It seems like Microsoft wants to change the release tempo for the new Versions of Windows. According to a new report from Windows Central by Zac Bowden, Microsoft is set to a new Engineering Cycle for Windows, which means that the company will release major new versions of Windows After every three years or so. Now according to this Windows 12 may be coming in 2024.
The news just came a year after when the company announced its release cadence for the new Versions of Windows. According to that announcement, Microsoft was struggling with performance and stability issues with the Windows 10 update cycle of two major updates a year. Windows 11, Microsoft give up on it and announced that there will be one major update a year on Windows 11.
According to the report, it seems like Microsoft canceled the next major update (named Sun Valley 3) originally planned to release in 2023. Now instead of it, the company will wait for 2024. Three years after the release of Windows 11 shipped in 2021, to release the next new version of Windows (presumably Windows 12).
What About the Other Versions of Windows 11?
However, it doesn’t mean that Microsoft will leave behind the users of Windows 11 to nothing try out something new in the meantime.
Microsoft is planning to increase the output of new features to the users of Windows 11. They are going to drop new features to the users of Windows 11. So the new features of Windows 11 will be released before the next major Windows release.
According to the report, These features will be released every few months, up to four times a year starting in 2023. Microsoft referred to these new features as “Moments”. Users of Windows 11 saw a glimpse of this when Microsoft brought Taskbar Weather Button earlier this year.
The same approach will be used to release the features for the users running Windows 11 version 22H2.
Bottom Line
This new Release tempo will make each new version of Windows more exciting. Since there’s more time to build new features into each version, also there’s more time to drop out bugs before the general release.
Prior to this new release cadence, the product team had to wait a year for the release of new features of Windows. But now these new features will be released every few months on a regular and frequent basis.
This is certainly an unexpected change in the direction of the company. As Windows 10 was released in 2015, we saw two major version releases per year. And for Windows 11, they changed it to one major version per year. The change in direction is significant because it will allow Microsoft to release a big bang of new versions of Windows every year.
Of course, this is internal news, not yet announced by Microsoft Officials. So obviously the direction and schedule may change or slip at any time.
Source: Windows Central
