
What Is Windows Lite? It's Microsoft's Chrome OS Killer - MagicPropmaker
https://www.petri.com/what-is-windows-core-os-its-microsofts-chromebook-os-killer#link
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tracker1
I think MS should probably just abandon the "Windows" moniker for this OS...
call it XBox Laptop, hell "Surface Lite" would be a better name. No windows
name as part of it at all. People have expectations with Windows, that it will
run all their stuff... different brand would make it easier.

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thunderbong
It says so in the article

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jtnews
This article is missing one of ChromeOS's main advantages. Ease of management
(provisioning, updating, installing software, group policy like configuration,
etc). If MS doesn't address that then this will flop as bad as RT and S.

I've seen Windows shops with entire teams dedicated to managing the Windows
environment (not including break/fix) and I've seen environments with
thousands of Chromebooks that are managed by one person (and that's not even a
full time job).

MS is making some progress with Azue AD and InTune, but it's not there yet.
Hopefully, by time this comes out they will have those other pieces better
refined so it can all come together.

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amanzi
Apart from the stupid clickbait title, this is an interesting article. Not
sure what it's like in other countries but here in NZ Chromebooks have become
the de-facto education laptop/platform. But the underlying OS is almost the
unimportant bit - the key is the Google Apps Education platform and how well
it works for both students and teachers. Even _if_ (and that's a big if) this
Windows Lite OS was successful and managed to replace Chrome OS, I can't see
how Microsoft will get schools to stop using Google Apps?

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zapzupnz
Source: I'm a digital technology teacher in NZ.

The Ministry of Education and Microsoft have an arrangement whereby all public
schools have free access to Office 365 for Education, including online
versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint; Teams as a replacement for Classroom;
Forms as a replacement for … well, forms; PowerApps and Flow as a replacement
for App Maker; and five free licences per student for the desktop and mobile
versions of Office.

To sweeten the deal, the revised deal that started this year also grants all
schools free licences for Minecraft: Education Edition. This is pretty huge at
the moment, since the zeitgeist is calling for learning through play, and
Minecraft: Education Edition also includes some programming tools, useful for
implementing the new Digital Technologies curriculum introduced this year and
mandatory by 2020.

Microsoft also provides free professional development to schools, including
staff members and IT administrators. Schools that have always used Active
Directory to store staff and student user credentials are supported in moving
to Azure Active Directory, providing easier integration between user
credentials and Office 365.

So full, free replacements for G Suite; free Minecraft: Education Edition;
free professional development, and the online version of Office 365 is just as
usable on existing Chromebooks as any other device. On top of that, a lot of
schools are moving to iPads, and the Office apps for iOS beat the Google Docs
apps.

Microsoft has a few tricks up its sleeves, to say the least.

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amanzi
Ah - interesting. I'm curious to know how well the core apps stack up from the
kids' perspectives. I watch my kids collaborating on slide decks with other
kids and am amazed at what they come up with. My understanding is that the
Office apps aren't as good for online collaboration, but perhaps the Education
ones are more optimised for that?

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tracker1
Can't speak from a kid's perspective... but as an adult O365, and the related
apps (MS Teams in particular) are leaps and bounds better than the Google
options.

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amanzi
Yeah, I use Office 365 extensively and have used Google Apps extensively in
the past. Office 365 is definitely more suited to corporate-type work and I
personally prefer Office 365, but I just feel like the Google Apps interface
and features work better for kids. And the Google Apps realtime collaboration
features still beat the Office 365 apps hand down.

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r00fus
Microsoft's way of fighting Chrome is by providing a Windows that won't run
(most) Windows apps...

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sneakernets
Oh look, it's Windows CE all over again.

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lostmsu
I'd say Windows RT

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type0
Just what we all need, another chorome os, another siloed system. Soon you
won't be able to buy and use a simple laptop without having the MS account.

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WalterGR
Then buy a simple laptop that isn’t one of these?

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jabwork
Drat,I had hoped for another edition of this
[https://www.litepc.com/](https://www.litepc.com/)

For the uninitiated this basically cranked your ability to uninstall windows
components up to 11, allowing you to strip out IE and and get windows humming
along quite well on antiquated hardware.

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boredishBoi
If this new OS is focusing on PWAs and UWPs, then it makes sense that MS would
can Edge for a chromium based browser.

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auslander
Microsoft should consider running on Apple A12X too.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A12X](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A12X)

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zapzupnz
Apple's A, S, T, and W processors represent a significant competitive
advantage (performance per watt, energy efficiency) in the mobile space;
there'll be chilled water in Hell before Apple cedes that to anybody else,
least of all Microsoft.

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auslander
I mean desktop, not mobile, Windows Mobile is dead. MS is not hardware
company, so why not make money on good product? And stick it to both,
Quallcomm and Intel, they got bit nasty with their 3G and LTE patents :)

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zapzupnz
Again, Apple won't be sharing their silicon with anybody, there's absolutely
nothing in it for them to share their chips with their competitors.

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auslander
It is selling chips. No need to _share_ anything. All IP stays at Apple. Big
$$$ just flow in, ok, agree to disagree.

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zapzupnz
Apple's business isn't selling chips, it's selling devices. If they're putting
competitors' software on their chips, what advantage does that offer their own
devices? None, aside from the OS, and that's never been Apple's value
proposition; rather, it's the integration of hardware and software only
possible by doing as much of both as possible, not by licensing.

Therefore, "Agree to disagree" doesn't apply. It simply doesn't follow. Apple
isn't a chip vendor; it makes chips as a form of competitive advantage. This
isn't a matter of opinion.

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rasz
a lot like Windows RT, UWP apps = dead in the water, hopefully

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marsrover
Someone needs to give Microsoft some Ritalin.

