Background information

Windows 10 S - The Windows that forces you into the empty App Store

19.6.2017

Translation: machine translated

The new Surface Laptop is the first device to come with Windows 10 S. Is the new operating system from Microsoft any good or is it a flop? While my colleague scrutinised the hardware and performance in the video, I took a closer look at the software.

"Windows 10 S is the soul of Windows 10" was the slogan at the launch of the new operating system a few weeks ago. "Windows 10 is the last Windows ever", was the message when Windows 10 was presented to the public. Sure, if you call the new operating system "Windows 10 something" and change the statement from "last Windows" to "programme type, not software version" or something like that, then that's what you get.

Or?

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop

13.50", 256 GB, 8 GB, CH, Intel Core i5-7200U

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop, Platinum, 128GB SSD

13.50", 128 GB, 4 GB, CH, Intel Core i5-7200U

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop, Platinum, 256GB SSD

13.50", 256 GB, 8 GB, CH, Intel Core i7-7660U

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop

13.50", 256 GB, 8 GB, CH, Intel Core i5-7200U

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop, Platinum, 128GB SSD

13.50", 128 GB, 4 GB, CH, Intel Core i5-7200U

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop, Platinum, 256GB SSD

13.50", 256 GB, 8 GB, CH, Intel Core i7-7660U

I had a look at this precisely because there is a lot of confusion about Windows 10 S. From the ship, I can see two ways this could turn out:

The statement about "last Windows" is wrong
Windows 10 S is actually Windows 10... somehow

And anyway: What is the soul of an operating system?

The search for the soul

Before I could even start testing the Surface Laptop, the question arose as to where we could get one of these devices. Because they are now in stock, but we are working ahead of the times. Microsoft came to our rescue and on launch day I was given a silver laptop by a Microsoft employee who had travelled to Zurich especially for this purpose. Thank you!

The setup of the machine works exactly like Windows 10: a dialogue that asks for a few settings in a deliberately friendly and relaxed manner and then makes them. Cortana makes noises until I tell her I'm in Switzerland and then she goes silent forever. Windows Hello wants to give me the option of unlocking the laptop biometrically. But I skip it because product manager Roxana Fröhlich has volunteered to be a test subject. Her old laptop is failing and "makes a lot of noise", so she's looking around for a new one. The Surface Laptop got her attention.

Because in terms of hardware, it sounds like the Surface Laptop is doing well, even if Microsoft seems to have adopted one of the most annoying features from its big competitor Apple: The communication of tech specs. The specs for the laptop Roxy is testing only say "i5 processor". Funny. Can mean a lot of things. But no problem: I start the thing up, run Speccy over it and then the machine itself tells me what it can and does. At least that's what I thought.

Is the soul like Edge?

Well, I launch Edge, also known as "Microsoft's recommended browser", which employees Bing and stuff. Funny. I go to the website because for a quick test and stuff, it's not worth installing Chrome as a browser. Edge is a pretty okay browser in itself. It's still clunky in design, has few plugins and doesn't really do much else, but it works quite well and is updated by Windows updates, which happen all the time.

Why am I going on about Edge for so long? Because it's your only browser under Windows 10 S. On Windows 10 S, you can only install apps that are in the Windows App Store.

Chrome is not in the App Store
Firefox is not in the App Store
Safari is not in the App Store
Opera is not in the App Store

Whatever you want to install: If it's not in the App Store, then it's not coming to the Windows 10 S computer. The device will inform you of this when you try to start an EXE for the first time. So nothing with Speccy either.

"What a load of crap! I'll never buy that", I can already hear you exclaiming. And yes, I was frustrated too. Because when I'm working with something, I like my Chrome. I like Speccy, I like all the things that haven't made it into the App Store yet because it just wasn't necessary. That's why I think Microsoft's power play is totally wrong. But I think this is a situation that will exist at launch, but not long after.

In addition to this limitation, I haven't really noticed any significant difference to Windows 10 without S. The user interface is exactly the same, the operation is identical and even the desktop image is the same as in Windows 10.

The policy of the app stores

App stores are one of those things. I don't like them. I like it when it's easy to install, but I don't like it when any fool can just put an app in an app store and then trick some poor sap into installing their potentially dangerous app.

A screenshot of the Microsoft App Store with the search for «Chrome»

See what I mean? The "Google Chrome Browser" app only reveals on the thumbnail that it is an instruction manual for the browser. Cost: $2.49. The app is a total joke.

Microsoft, if you're going to make an app store, at least curate it with some rigour. Sure, the User Guide doesn't violate any laws and if you can make a few cents from sales, you'll be happy, but I think it's totally out of line that you tolerate users being made fun of like this. And no, I don't accept the "the user must know for themselves" argument here, because I also think victim-blaming, i.e. blaming the victim, is totally wrong when it comes to online fraud. Don't talk your way out of it with "It's not exactly illegal". You know exactly what's going on because you weren't born yesterday. My grandmother wouldn't know that there are people out there who rip off poor users by selling them user guides. And if the scam is good, even my mum will fall for it. So, Microsoft, that's not how it works. Forcing users to use the App Store is okay, but then put some work into it. Yes, the argument also applies to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, but that's not what we're talking about here today. I'll give them a shout-out when it comes to them.

I'm not even interested in your outlandish excuse for the absence of Chrome and Firefox, Microsoft. I really don't. If some coders who don't even have a website can put apps in your store that are only technically bordering on fraud, then Google should be allowed to do the same. The excuse of "they don't have our security levels" comes up from time to time, but I don't accept it. Because Google does it quite well. If you, Microsoft, and Google both behaved like adults, then I'm sure that nothing would stand in the way of Chrome in the Windows App Store.

Luckily, Windows 10 S offers to upgrade to Windows 10 with all the features and everything.

Makes sense for broad provisioning

But what's the point of forcing users to use the App Store? For the broad provisioning of devices in a school or office. For users who have never provisioned a company before: Provisioning is the process done in a company that the whole company has the same software. This has many advantages in terms of administration and security. Because every machine is exactly the same and so IT support can respond more quickly and the security standard is standardised.

Assume you have 1000 devices that you need to provision to Windows 10 S. Previously, you would have had to either deploy internally with a third-party provisioning solution or handle each device individually. A demo at the presentation of the operating system showed that a USB stick is sufficient to easily provision a fleet. I doubt that there is room for all the programmes that are installed. Rather, I believe that there is a file on it that is filled with IDs of apps from the App Store and thus instructs the machine to install apps automatically as soon as a network connection is established. This can put quite a heavy load on the network, but Microsoft obviously thinks that this is manageable.

It therefore makes perfect sense to force the App Store. The problem only arises when a company needs software that is not in the App Store. Then the only solution is Windows 10. Broad provisioning: no more.

Or Microsoft could just do what they already do with the scam apps in the App Store and say "We don't care, tell the software manufacturer to put it in our App Store", which is totally legitimate but not exactly user-friendly. But I think that if Windows 10 S is accepted by users, it will sort itself out within a year.

The raw speed

So what else has Microsoft done? Nothing really recognisable. But I suspect that a lot has been cut out of the code under the bonnet. I can well imagine that, based on the behaviour of the operating system in terms of the App Store, the entire backwards compatibility of the operating system has been removed. Until now, one of Microsoft's core principles has been to maintain compatibility with old software as far as possible. If this is no longer the case, then Microsoft is ushering in an unfamiliar new era for users of the system.

Because I like Windows precisely because I can easily reinstall it. This is also largely possible on MacOS, but it's more difficult because the wide range of programmes is never available and there has been an App Store on the system for years. But if I could wish, then I would wish for something like apt-get under Linux. For the uninitiated: Under Linux it is possible to install programmes and features via a text line in a terminal - a window that only shows white text on a black background. For example: "sudo apt-get install firefox" translates to "SuperUser, with all your permissions, install Firefox for me" and voilà.

But Windows 10 S is fast. Very fast, in fact. Partly because there aren't so many programmes, drivers and other things to load. The leanness of the operating system has become somewhat less important with the rise of solid state drives, but I still appreciate it when an operating system doesn't kill all system resources at startup.

This is great because the Surface Laptop really does a lot. The raw hardware speaks for itself, as does the option to upgrade to Windows 10 as a private user.

Thus my conclusion in keywords:

The hardware of the Surface Laptop is impressive, even in the i5 configuration
Windows 10 S still makes no sense if you are a private user
Luckily, the update to Windows 10 is free until the end of 2017 and the laptop itself suggests the upgrade
Poorly curated app stores are stupid

All in all, the Surface is a powerful device that its own software doesn't yet do justice to. If Windows 10 S catches on, it will be fine when the successor arrives in a year's time, but so far the update to Windows 10 is the only way to use the device sensibly and like an adult. Because although Windows 10 S is clearly Windows, it still comes across as somewhat artificially restrained and half-baked. <p

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Dominik Bärlocher

Senior Editor

dominik.baerlocher@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.

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