Microsoft to kill off Windows 10 S as it plans to replace it with ‘S Mode’ for different editions

Software giant **Microsoft** is planning to remove Windows 10 S a separate, stand-alone product. According to reports, the company is planning to replace the operating system with a similar ‘S Mode’ that will be available as part of all Windows 10 editions moving forward. [caption id=“attachment_4127553” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Microsoft logo. Reuters.[/caption] To recap, Windows 10 S was a separate edition of Microsoft’s **Windows** operating system which locked its users into just running apps fro Microsoft Store. The company had designed this version for its customers in the education sector such as students. The OS was pegged to compete with Google’s Chrome OS and this comes just 8 months after **the announcement** of this separate version. According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft is planning to add this new mode in the Home, Enterprise and Professional editions of Windows 10 to lock it down to only run apps from Microsoft Windows Store. Another report by Thurrott states that about 60 percent of users have remained on the Windows 10 S and of the total percentage switching to Windows 10 Professional, 60 percent have switched in the first 24 hours of owning a Windows 10 S-powered device. What is more interesting is that if Windows 10 S users don’t switch to **Windows 10 Pro** , 83 percent of users tend to stick with the 10 S installation. The thing to note here is that this data only takes in consideration, lower-end devices while excluding the high-end Surface Laptop. Another report clarifies that the company is working on five editions of Windows 10, Windows 10 Entry, Value, Core, Core+ and Advanced. The company is planning to price the Entry SUK for $25, Value for $45, Core for $65.45, Core+ for $86.66 and Advanced Edition for $101. The company has not clarified if these editions will be for the enterprises or regular users at the time of writing as Windows 10 Home and 10 Pro are already available for Windows users. As pointed by The Verge, it is surprising that **Windows 10** users are embracing 10 S while sticking with Microsoft Apps. However, because of the popularity of Windows 10 S, Microsoft is planning to bring the locked down mode to more Windows 10 powered devices. The company is thinking of offering Windows 10 Home users to disable the mode free of charge while Windows 10 Pro users with S Mode will have to pay $49 to get full access to the OS. This means that Windows 10 Home S users will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 Home without any charge while 10 Pro S users will have to pay for the upgrade to 10 Pro. [caption id=“attachment_4096343” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Image credit: Microsoft[/caption] The company has not made any official announcement about this change at the time of writing but Microsoft and its OEM partners need to do a better job of explaining the differences in the different versions of Windows with and without the S Mode. This is essential for the companies to ensure that customers don’t get confused between all the different versions of Windows while purchasing their devices for this strategy to work.