Microsoft today confirmed the death of Windows 10X and said that it is bringing key 10X features to mainstream Windows 10 instead.

“Following a year-long exploration and engaging in conversations with customers, we realized that the technology in Windows 10X could be used in more ways and serve more customers than we originally imagined,” a Microsoft blog post notes. “We concluded that the 10X technology shouldn’t just be confined to a subset of customers.”

That’s an interesting take on “we talked to customers and were told that they do not want Windows 10X.” But more interesting, perhaps, is what happens to the technology that Microsoft has developed for Windows 10X.

“Instead of bringing … Windows 10X to market in 2021 like we originally intended, we are leveraging learnings from our journey thus far and accelerating the integration of key foundational 10X technology into other parts of Windows in Windows Insider preview builds, for example, the new app container technology we’re integrating into products like Microsoft Defender Application Guard, an enhanced Voice Typing experience, and a modernized touch keyboard with optimized key sizing, sounds, colors, and animations. Our teams continue to invest in areas where the 10X technology will help meet our customer needs as well as evaluate technology experiences both in software and hardware that will be useful to our customers.”

This is a stunning mouthful of nonsense. And it’s unclear why Microsoft can’t just tell the truth: Customers, including PC makers, do not want Windows 10X. And the software giant has no plans to bring 10X to market at any time in the future.

Worse, Microsoft hasn’t addressed the single most important 10X feature, its planned ability to run Win32 apps in a container. Is that key work continuing?

One can only guess.