If we consult years of insider whispers about Microsoft’s alleged internal strategy for Windows, many from The Verge’s own Tom Warren, there’s a simple reason why you shouldn’t care whether Windows 10X ships on just a few devices or thousands. That’s because Windows 10X is likely just a modular shell that gives the core Windows operating system a new user interface to do the tricks you see in these videos.
And it all comes back to the philosophical question of what “Windows” really is now.
[…]As Tom and fellow reporters have discovered, Microsoft has been building a new Windows Core OS (WCOS) that will serve as the new modular backbone of Windows. It can be paired with a different user interface for different types of displays by adapting what Microsoft’s calling a Composable Shell, or CShell (say it out loud), to each new interface.
I hope Microsoft will eventually give users the choice to switch between the various shells whenever they so desire. And if not – the community will take care of it.
Microsoft makes it far to easy to have Linux/Unix users make fun of Windows:
Linux/Unix has had this feature (different UI/interfaces on top of the same core) for a long, long time.
Even C-shell existed for a long time: Initial release 1978; 41 years ago
We are too busy playing games and enjoying our desktops to pay attention.
To me, the big mistake was with Windows 95. Prior to that, DOS was the core operating system, and Windows was a shell you could run on top of it – if you wanted! With Windows 95, instead of modernizing DOS and adding functionality like long filenames, USB support, better networking, etc, etc.., they decided to copy the cool kids at MAC and integrate the shell with/as the operating system. Now, finally, we may be coming full-circle back to the powerful core OS with a shell on it. However, I want the option to just run the Core OS with the command-line as the interface, and only switching on this or that eye-candy when i want. This is the luxury I’ve had with Linux since the mid 90’s. When I am at the console in Linux, I don’t feel like I am missing anything. The full power of the OS is at my disposal. The GUI is mostly for when I want to consume content. However, lately I have been using Links2 text browser more and more. It’s amazing how fast the web is when you strips out all the bouncy balls and Ads.