• Michael
• On June 21, 2019

Microsoft building a new lightweight operating system

Microsoft’s developer conference in May 2019 could introduce a brand new operating system that could not be called Windows. Sources familiar with the matter have informed that Microsoft is about to present a ‘Lite OS’ – operating system based on Windows Core OS targeting devices with less-powerful hardware. While Lite OS will run on top of the same core as Windows 10, the new operating system will look entirely different. For example, Brad Sams explained in a podcast that Windows Lite OS won’t have Lite Tiles and System Tray icons.

Microsoft is reportedly building different shells for Windows Core OS for years now, but we are yet to see a real hardware that drops legacy components. Such a shell was Andromeda – a software that was supposed to run on a mobile form-factor. Unfortunately, Microsoft abandoned the development of both the software and the hardware of Andromeda due to lack of perspective.

A new, lightweight OS is likely to run natively only UWP and progressive web apps, although it could support traditional Win32 software via emulation. Both Intel and ARM chips will be supported, which may open up possibilities for a variety of new, cheap devices. However, no Microsoft-powered mobile phones are on the horizon in the foreseeable future, so you won’t have a third option on the market besides iOS and Android.