[German]There is another project that Microsoft is throwing onto the "scrap heap of history." We're talking about Windows 11 SE, which was supposed to score points in educational institutions as a "budget version" and Chromebook killer with a Surface laptop, but ended up failing.
A look back at Windows 11 SE
Let's jump back to 2021, when COVID-19 was just starting to subside and Microsoft came up with the idea for a low-cost Surface with a stripped-down version of Windows 11 called "Windows 11 SE." It was supposed to be an affordable Surface laptop that would be used en masse in educational institutions.
The Tenjin Project
Like every respectable project at Microsoft, the development was ran under the code name Tenjin. The plan was to create an affordable Surface laptop for the education market with a 1,366 x 768 11.6-inch display, Intel Celeron N4120 processor, and up to 8 GB of RAM, packaged in a full plastic case. It was straightforward, low-cost equipment, as it was designed for use by students in a classroom environment. The device was reportedly to feature a keyboard and trackpad, a USB-A port, a USB-C port, a headphone jack, and a power connection via an external power supply.
The Chromebook killer – another dead horse from Microsoft
Microsoft wanted to attack the Chromebook market with this move. Google had been attracting buyers with its affordable Chromebooks, especially in the US education market. At the time, I had read that Chromebooks had reached a certain level of saturation because buyers had snapped them up during the coronavirus pandemic.
It was therefore to be expected that Chromebook sales would decline. I wouldn't have bet on Microsoft positioning anything against Chromebooks either. At the beginning of 2021, Microsoft admitted that it couldn't really offer anything comparable to Chromebooks (see my blog post Microsoft: Chromebooks are cheaper and faster than Windows machines). But I hadn't counted on Microsoft.
At the time, I mentioned the new project in the blog post Microsoft announces Windows 11 SE for low-cost systems here on the blog. In that post, I described it as an oxymoron that Microsoft could launch a cheap but useful Surface laptop with Windows 11 SE. A bloated Windows 11 with all kinds of gimmicks on weak hardware borders on "assaulting innocent students," even if an "SE" is tacked on. I then lost sight of the process.
Windows 11 SE is being discontinued
In this article, Martin Geuß reports that Microsoft is discontinuing Windows 11 SE. In the support article Windows 11 SE Overview, buyers (there were probably very few who were naive enough to purchase it) learn that the fun is now over.
Microsoft will not release any more feature updates after Windows 11 SE, version 24H2. Support for Windows 11 SE—including software updates, technical support, and security fixes—will end in October 2026. The device will continue to function, but Microsoft recommends switching to a device that supports a different edition of Windows 11 to ensure continued support and security. But I would ask: Why not switch to a Google Chromebook (as the original, and not a nasty Windows 11)?
Typical Microsoft, instead of making a actually good OS for PC they waste time and money to create a abomination of an OS, a malware 11 OS if you will, it's high time to migrate to Linux