Microsoft revised plans regarding the operating system Windows 10X and the Surface Neo dual-screen tablet. The company has announced it has refocused the development of the operating system around single display devices, due to the difficulties and the situation created around the current COVID-19 emergency. Rumors about this turnaround had been around for a few weeks.
"The world is a very different place from last October when we shared our vision for a new category of dual-screen Windows devices, "said Panos Panay, Chief Product Officer of the Windows and Devices division." With Windows 10X we worked with flexibility in mind, and that flexibility allowed us to reverse our focus on Windows 10X single-screen devices that harness the power of the cloud to help our customers work, learn and play in new ways. "
Microsoft did not announce when we will see the first single-screen Windows 10X products on the market, like laptops, or when dual-screen solutions arrive. "We will continue to seek the right time, together with our OEM partners, to bring the two-screen devices to the market," added Panay.
The US company has recognized an increase in the time spent on Windows 10 up 75% compared to last year, and this is also what has dissuaded her from presenting an innovation such as dual-screen devices: right now people are looking for products they are familiar with, to work and study at their best, a product that proposes new ways of use could not be successful and / or not fully understood. To this we must then add the clear hitches in the development of Windows 10X related to the confinement measures taken in many countries.
So Microsoft has "gone down to more mild advice", opting to concentrate the design of Windows 10X towards an experience that, however renewed, hides less pitfalls. Windows 10X offers a more minimalist, simple and modern Windows interface, with a new Start menu, renewed multitasking and much more. It is unclear at the moment whether the incarnation of Windows 10X on single-screen devices will offer the full package of innovations planned by Microsoft or if there will be substantial changes. It will be interesting to see how the user experience will differ from that guaranteed by the classic Windows 10. As for the Surface Neo, Panay's words make it slip at least to 2021, but at the moment there is no other information.
