Last week, the Microsoft community on the interwebs were abuzz due to the sighting of a simplified version of Windows called Windows 10 Cloud. And today, they’ll be delighted to know that the said software variant does exist and screenshots of the same are now floating around.
Windows 10 Cloud is being described as a stripped and cheaper version of Microsoft’s software offering that’s synonymous to the Windows RT build. The company aims to release the said variant in competition to Chrome OS, while also targeting low-cost PCs in the education and enterprise sectors. Also, mind you, this Windows variant may be named Cloud, but it has nothing to do with cloud technology.
Now, Twitter user adguard has spotted the Test Assembly for Windows 10 Cloud in preview build 15025 released a couple days ago. Thus, he has made an ISO for this Cloud build available for download, and you can actually install it. We, however, wouldn’t recommend you to plug a test build with unknown origins into your default setup. Using a virtual machine to test out this variant is a more viable alternative.
Тестовая сборка Windows 10 build 15025 (в данной сборке редакция Cloud, как не Cloud вообще, а на Pro смахивает) https://t.co/mkVqroNLoy pic.twitter.com/w84crGc9zL
— adguard (@rgadguard) February 2, 2017
Further, the string of leaks for Windows 10 Cloud doesn’t just end there. Windows Blog Italia is reporting that they have tested the current version of the test variant. The differences between this Cloud variant and the original version of Windows 10 have been talked about with the help of leaked screenshots.
As it has been previously stated Windows 10 Cloud will only support Unified Windows Platform (UWP) apps installed through the Windows Store. And this has now been confirmed via screenshots, where Windows 10 Cloud rejected the installation of Win32 apps saying ‘The app you’re trying to run isn’t designed for this version of Windows.’ It was also noted that the said Windows 10 variant could easily run apps ported over using the Centennial desktop tool — which aids the conversion of Win32 apps into Windows Store ones.
Since test builds and screenshots for the said variant have already started making rounds on the internet, we could expect Window 10 Cloud to debut alongside the Creators Update. Microsoft is currently working on refining the software and pushing out final preview builds before they make an appearance on everyone’s update settings page.
If not alongside the Creators Update, Windows 10 cloud will be announced at the Build Conference in May. It is also highly possible that the cloud variant is being developed to fulfill Microsoft’s ARM ambitions that were announced last year.
