Last week, we reported on Microsoft’s plans to build an adaptive shell for Windows 10 that would scale across PC, Mobile, and Xbox. The company calls this platform the “Composable Shell” or CSHELL. According to a new report today, Microsoft is also working on a new shell for Windows called “Cloud Shell”.
The Composable Shell created a universal Windows 10 platform that has an underlying framework. This allows the platforms to scale across devices and display sizes. The Cloud Shell will follow a similar concept.
Petri has discovered internal documentation that describes Cloud Shell as a “lightweight version of Windows designed for the modern computing world.” This, and the cloud naming, suggests that the shell will be placed on the cloud. It would be like a thin client and be able to stream on any device through Microsoft Azure.
Microsoft would use remote cloud servers to manage the storage and processing of tasks within the platform. The Cloud Shell will also be connected to other services like the Windows Store and the Universal Windows Platform app framework.
The leaked documentation says that the Cloud Shell could make its debut during this year.
Windows 10 Composable Shell
Windows 10 PCs and tablets currently use Microsoft Continuum to share the same OS. However, Windows Mobile, HoloLens, and Xbox still have individual shells that are maintained and updated separately.
The fully functional ARM version of Windows 10 Microsoft showed off recently is a clear sign that they are taking big steps towards bringing the various instances of Windows (PC, Mobile, Xbox, Hololens, etc.) much closer together. Aligning the currently different instances by sharing the so called “Composable Shell” or “CSHELL”, might be the next logical step.
