Microsoft’s much-anticipated education event came and went, and the computing giant unveiled a handful of new software and hardware products.
Here’s a quick recap of everything the company announced at the event in New York.
Windows 10 S
First up, Microsoft unveiled a new education edition of its omnipresent desktop operating system. Windows 10 S is limited to apps that exist in the Windows Store, thus preventing third-party apps from slowing down machines by hooking into the boot and sign-in process.
Broadly, Windows 10 S represents part of the company’s strategic response to Google’s Chrome OS, except Microsoft is placing a firm focus on full offline access by default.
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Partner manufacturers will begin selling Windows 10 S PCs this summer, starting at $189.
Read more on Windows 10 S here.
Microsoft Surface Laptop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74kPEJWpCD4
Though Microsoft’s event was largely focused on software, the company did unveil a brand new piece of hardware that showcases its new Windows 10 S operating system. The Surface Laptop sports a 13.5-inch touchscreen display and promises 14.5 hours of battery.
The device is open for preorders today starting at $999, with shipping kicking off on June 15.
Read more on the Microsoft Surface Laptop here, or check out our hands-on with the device.
Microsoft Office
Relating to the Windows 10 S news, Microsoft also announced that it’s bringing Microsoft Office to the Windows Store, which makes sense given that Windows 10 S will only be able to run apps that can be downloaded from the Windows Store.
Read more on Microsoft Office in the Windows Store here.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft launched its Slack-like group chat software Teams globally in March as part of Office 365. So far it has largely been aimed at businesses, but it was also available in the Office 365 Education version for students, faculty, and staff to collaborate.
At its event in New York today, Microsoft said that it wants Teams to “become the collaborative hub for classroom project-oriented learning,” and it debuted a handful of new collaboration tools designed specifically for the classroom.
Read more on Microsoft Teams in education here.
Minecraft
Microsoft also announced Code Builder, a tool that lets Minecraft players create structures inside the game using JavaScript. It’s currently available in a limited beta edition of Minecraft: Education.
Read more on using Minecraft as a teaching tool for coders here.