Microsoft has been working on a secretive Windows Core OS as the underpinnings of its future iterations of Windows 10. While Microsoft hasn’t officially announced the project, multiple references to Windows Core OS have appeared in official documents and LinkedIn job posts last year.
Windows 10X, which was announced in October 2019, is also based on the little spoken Windows Core OS. According to previous reports, Windows Core OS is Microsoft’s modular platform and it can be shrunk down to meet the needs of different form factors such as HoloLens.
Microsoft watchers have described Windows Core OS as the successor to Windows OneCore and it is a combination of UWP, PWAs, Win32 apps, and the C-Shell (composable).
Today, we have spotted a LinkedIn page from Microsoft and it contains multiple references to ‘Windows Core OS’ for Windows 10, Xbox and even Windows Mixed Reality.
As per a profile, the future iterations of Windows 10, HoloLens and Xbox would be based on Windows Core OS.
“On the team building Windows Core OS: the foundation for future iterations of Windows 10, Windows Mixed Reality (HoloLens), and Xbox system software. Currently working on Windows 10X, the operating system for dual-screen PCs like the Surface Neo – available holiday 2020,” the profile of Microsoft engineer reads.
What’s more interesting, however, is that Windows Core OS has also been touted as the future iterations of Xbox.
This could be pointing to long-rumored ‘GameCore’, which is said to be an underlying component and it will reportedly allow game developers to ‘build once, run everywhere’. GameCore-supported games will be an option for devs who want to support multiple Microsoft platforms.
GameCore support could come with the next-gen Xbox console.
In addition, a Microsoft Careers listing for a senior software engineer states that Microsoft’s Mixed Reality team is working on innovative technologies with Windows Core OS.
All these reports suggest that Microsoft is slowly but surely making efforts to truly merge its Windows operating system into one. The software giant wants all of its consumer products to be based on the same operating system, and a Microsoft job posting previously stated that (WCOS) will be “the OS shared across all new devices.”
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