Google Chrome will never be available on Windows 10 S

Carly Page
@CarlyPage_
11 May 2017

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MICROSOFT HAS PREVIOUSLY used bribes to get people using its homegrown Edge browser, but it looks like the firm has a new tactic: ban Chrome and Firefox from Windows 10 S.

Windows 10 S was unveiled last week as a stripped-back version of Microsoft's desktop OS that can only access apps available in the Windows Store. At the time, Microsoft quipped that developers will be able to bring their Chromium-based browsers to the operating system, hinting that Chrome and Firefox will be available to download at some point.

Turns out, that ain't the case. ZDNet has this week revealed that Microsoft's heavy-handed Windows Store policies mean that the likes of Chrome, Firefox and Opera will probably never find their way onto Windows 10 S.

The policy notes that apps must "not jeopardize or compromise user security," naturally, but go on to state that "apps that browse the web must use the appropriate HTML and JavaScript engines provided by the Windows Platform."

This essentially means that, even if Google did repackage its Chromium-based browser in a way that would allow it to be installed via the Windows Store, its non-EdgeHTML architecture would see it rejected by Microsoft.

ZDNet spoke to a developer who had submitted his Chromium-based browser to the Windows Store and found that it was promptly dismissed.

"Desktop Browsers installed from the Store aren't more secured by default," Microsoft's response read. "They are secure only if, like Edge, they're true UWP apps, so they run in a sandbox environment and they don't have access to the overall system.

"Converted apps, instead, have some components which are virtualized (like the registry or file system redirection) but, except for that, they have the "runFullTrust" capability, so [they] can go out from the sandbox and perform operations that can be malicious."

Microsoft has a solution, though, and that is of course to give it money. In a statement, the firm said: "If people would like to access apps from other stores and services, they can switch to Windows 10 Pro at any time," which will cost punters 50 quid. µ