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Microsoft Operating Systems Software Windows

Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 'S Mode' (bleepingcomputer.com) 90

Posted by msmash from the further-expansion dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft head honcho Joe Belfiore confirmed today that Windows 10 S won't be a separate Windows version anymore and that Microsoft will ship an "S Mode" with Windows 10 starting 2019. "Next year 10S will be a "mode" of existing versions, not a distinct version," Belfiore said today on Twitter.
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Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 'S Mode' More

Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 'S Mode'

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  • What kind of news is this? WHAT IS THIS "S MODE"?? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07, 2018 @09:56AM (#56221569)

    You know, you need to actually explain what the heck what you're writing means. S mode my....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by TWX ( 665546 )

      Given the rest of the article summary, presumably student. Which probably means that it's more difficult for students to make changes to the computer, and may prevent Microsoft corporate decisions through automatic updates to inadvertently change things that school admins have purposely set.

      • Re:What kind of news is this? WHAT IS THIS "S MODE (Score:5, Informative)

        by Dutch Gun ( 899105 ) on Wednesday March 07, 2018 @10:21AM (#56221669)

        In brilliant marketing fashion, the "S" stands for nothing at all, according to Microsoft. All it signifies is that the version of Windows you're using can only run Universal Windows Platform apps, making it largely useless for anyone who wants to use their computer for much more than e-mail and web surfing. Oh, and no web surfing with any browser except Edge. Whee.

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward

          so it's the Shittier mode?

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Serge_Tomiko ( 1178965 )

          That is highly inaccurate.

          It gives administrators the right to lock down machines and remove any possibility of running into problems with legacy compatibility issues.

          For virtually all office and education uses, Windows S mode is totally sufficient. It's also a boon for Grandma, who all too often agrees to install some crapware from a popup. It makes life a lot easier, and in reality will force developers to abandon legacy Windows code. Honestly, in my opinion, Microsoft has sacrificed too much appeasing

          • [S mode] should have been available since Windows 8 at the very least. This probably would have resulted in more software available on the Store.

            Surface RT and Surface 2 tablets ran the Windows RT operating system, which was locked into what is now called S mode. They couldn't run third-party Win32 desktop apps even if recompiled for ARM.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            Is it for gamer nerds? No. This is why they have the option of using standard Windows.

            As long as they refuse to allow me to decide when my OS will update and reboot, I'll stick with my Windows 8.1 machine, and before long I'm pretty much just going to run Windows in a VM on a Linux machine.

            Sorry, it's my fucking machine, I'll decide if I want your update right now or at all. I have a long standing policy which says I refuse to take a day-1 patch from any vendor, most especially Microsoft.

            Fuck Microsoft and

            • Export HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv to a reg file, delete it, reboot. No more updates. When you need updates, import that reg file, reboot, run updates, and delete again. I caught Win10 Pro force-updating despite the group policy being set to not reboot when a user was logged on, so I did this instead and have been free of cancerous MS updates ever since. The Spectre wrecker update missed me completely.

        • Secure (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Excelcia ( 906188 )

          S is supposed to be for Secure. Microsoft's walled garden mode. They think it'll be a big hit. The funny part...

          It is yet unknown if Microsoft will make "S Mode" available for free, or users will have to pay a fee before being able to switch their current OS into "S Mode."

          ...is that they are considering charging extra. That's right, you will need to pay them for the privelege of locking your computer up to use only their walled garden software.

          They are consistently out of touch with people actually wan

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by OzPeter ( 195038 )

      From TFA

      Windows 10 S is eerily similar to Chrome OS. Windows 10 S —now Windows 10 "S Mode"— limits users to installing apps only available on the Windows Store. This is exactly how the lightweight Chrome OS works, which also limits users to installing apps from Google's Chrome Web Store and Play Store only.

      But yeah. The F in TFS is verging on FuckedUp

      • So the slow speed, of an over engineered OS combined with the limited functionality of a mobile Cloud OS.

        That reminds me of Microsoft .NET implementation
        The speed of Java with the Platform Independence of making it in Visual Basic.

      • How hard would have been to say that in the summary instead of this meaningless phrase:

        "10S will be a "mode" of existing versions, not a distinct version"

        As far as I can tell, this isn't even marketing gibberish. This sounds like a person who doesn't understand computers at all, trying to BS something technical sounding.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      it's a locked down version of windows 10 that only runs stuff from the 'store'..

      first it was a separate version of windows

      next it is now a setting in windows...

      in the future it will BECOME the windows... this is microsoft's goal. they don't want you installing shit on your own. they want a piece of the action, whether it's their 30% cut from sales or just the stats, telemetry, and tracking of a 'free' download from the 'store'.

    • 'S' in Japanese means 'sadist'.

      Like 'M' means 'masochist'.

      So I presume it's a sadist mode or something.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cyn1c77 ( 928549 )

      It is amazing how the OP and linked article provide absolutely no information on what S mode is!

    • You know, you need to actually explain what the heck what you're writing means.

      The first rule of S Mode club is THAT YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT S MODE.

  • Wonder how this will continue... (Score:3)

    by ctilsie242 ( 4841247 ) on Wednesday March 07, 2018 @10:04AM (#56221597)

    First, Windows S, which locks out all programs except Windows Store ones, is offered. Then merged with the mainstream OS. I have a feeling that it may wind up becoming the default, then "non-S" mode eventually becoming a chargable extra, or even deleted sooner or later.

    Maybe I need a better tinfoil hat. For some purposes, "S-mode" can be useful, but I wonder if it really can protect against Trojans or malware.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Valve saw the writing on the wall. [steampowered.com] People called Tim Sweeney paranoid. [pcgamer.com] Who's laughing now?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Khyber ( 864651 )

        "WARNING: Both installation methods will erase all content on the target computer"

        Not only did Valve see the writing but they hired the most incompetent people to make an incompetent OS installer.

    • It may seem that way, but it's actually the opposite.

      Some MS laptops (Smurface Book?) were being shipped with a crippled version of Windows (10S) by default, upgradeable to full Win 10 Pro at no charge.

      I suspect that MS discovered that nobody wanted 10S by default, so they're shipping everything with full Win 10 and relegating the locked-down version to a "mode" that can be enabled, but is normally disabled. No reinstall required.

      This is actually a good sign, that MS is no longer pushing crippleware by def

    • I wonder if it really can protect against Trojans or malware.

      Sure it can. Anything Microsoft doesn't want.

  • Got a new laptop at work... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I was offered a new laptop last month to replace my aging Lenovo ThinkPad...but I declined, thinking that any new machine would have Windows 10 on it, and I just didnt want to deal with that OS! A few weeks later, I noticed my spacebar and number "2" key were failing on the keyboard, so I let IT know that, yes, I would like a new laptop. It arrived yesterday...a shiny new Lenovo T460s...and to my surprise and ever lasting gratefulness to our IT department, it still has Windows 7 on it! At least I can put

    • Yes, and we'll all be driving flying cars and there will be no more world hunger. Like most things too good to be true, don't count on it...
  • From TFA "Windows 10 S is eerily similar to Chrome OS. Windows 10 S —now Windows 10 "S Mode"— limits users to installing apps only available on the Windows Store."
    • Yep, nothing more than a smartphone style walled garden. It's unsettling enough that this is even offered on a desktop OS but you can be sure that they'll try to push it as the default mode sooner or later.
      It's a disgrace Apple started this movement with iOS
      • It might useful to schools, but for consumers I think it already has been a non-starter.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        It's a disgrace Apple started this [walled garden] movement with iOS

        Apple started nothing. Walled garden started in 1985 with the lockout methods in the Nintendo Entertainment System and Atari 7800 ProSystem. Even in mobile phones, BREW had lockout before iOS.

  • Since odd no. for Win is usually reputed to be decent quality and even no. versions crap - and we've been stuck in an even-number versions since 5 and a half years ago - Can we assume they'll skip Win 11 altogether, and in a year or two, announce another crappy malware named Windows 12?

  • "We Control The Vertical, We Control... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Zorro ( 15797 ) on Wednesday March 07, 2018 @10:43AM (#56221785)

    The Horizontal."

    There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to – The Outer Limits

  • "Microsoft head honcho Joe Belfiore confirmed today..."

    I thought Satya Nadella was the Microsoft Head Honcho.

  • "Unactivated" Edition (Score:4, Interesting)

    by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Wednesday March 07, 2018 @10:58AM (#56221911) Homepage

    It's about time they made Windows 10 S free. All pirate copies of Windows 10 that fail to activate get to be Windows 10 S. If you have a paid license, you get Home or Pro. Anyone can download the media creation tool and install Windows 10 S without a license.

    That's my prediction. Though give it 2 more years and anyone not paying for a subscription to Windows will get the "S" edition and everyone else will be downgraded.

    • I suppose with getting their tithe from the store for any installed apps, that would be a good way to monetize people that would otherwise pirate it.

  • Do I have to sum it up. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Revek ( 133289 ) on Wednesday March 07, 2018 @11:05AM (#56221955)

    S mode is the shit mode.

  • don't want S mode turned on by default when this hits.

  • It's For Cars (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    They want to put it into cars so people can say, "did you see that S-car go?"

  • Enhanced S Mode? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Super Heuristic Integrated Technology for Windows 10.

  • Once upon a time in Redmond, they argued (and won) that every PC sold should have a Windows license sold with it.
    ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] )

    Since that time, PC sales have slowed and MS is hungry, so poof! a new "S" (Subscription) model that allows MS to bleed the unwashed masses of some low-ish amount of money per month or year to keep their PC running (always just less than buying windows outright..) What MS choses not to see is that the OS is becoming largely irrelevant in the new web/cloud wor

  • I hadn't heard of Windows 10 S before.

    Windows 10 S is a specific configuration of Windows 10 Pro that offers a familiar, productive Windows experience that's streamlined for security and performance. By exclusively using apps in the Microsoft Store and ensuring that you browse safely with Microsoft Edge, Windows 10 S keeps you running fast and secure day in and day out.

    For more information, please refer to this page. [microsoft.com]

    Looks like there are a few more differences from Pro, like only being able to join a domain hosted in Azure.

  • As a gross simplification, right now you have admin accounts (who can install programs) and limited accounts (who cannot.) It makes perfect sense for Microsoft to say "Hey, let's create a new user class that can only install stuff from the store." It's theoretically safe, and gives them the freedom to install without bothering an admin. And, it'll drive a lot of people to put (are the apps at this point?) software in the MS store.

    My worry is that the new user class is all user classes. My secondary wor

  • I wonder if anyone, anywhere actually has the official title "head honcho"? Because that would be cool.

  • Hey, you want S Mode?

    A smode what?

    No, no, you want S Mode?

    I already have Windows 10 installed. So, how can I have a smode on top of it?

    You're killing me, Smalls! These are S Modes stuff, okay? Pay attention. First, you take your OS. You stick the locked down store on the OS. Then, you slowly screw the users. When the users give up, you force "upgrade" them to the new OS. Then, you lock them in. Then, you S Mode. Kind of messy, but it's profitable. Try some.

  • Once I deleted all that crap off my win10 box I never looked back. Store mode...trapped in edge... ick.

  • ...Microsoft can't just outright kill agonizing products, it needs to expose it and watch it die off a miserable death. Surface RT, Windows Phone, Zune, Windows Store...

  • So, Windows 10 S will be locked down, with only one channel for new software and updates. And it might cost more. How does this differ from simply having your users in the business or educational markets being given a guest account for free? Any I.T. admin is already going to prefer guest or regular user accounts for the people they support. There is already a large and well established ecosystem of best practices, AD policies, scripts and third party software all intended to limit the harm a clueless user
  • Two sentences. Not a word of what the fuck 'S' edition is supposed to be. You're the kind of journalist that could aspire to write in the Sun, or the Daily Mail. Well done.

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