To coincide with the launch of the Surface Duo, Microsoft also unveiled Windows 10X, the operating system for dual-screen devices
Not only computers and dual-screen devices. During the event in New York last October 2, Microsoft has also removed the veils from a new version of its operating system, designed specifically for dual-screen devices such as Surface Neo and Surface Duo (although the latter, for the moment, mounts a customized version of Android 9).
This is Windows 10X, “lightened and optimized” version of the operating platform used by nearly a billion computers around the world. An attempt in this sense had already been made a couple of years ago, when Microsoft presented (without much luck) Windows 10S. In this case, however, the Redmond-based company hopes (and believes) that the result will be completely opposite. In its plans, in fact, Windows 10X is the operating system of the future, modular and able to adapt to different platforms without too many problems. In short, yet another attempt to bring Windows outside the “PC enclosure”.
What is Windows 10X
Windows 10X, as it was presented in the New York event, is a rather versatile operating platform. Initially it will be mounted (and somehow tested) on the Surface Neo, the dual screen tablet that should be launched in over a year, but the goal is to “extend its tentacles” in the most varied areas: from consoles to ultraportables, up to next-generation devices such as dual screens just presented.
How Windows 10X works
According to what Redmond’s top management said during the event on October 2, Windows 10X is developed from Windows Core OS, a version of the operating system consisting only of the fundamental elements, on which then add “optional” modules depending on the device on which it is to be installed. In this way, all devices in the Microsoft ecosystem will be able to use the same interface, the same kernel and the same applications, thus offering a “unified” user experience.
Specifically, Windows 10X is designed to be used with dual-screen devices, giving the user the ability to manage multiple windows on two different screens or make it more fluid and intuitive to use an application on two screens. For example, during the presentation was shown how an attachment downloaded from Outlook in the “main” window is opened in the secondary one, so as not to change the screen on which you were originally working.
This, however, is just one of the many possible ways to use this new operating system that, starting in winter 2020, we will see on board the Surface Neo (perhaps even the Surface Duo) and dozens of other similar devices made by various manufacturers.