As the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon continues to grow, Microsoft has responded by contributing two new editions of Windows 10 – Core and Enterprise – that are aimed at radically different parts of the devices and systems market.
Here's how Windows 10 IoT is used today, and where it might be going in the future.
Windows 10 IoT Core
The Core edition is a barebones Windows kernel that has been stripped down significantly in order to run on low-power hardware. It is not a full version of Windows, but it is enough to light up the hardware and run whatever application is being designed for that board. This version of Windows 10 has no shell and essentially supports only universal apps – those coded to run in the managed environment of the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and NOT traditional x86 or x64 apps. This OS version supports a maximum of 256MB of RAM and 2GB of device storage and can run on the x86 chip platform or the ARM platform for low-power devices.