Microsoft’s own Surface: one of the few Windows RT devices that you could actually buy.

There are increasing signs that Microsoft is planning to release a new edition of Windows 10. Evidence from the Windows SDK and in product key configuration files points at something called “Windows Cloud” (and “Windows Cloud N,” which is presumably the same thing with Media Player removed to make the EU happy). Amid speculation that this may be some kind of subscription edition of Windows, Mary Jo Foley reports that according to her sources, it is in fact a resurrection of Windows RT. Specifically, she writes that Windows Cloud is a version of Windows that can only install apps distributed through the Windows Store.

Windows RT, the version of Windows 8 that made its debut with Microsoft’s ARM-powered Surface, was not merely a version of Windows compiled for ARM. It was Windows compiled for ARM with the addition of an important restriction: the only applications it could (officially) run were applications downloaded and installed through the Windows Store, apps digitally signed by Microsoft. Third-party desktop applications were not permitted.

The upside of this design was a certain amount of security and reliability. The Store apps are sandboxed and locked down, giving a PC-like device some semblance of smartphone-like robustness. But the downside was substantial. Most Windows applications are desktop applications written using the Win32 API, and without those applications, Windows becomes much less useful. With the Windows 8 Store offering few desirable applications, Windows RT was a market failure.