“Our project was one of the first Windows Core (WCOS) based projects to migrate to the new image build system tooling designed to enable the next generation security features of the operating system at the OS image level,” he says. Though Shiau’s profile has no images and limited information, WinBuzzer found its information consistent with other social media platforms. We were also able to confirm that an Avid Shiau does live in Seattle, WA, the location of Microsoft’s headquarters. The profile has endorsements by Jeremiah Kemper, a senior software engineer lead at Microsoft.
Evidence is Mounting
Rumors have been circulating about WCOS for some, but evidence has been mounting in recent times. Last month, a LinkedIn job posting confirmed that Core OS is a modular system and a step towards unification. A conference call between Synaptics and AMD also mentions biometrics in a ‘next-generation’ Windows OS, which seems to line up with Shiau’s security claims. His profile also mentions “work with device driver owners”, boot time testing, and more. “Owned the reliability of everything included in the OS image release to factory for my project. Wrote Powershell automation scripts to dive deep on quality and find issues in the OS image. The focus was to repeatedly test scenarios like USB connectivity, device bootup time, and software locking that impact reliability on a larger scale and track down infrequent issues that would not be found in more basic testing and save manufacturing time,” the profile says. These multiple public references suggest that Microsoft isn’t trying particularly hard to keep Core OS a secret. However, we’re yet to get confirmation on a number of more hopeful rumors, including its use in the company’s alleged foldable.
