Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney has a bit of a problem with Windows 10. He has spoken out against the OS in the past, and how he thinks Microsoft will throttle all third party movement and content on the platform to take control of everything and anything (theories that he himself has gone back on).
Now, he’s at it again. Last week, a low end Windows 10 SKU leaked (emphasized to ensure that the reader understands that it’s not even an officially announced or confirmed product yet). It’s called Windows 10 Cloud, and it’s apparently the Windows equivalent of Chrome OS, off loading most of its processing to the cloud to deliver a low cost, affordable computing solution to customers with limited computing needs. Windows 10 Cloud is allegedly going to be free, but will apparently only run UWP apps (which, given its nature and definition, appears to be a fair restriction). To emphasize, Windows 10 Cloud is not officially announced, and is not even meant to be the main Windows 10 version that will be pushed to all users- it’s just meant to be a low cost solution for families that don’t have high end computing needs.
With that in mind, let’s look at the latest that Sweeney has to say about Windows 10. Taking to Twitter (via NeoWIN), Sweeney suddenly posted that Windows 10 is ‘ransomware’ that will ‘steal your PC game library and ransom it back to you for price.’ He goes on to add that ‘Microsoft will also be ransoming Unreal Engine, Unity, Photoshop, 3D Studio, and Maya,’ and that they will be making you ‘pay for the privilege of buying software from someone other than Microsoft.’
He doubles down on this stance by calling Windows 10 ‘ransomware,’ and listing software that won’t be usable on the new OS.
Now, of course, there are so many problems with his stance: a) Windows 10 Cloud is not even an officially announced product yet; b) Windows 10 Cloud is an optional version available to those who find it up for their computing needs (mostly the education sector, that took to Chromebooks like flies to honey); c) Microsoft aren’t even locking down Windows 10 Cloud that badly- while Win32 apps will indeed not be allowed, UWP apps can be sideloaded on to the system, bypassing Microsoft’s own store entirely; and d), you don’t have to use Windows 10 Cloud. In fact, most people won’t. The bulk of the nearly billion PCs on the market will be running full fledged versions of Windows 10.