Microsoft’s education kick will see the company offer STEM Saturdays events through the month of May. The announcement was made at the company’s #EDUEVENT earlier this week. The special education events will be held in bricks and mortar Microsoft Store locations and will make use of Windows 10 S.
STEM Saturdays will be happening in all full line locations. Microsoft is also pointing users to the free programs the Microsoft Store has available at all times. The company says the STEM Saturday events are open to all, kicking off this Saturday (May 6).
Using Windows 10 S on the Creators Update, the events will feature the following:
- How to build a flex sensor that lets them control a robotic finger with their own finger.
• How to use a Surface and Excel to visualize the flexion and extension of their finger.
• Basic skills typically used by mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and data scientists.
Microsoft’s Education Push
This week Microsoft laid out its grand vision for becoming a force in education. The company launched Windows 10 S, a lighter version of regular Windows 10.
The obvious strategy is that Microsoft wants some of Google’s action. Chrome OS and Chromebooks have found an audience in education where they were not able to in business. The light cloud-based OS and affordable Chromebooks are a winning combination.
With Windows 10 S, Microsoft thinks it can go one better. One of the major limitations of Chrome is that it is not a desktop OS. Everything is in the cloud and to make the most of it a user must be connected. This extends to Chromebooks, which can be useless without an internet connection.
Windows 10 S can be used, perfectly well offline. It has full desktop applications, which will soon include Win32 versions of Office apps from the Windows Store. Microsoft has married the best of the Chrome OS ethos with the best of Windows … at least that’s the idea.
The company even has the hardware take care of. While the Surface Laptop is excellent, it is also a little ridiculous for appealing to students or even educators. We see it as more interesting to business users. Anyway, Microsoft has plenty of OEM partners who will be creating affordable, Chromebook-rivalling, devices.
