Rumor: Microsoft is working on lightweight OS to compete with Chromebooks

Microsoft is said to be working on Lite, a stripped-down OS that only runs web apps and Universal Windows Apps and is delivered on laptops, among other things. Microsoft would like to compete with Chromebooks with this.

Lite would be based on Windows Core OS, the modular Windows platform that has been rumored before. It would be a kind of successor to Windows RT and Windows 10 S and would therefore only be able to run web apps and Universal Windows Apps, not Win32 programs.

Microsoft aims to make Lite a lightweight OS that boots quickly, runs on both x86 and ARM CPUs and offers always-on functionality, including mobile internet. That writes Microsoft insider Brad Sams, who recently published a book about the development of Surface within Microsoft.

Although Lite is based on Windows Core OS, there is a chance that Microsoft will put a name other than Windows on the software, according to Sams. The interface may also differ from that of Windows. This should give the software, in the words of Sams, a ‘fresh start’. The OS will probably not be available separately, only preinstalled on systems.

Microsoft is said to be developing a PC with two screens under the name Centaurus that should serve as a show model for Lite. It would be a kind of larger version of the Andromeda. Andromeda is a foldable tablet that has been rumored for years. Microsoft is said to have been working on the concept for a long time and have not yet scrapped it but postponed it until 2019.

Intel Tiger Rapids prototype of Intel PC with two screens, sourced from PCWorld