One week ago, reports surfaced that Microsoft was working to extend its bet to create an operating system that could run on many platforms by extending One Windows to a common shell for PC, Mobile, Xbox. Today, a report shows that there is reason to believe that Microsoft may, in fact, be working on another version of Windows, which is modern, lightweight and called “Cloud Shell” (via Petri.com)

According to the report, “Cloud Shell,” as it is being called internally, is “a new “lightweight iteration of Windows designed for the modern computing world.” Though the details on the new platform are scarce, the report does indicate that the Windows Store and the UWP framework are key parts of “Cloud Shell.” In fact, though some may find this surprising, Microsoft has done something similar in the past, since Windows RT was based on a Windows 8 shell and the Windows Store (although it was not cloud-based as this new version will be.)

A Windows Central report, meanwhile, shows that Microsoft does have a new Windows 10 SKU in the works called Windows 10 Cloud, so “Cloud Shell” could be related. Additionally, the report also shows that “Cloud Shell” isn’t separate from CShell, which is the upcoming modular shell for Windows 10. So, given the fact that Windows 10 was confirmed to be coming to ARM devices, one would have reason to believe that “Cloud Shell” could possibly be Microsoft’s answer to Chrome OS, which is for lightweight laptops.

Details are up in the air, and there is a lot of speculation, but we might hear more about “Cloud Shell” during the Build conference in May. Until then, stay tuned, as we will follow this story closely and be here to bring you any updated information.

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