A top Microsoft executive says that there is no Windows 10 Home Ultra, putting to rest rumors that were accidentally fueled by a listing in a Dell press release.
Following the Microsoft keynote at Computex Wednesday afternoon, I asked Roanne Sones, corporate vice president of OS platforms, whether the reports of a “Windows 10 Home Ultra” version were in fact true.
“That’s created some confusion,” she said, waiting to cross to the convention center in Taipei. “There’s no special Ultra [edition], or anything different. It doesn’t exist.”
Sones said that the early reports of the Ultra version of Windows 10 had prompted texts from HP and other PC vendors, wondering what was going on.
The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 specifications proved to be an unexpected smorgasbord for tech watchers, as they contained model numbers for Intel’s 10th-gen Core or “Ice Lake” chips, as well as the mention of the “Windows 10 Home Ultra 64-bit” edition. (The Dell 2-in-1 also includes a more conventional Windows 10 Home option, which does exist.)
Sones didn’t directly confirm or deny anything to do with “Windows 10 Advanced,” another rumored name for a new flavor of Windows—my fault, as I didn’t press her on it as the light changed. Microsoft, however, has consistently stuck with Windows 10 Pro and Home, even after its brief flirtation with Windows 10 S.
Microsoft recently released the Windows 10 May 2019 Update, and Sones used her Computex address to show off innovations like the existing Your Phone app, which has gained the power to show Android notifications on the Windows 10 desktop, and will soon offer the option of either Wi-Fi or a metered cellular connection to transfer data back and forth between the two devices. Sones also called for PC makers to support Microsoft’s inking efforts by adding more pens to PCs, after announcing that Microsoft now supports ink-to-text for Simplified Chinese characters.