An early version of Windows 10 Cloud leaked online late last week. Windows 10 Cloud, for those unfamiliar, is expected to be a lightweight version of Windows. Windows 10 Cloud is a new SKU which is very similar to Windows RT as it will only allow you to run apps from the Windows Store.
Now, it seems like Windows 10 Cloud users will be able to upgrade the SKU to another SKU of Windows 10 such as Pro. In the recently leaked version of Windows 10 Cloud, the EditionMatrix.xml file suggests that Windows 10 Cloud will indeed by upgradeable to Windows 10 Pro which you can see below:
The ability to upgrade Windows 10 Cloud to Windows 10 Pro will certainly be quite interesting as it will be a key selling point for Microsoft. For example, the company’s OEM partners may release cheap Windows 10 Cloud devices to compete with Google’s Chromebooks — as a result, users will only be able to run apps from the Windows Store. However, if they want to be able to run classic desktop apps and get access to powerful features, they could be able to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.
It is important to note that this is an early version of Windows 10 Cloud, and we aren’t sure if users will indeed be able to upgrade Windows 10 Cloud once it launches officially. Moreover, we aren’t quite sure if Microsoft will allow users to upgrade Windows 10 Cloud to other versions of Windows 10 such as the Home SKU which is cheaper than Pro.
More importantly, though, we don’t know how much Microsoft will charge users to upgrade their devices to Windows 10 Pro or any other SKU from Windows 10 Cloud. Microsoft would need to find a good price for the upgrades, as the company would need to make sure it isn’t too expensive for users. Microsoft obviously doesn’t want Windows 10 Cloud to be Windows RT 2.0, so I am hoping Microsoft is planning something unique for Windows 10 Cloud that would make it successful, unlike Windows RT — and for that, we will have to wait until Microsoft officially announces the product to get the bigger picture.
We’ll likely know more about Windows 10 Cloud in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned to MSPU!
