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Microsoft Operating Systems Education Windows

Microsoft Launches Windows 11 SE Built for Low-cost Education PCs (windowscentral.com) 62

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Microsoft has announced a new edition of Windows 11 designed specifically for the K-8 education sector, dubbed "Windows 11 SE." This new edition of Windows 11 is designed to address fundamental challenges that schools are facing day to day with improved performance, optimized resources, and simple to deploy and manage. From a report: Microsoft says Windows 11 SE has been optimized for education focused low-cost PCs, most of which start at the affordable price of $249 and are powered by low-end Intel and AMD chips. Windows 11 SE was designed with feedback from teachers and school IT admins in mind. Unlike normal Windows 11, Windows 11 SE comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Office out of the box, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, and OneDrive, which can also be used offline as part of a Microsoft 365 license.

Microsoft has also limited some of the multitasking features, including reducing the amount of apps that can be snapped on screen at once to just two; side by side. The Microsoft Store app is also disabled. Windows 11 SE also automatically runs apps in full-screen, which makes sense considering most Windows 11 SE PCs will feature small 11-inch displays. It also removes access to the "This PC" area in File Explorer by default, as it's an area most students don't need to access when working on school work. Windows 11 SE is "cloud backed" meaning it will mirror all your saved documents stored locally to the cloud.
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Microsoft Launches Windows 11 SE Built for Low-cost Education PCs More

Microsoft Launches Windows 11 SE Built for Low-cost Education PCs

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  • you know what is low cost? (Score:4, Informative)

    by kiviQr ( 3443687 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @01:13PM (#61971599)
    no TPM and older CPU generations!

    • Yeah because nothing says frustration free experience more than running a resource hog on a 6+ year old laptop from a time when 4GB was about the max RAM that most mid cost laptops offered.

      I get it man, I too like loading screens.

      I think Windows 11's requirements are ridiculous, but at the same time so was the expectation that every idiot should run the latest and greatest on their old systems. Repeat after me: "It's okay to run Windows 10. Having a center justified start menu doesn't make me cool."

  • This is one area they need to just give up. Google has won this sector with ChromeBooks, and schools that are more affluent still purchase Macs. There is no need for this SKU.
    • Unfortunately google can't code for crap and you just need to look at the mess that Android is to know that Google can't build an ecosystem.
      • You could easily say the same about Microsoft for what it's worth. But the argument is pointless either way as computers are just the latest crutch that school systems try to use while nothing really changes. Understanding technology is useful, but it isn't going to really make meaningful improvements.

      • when you need to run windows apps mac or chrome does not cut it.

        • Most of the apps in question that students need to access are online. This is why the cheap laptops are being given out, not to run native apps but to just get to the web browser. Even Microsoft is intent on pushing gullible enterprises to get to the cloud and away from its own platform, so why should elementary school students be different?

      • Missing: Google Must include Google has really gone down hill in the past few years (their products used to be much better, seriously WTF?), but they have already got a really big head start in the education market, the part that Chromebooks are for. I think it's safe to say that Chromebooks are at the point of being a generic term, like Xerox is with copiers.

        M$ might have had a chance if they got into the game early, but they are starting the race when their competitors are on the final lap.

    • There isn't nearly the investment with these like say a office system with software. The chromebooks are throwaway so it's not a big deal to switch.

    • Agreed. Besides, such a limited version will not "inspire" younger students to look further in what a proper computer can do. Granted, that is a nightmare from the administrator's point of view.

      Still, by putting such a limited operating system in class rooms, the phones will actually be more capable and even more liked by students later on. Which will take a long time to win back.

      But that is not one of the goals behind Windows anymore. Microsoft only wants to sell users a subscription and manage everything

      • Re:give up already (Score:5, Insightful)

        by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @01:56PM (#61971761)

        Most students don't care about "proper computers" unless they plan to major in CS. Computers are a tool for the vast majority of people to get their work done. At the end of the day I'm not driving home thinking how satisfying my day was because my computer was running Linux or OSX. Do you think children are going to need access to to vi and a compiler to complete their vocabulary assignment?

        • Are you sure?

          My 7 year old asked me the other day if her computer was running windows 11, as she was launching Minecraft...

      • For those that think Microsoft is much less evil nowadays, they just hired a better PR department, nothing more.

        Also, the rest of the IT world is becoming "more evil", making Microsoft look better by comparison.

        Apple? Loudly considering rifling through user's data on their devices, ostensibly for fighting child porn.
        Google? Does officially no longer try not to be evil.
        Facebook? Technically not a competitor, but also a big IT company. Their behavior will serve as a negative counterpart.

    • No, it's OK, this is the numpty-fifth time Microsoft has tried this exact same thing, it's bound to work this time round.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      MS wants to gain this area. :P

  • I though they were all pretty bad by now. Apparently MS can still do one worse.

  • Full screen obsession (Score:3)

    by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @01:32PM (#61971673)

    Windows 11 SE also automatically runs apps in full-screen, which makes sense considering most Windows 11 SE PCs will feature small 11-inch displays

    I see MS did not learn the lessons of Windows 8 where people like me hated full screens for Settings, Calculator, etc. At least with 8 we can reduce the size. Is that an option in Windows 11 SE?

  • This may have changed, but the "Special Education" classes when/where I went to school were the classes for those with issues. Remedial classes once upon a time.

  • why don't they cut the crap on every operating system that they produce. I swear I could write a better search algo then was on the previous 3 versions of windows, and I don't know how to code that well (notepad++ was usually faster than an index and it was searching through the whole file of every file that wasn't indexed).

    Or maybe they could start optimizing the code that they have and making windows run faster, not slower with every subsequent rev.

    Or maybe they could stop making windows from looking like

  • Illegal in many jurisdictions. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by splutty ( 43475 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @01:36PM (#61971693)

    "Windows 11 SE is "cloud backed" meaning it will mirror all your saved documents stored locally to the cloud."

    Unless that's easy to completely disable out of the box during install, this will make this specific Windows illegal in many school jurisdictions.

    • Yep, yep. My first thought when I was reading the summary. Here's an idea ... school sysadmins throw no-cost Linux and LibreOffice or OpenOffice (which usually comes with distros) on systems they already have and extend their life another 4 to 5 years. Give students links to the software they need and nothing more. Store documents on a LOCAL server ... go figure. Screw M$ and their pitiful offerings.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • I was a high school computer science teacher for 18 years. Yes, I know the school sysadmins are shit. Time to upgrade them as well.
          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
            • Vanguard-Sentinel Career Centers - Fremont, OH. 18 years, CCNA, CompTIA A+, Network+. If you live in the back-woods of society it's not my fault.
            • I disagree with you. I was in a vocational High school and I was taking computer repair & assembly, together with radio & TV repair. There was another program named tech prep, that included electronics and programming. That was in 1999. So some schools do (or did) offer introductory computer science classes.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Virtually all cloud storage is oversold with limitations along the lines of no encrypted files, then signature matched to identical files in other users "personal" cloud storage. This type of analysis is a violation of the student data privacy protections

        Apart from these analysis and insecure storage rules, there's also advertiser-bait usage data being compiled from all users on cloud services, in the past some have claimed they except students from this type of data collection but have been caught lying:

        • Virtually all cloud storage is oversold with limitations along the lines of no encrypted files

          No sorry you're talking out of your arse. Cheap cloud hosting budget companies do what you are saying. On the flip side cloud vendors offer every possible variant of privacy and encryption for a myriad of different use cases, including classified documents, HIPAA compliance, and yes education too.

          Just because Billy-Bob's Someone Else's Computer would be a privacy violation doesn't magically make all cloud providers the same, or even for that matter the same cloud provider with a different tiered pricing pac

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

          Virtually all cloud storage is oversold with limitations along the lines of no encrypted files, then signature matched to identical files in other users "personal" cloud storage. This type of analysis is a violation of the student data privacy protections

          Apart from these analysis and insecure storage rules, there's also advertiser-bait usage data being compiled from all users on cloud services, in the past some have claimed they except students from this type of data collection but have been caught lying: h [eff.org]

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by splutty ( 43475 )

            That's a very US centric approach to a product that's not US centric. There are other countries that have actual laws to protect their citizens.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by jezwel ( 2451108 )
              For us we have data sovereignty requirements and these are met by cloud providers segregating out data centres to ensure there are multiple locations on-shore for business continuity but nothing is replicated off-shore.

              If you want to compete for the big contracts you need to be able to do this, or your service won't be approved for consumption.

              I highly doubt MS is ignoring these requirements.

    • Based on...?

    • this will make this specific Windows illegal in many school jurisdictions.

      No it won't. Not in the slightest. Microsoft offers cloud services that are segregated to meet all manner of requirements, including the storing of classified documents, or HIPAA compliance. Yes MS is also just fine with the think of the children movement, and literally every vendor of school based systems be they Google, Apple, MS, or some of the more traditional yet lesser known names offers cloud mirroring.

  • Sounds like a ChromeBook...

  • I am running the Low Cost Version (zero cost) of OpenBSD and Linux. As much as I looked, I could not find a high cost version of the OS's I use. Plus no issues when upgrading, so I am always on the newest version.

    But I do donate

  • To rip off the low educated market. What an unethical company.

  • cloud backed = baned in chicago schools? (Score:3)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2021 @02:15PM (#61971853)

    cloud backed = banned in Chicago schools? as well other places where that data can't be put into an public cloud

    • Honestly, that's the best thing their schools could do. Run Linux instead and save a bundle by not having to buy new hardware.

    • cloud backed = banned in Chicago schools? as well other places where that data can't be put into an public cloud

      Who said public cloud? Microsoft offer segregated clouds for specific customers. Incidentally all education software providers including Apple, Google, Blackboard, etc use cloud services as a core part of their offering, and I don't think Chicago schools are sitting around with feathered quills and an abacas.

  • Only plays Steam hosted software.
  • Someone remember the Windows XP Starter Edition with similar limitations? It failed, because schools were installing Linux on those weak PCs, and people who bought one of these on stores just wiped and installed a pirate version over it.
  • There is a reason Chrome devices are popular in education. They are secure, fast even if low powered, no malware or viruses, instant applying of system updates and the controls for the Google console make management and control very easy while Azure Endpoint is a cluster of broken and half backed things.

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