Microsoft to roll our Windows 10 Cloud to take on Chrome OS: report

Microsoft is said to be readying to take on the low-end Google Chromebooks with a new version of Microsoft's operating system called Windows 10 Cloud.

What exactly Windows 10 Cloud is, is not known yet and Microsoft has not been forthcoming either. However, according to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley's sources, it was a new version of Windows 10 restricted to only running Unified Windows Platform (UWP) apps.

According to commentators, the Cloud is likely to rely on Microsoft's cloud services with whatever hardware the OS shipped with. That meant Bing for search, Office 365 for productivity, OneDrive for storage, and Cortana for help.

They add, there is no shortage of cheap laptops running Windows 10 Home on the market, which are available with an 11-inch display for around $200, without Full HD, RAM limited to 2GB to 4GB, and 32GB storage. The laptops, however, would still need to factor a Windows license into the price, however.

Windows 10 Cloud could remove the license fee, meaning $200 laptops could ship with a larger display or more RAM or $20-$30 cheaper.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is said to be working hard  on the next edition of its Surface Pro hybrid PC. The Surface Pro device family came with powerful hardware and also afforded the user the ability to carry and work wherever one was, and for those reasons had been a major success for Microsoft.

But the company is now looking to make room for its newest device by cutting out one of the previous Microsoft Surface devices - leaving some fans unhappy.

The company's earnings report noted that sales of Surface Pro 3, which was released back in June 2014, had taken a sharp fall recently, and, as a result, the device would be phased out.