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Microsoft is reportedly dropping plans to launch its Chrome OS competitor Windows 10X this year, raising questions about whether the lightweight operating system will ever come to pass.

According to a new report, Microsoft has once again put the OS that’s supposed to power the delayed Surface Neo dual-screen device on the back burner.

Last year, amid the peak of the pandemic and the incredibly swift switch to home working, saw Microsoft shift priorities and focus on ensuring Windows 10 users with single-screen devices were being fully catered for.

That trend is set to continue this year, a Petri report says, going as far to say we’ll probably never see it in the way Microsoft had initially pitched.

Instead, elements of the simplified version of Windows might now be integrated into Windows 10, the report says. If the report plays out, that will be considered a shame by some who liked the idea of a meat and potatoes version of Windows 10 that prioritised cloud working and offered a less cluttered interface overall.

However according to the purported sources familiar with Microsoft’s thinking on the matter, consumers don’t want Windows 10X, they want its features within Windows 10, so Microsoft has been focused on its main operating system and improving the flexibility it offers.

The report says: “There may be a future where 10X makes sense, but that future is not in 2021 and may not ever arrive. The roadmap for Windows 10X is uncertain but look for Microsoft to make more formal announcements about the fate of the OS in the near future.”

Right now we’re wondering whether the Surface Neo, what looked like a potentially ground-breaking device, will ever see the light of day now, because it’s probably not going to fit full-fat Windows 10 as we know it.

The last we heard, ZDnet’s Mary Jo Foley was reporting it wouldn’t arrive until 2022 after Microsoft shifted the 10X plans, but whether it will now be canned completely remains to be seen.

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