I bet there were probably a fair few that thought the Kiosk Mode was the final naming convention of this brand new feature in the upcoming Windows 8.1 (or Windows Blue).
For better or for worse (better probably) Microsoft has renamed this new component.
This particular feature was spotted in one of the previous leaked builds, and has now been renamed to Assigned access, a name that better describes its purpose.
The functionality, of course, remains the same — locking down a specific system and restricting its access to just a single application. It could be used by businesses, enterprises or organizations to display a particular application as a continuous loop.
The feature description in the Control Panel that Microsoft has put in reads:
“For assigned access, you can choose an existing standard account to have access to only one app that you choose. To sign out of assigned access, quickly press the Windows logo key five times.”
It is not clear whether any further enhancements to Assigned access are possible before the release of the final version of the OS, but it is not unreasonable to expect otherwise. Microsoft is said to be taking into account user feedback, and improving upon as many features of Windows 8.1 as it can.
The public beta of the operating system is expected to live in late June at the BUILD developer conference, with general availability scheduled for some time during August or September.
