Microsoft simplified the number of Windows products [i.e. models if they were selling something else], only to wind up growing the list again. 10 S I think will somewhat muddy the waters on pricing -- hopefully we'll see some clarification from Microsoft by this summer, before the back to school sales start.
Allegedly Windows 10 S is just like Windows 10 [probably the Education edition], except that you can't install software unless it comes from the Windows Store. It seems to me an obvious ploy to push their store [like Windows 8 was], but if that was their focus I'd expect it to be lower cost or free. However if you want to upgrade 10 S to Windows 10 Pro, it's either free if you're a student, or $50 or less, which places 10 S somewhere between the Home & Pro editions [Microsoft charges $100 to upgrade from Home to Pro].
SO if 10 S were free, most people I think would follow that upgrade path to Pro, and they'd sell few if any full licenses for 10 Home &/or Pro again. If 10 S costs less than 10 Home, few would ever buy 10 Pro outright. If it costs more than 10 Home, no one would pay more to be able to do less. So maybe Microsoft will restructure their Windows 10 pricing? Or maybe they won't let you buy 10 S -- you'll have to get it pre-installed on hardware? Maybe people will install the Insider version of 10 S, assuming there is one, over their copy of 10 Home, intending to upgrade to Pro for 1/2 price?
Hardware-wise their announcement is a bit ho-hum... There are supposed to be lower end laptops coming with 10 S to compete with Chromebooks. Microsoft itself is going to be selling a Surface laptop that comes with 10 S & a free upgrade to 10 Pro, but like the rest of the Surface line, they come with premium pricing -- the cheapest model is twice the price of an HP 2-in-1 with similar specs that I saw on sale today, although the HP wasn't as light & thin. But then Microsoft's Surface line has never been about capturing mass market sales, & even though they're premium [thin] products, many folks switch to what they feel are superior alternatives once they're available.
Microsoft is pushing, advertising that with 10 S you're more secure, because all software has to come through the store, and we might see something of a similar approach to business. Right now we know some malware makes it into both Apple's & Google's stores, but we only know that because countless millions of people download apps from them, & that makes them a target both for cyber criminals & security researchers. Getting software from Microsoft's store should be more secure, but is it? And compared to what?
Those that need to run software that isn't yet in Windows 10's Store are supposed to use one of Microsoft's tools to convert them [that's how Microsoft plans to get Office in the store]. Software designed from the start for the store's UWP platform is supposed to be more secure than regular win32 apps, & the way that Windows runs UWP apps is supposed to be more secure, but I don't think that those alleged benefits may apply 100% when a win32 app is converted to UWP. At any rate we won't know until the UWP platform &/or converting apps to it becomes popular enough to attract the attention of both bad guy & good guy hackers.
Once people start getting their hands on Windows 10 S we'll know more about its software restrictions, work-a-rounds, and performance. Until then I wouldn't take either for granted. When it comes to something like Chrome, its absence in the store would be a deal breaker re: 10 S for some folks, but if 10 S is based on the Education edition of 10 it should have Hyper-V, so running a free VM from Microsoft might be a good way to get & use Chrome [& lots of other software]. Regarding performance, I've read too many statements saying it's Not a light version of Windows to have a lot of confidence in that [too many, too strenuous denials often mean there's something to whatever's being denied] -- I'll reserve judgement until I see some benchmarks.
