. Amongst the purported features underway are including a streamlined start menu, a colorful user interface, an omission of the live tiles all of which are expected to effectively improve the Windows 10 Lite user experience by ten folds.
Allegedly, the new and upcoming Windows 10 Lite operating system will have a user experience akin to that of the decade-old Windows 7 operating system albeit with a touch of inspiration from Chrome’s system UI.
While the concept image below is not an accurate representation of some of the UI elements previously mentioned. However, it gives a relative idea of what the expected turn out of the Windows 10 Lite system will “look” like.
Additionally, this system will come bundled with Microsoft’s UWP (Universal Windows Platform) together with progressive web apps, a static app launcher (like that of Chrome OS) to replace the start menu and a lean system that will run on low-powered devices. Quite suspiciously, some of these moves I’d reckon are particularly intentional as they are meant to “ease” transition for students and teachers alike in the event Windows 10 Lite sees a wide adoption and that is, in fact, a big IF.
Furthermore, this vision seemingly falls in line with Microsoft’s efforts in supporting chipsets based on the ARM architecture to create an ecosystem of education devices primarily powered by ARM-based processors with a competitive price to boot.
Will Microsoft succeed in giving Google a run for their money in the education sector? Only time will tell.
