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Microsoft will release Windows 10X first on single-screen devices, it was confirmed today, flipping the script over to the special version of the operating system that had initially been promised for dual-screen Windows devices. Panos Panay, Product Director for Windows and Devices at Microsoft, confirmed the change in strategy, suggesting that the computing landscape has changed dramatically since the first roadmap was shared in October last year.
Back then, Windows 10X was announced alongside the new Surface Neo, a completely different form factor for Microsoft’s Surface family. Two touchscreens, capable of being used side by side like a book, or rotated 90 degrees and emulating a traditional laptop, the Surface Neo relied on new finger and pen-compatible enhancements in Windows 10X.
Back, for example, is the Start Menu, at least in the way we know it today. Windows 10X replaces that with a phone-like application interface, mixed with important and pinned documents. Gone are the Live Tiles.
Windows 10X also focused on controlling what was visible on each screen, and how windows could be changed from one panel to another, or extended via a dual-screen laptop. Application support was designed to be ubiquitous from the start, with Windows 10X on Neo compatible with Office and anything else built on the same Windows software core.
Since then, however, there have been signs of a change in the road map. Rumors last month indicated that the Surface Neo could be delayed until 2021, and Windows 10X with it. Now, however, Panay is hinting that one of the two might arrive sooner than that.
“The world is a very different place than it was last October when we shared our vision for a new category of dual-screen Windows devices,” writes Panay. “As we continue to put customer needs at the forefront, we must focus on satisfying customers where they are now. Our customers are harnessing the power of the cloud more than ever, and we believe the time is right to harness this acceleration. in a different way “.
Just like Windows 10X was designed from the get-go with flexibility in display layouts as a focus, that also means that it can also be made to work on single-screen devices. “These single screen devices will be the first expression of Windows 10X that we bring to our customers,” says Panay, “and we will continue to search for the right time, together with our OEM partners, to bring in dual screen devices.” to the market.”
It’s a disappointing decision, in a way, because it’s undeniable that part of the appeal of Windows 10X was the unusual form factors of the devices it would unlock. Regardless, the current COVID-19 pandemic is probably not the best time to launch esoteric and certainly expensive 2-in-1 foldable tablets. This decision could bring Windows 10X to market in more affordable ways, though Panay does not reveal the actual release date, and thus pave the way for that more interesting hardware in 2021.
