With Windows 10X on the horizon, I’m wondering again whether Microsoft has solved the Chromebook problem. Does Windows 10X meet the needs of what we used to think of as an EdgeBook?

As you may recall, when Windows 10X was still called Windows Lite, it was thought to be a purely web-based platform, one that would be built on the new Chromium-based Edge, much in that way that Chrome OS is built on Google Chrome. The use of the word Windows in its name should have been a clue that that wasn’t the case, I guess. But there was a lot of evidence suggesting otherwise, including its user interface, which is very much modeled after the simpler Chrome OS, and not traditional Windows versions.

“Let’s think for a moment about what I’m calling the EdgeBook, a Chromebook-like laptop that is based on the new Edge,” I wrote almost a year ago. “With the new Chromium-based Edge, … Microsoft has the basis of a system that can compete in the same part of the market in which Chromebooks are now seeing great success.”

That market is often misunderstood to include only education. But simpler personal computing platforms, especially Chrome OS, which provides a familiar desktop environment, can and should be successful across a wide spectrum of customers, including businesses and individuals. Who doesn’t like simpler?

Windows 10X answers the need for simpler, I think. The interface is crisp and concise, and it eliminates rarely used distractions and replaces the borderline useless Windows 10 Start menu with a more useful version that includes access to recent and most-often-used applications and documents. That’s smart and is long-overdue on “big” Windows, too.

Of course, the big advantage of Windows is compatibility. This should have been obvious, but Microsoft had to learn this lesson across a long string of failures that include Windows RT, Windows 10 S/S-mode, and Windows 10 on ARM. And so Windows 10X will provide (nearly) full compatibility with the applications and utilities (often provided as part of hardware peripheral driver packages) that its customers expect.

In this way, Windows 10X exceeds the capabilities of any Chromebook (or mythical EdgeBook) because it’s not just limited to web apps. Yes, Chromebooks can run Android apps, and that’s a plus. But it’s also a complexity because of application duplication and can be sub-optimal and because, with rare exceptions, there are no good Android applications tailored for larger-screen devices like tablets and Chromebooks. There was some thought that perhaps EdgeBook would run UWP apps in addition to web apps. But Windows 10X is even better.

Or, more properly, it should be. It’s not possible today to truly understand how good the compatibility and performance of Windows 10X is using just an emulator. That emulator inhibits performance, of course—honestly, it’s pretty terrible—but it also prevents you from signing-in to a Microsoft account and trying out previously-purchased apps and so on. So there are still a lot of unknowns, and if history is any guide, what we don’t know—the true story on compatibility and performance—could be debilitating.

Despite this history, I’m optimistic. Microsoft used to be infamous for needing three tries to get a product right, but this move to simplify Windows 10 has, by my count, now taken four. That’s fine: The three tries thing was always apocryphal anyway. What’s important is that Windows be successfully modernized for a new generation of use. And that success isn’t just defined by technology, it’s defined by its ability to bring previous users along for the ride. Windows 10X is, I think, the first attempt that stands a chance of making that happen.

The other interesting side-effect of Windows 10X is that it creates a super-platform in which application, driver, and device compatibility are relatively identical and uniform between the past and the future. That is, Windows 10X and Windows 10 desktop can coexist in the marketplace and provide PC makers and their users with more choice. Windows 10X will be ideal for both low-cost and simpler PCs and PC-like devices. And Windows 10 desktop can continue to serve the high-end of the market for developers, gamers, and workstation-class needs. Plus, Windows 10X PCs should be upgradeable to Windows 10 desktop if needed/possible.

By comparison, competing platform makers like Apple and Google are instead offering completely different systems—macOS/iPadOS/iOS and Chrome OS/Android, respectively—to serve these diverse needs. That’s a complexity that users must deal with.

Getting back to the inspiration for this article, no, Windows 10X is not technically Edge OS. But it’s better than Edge OS. And while its success will hinge on a number of unknowns, I feel that the recipe Microsoft had landed on—this combination of a simpler user experience and full backward compatibility—is at least the right one, and it is Microsoft’s best chance at keeping Windows relevant for years to come.