Microsoft May Radically Overhaul Windows Release Schedule

Windows 11 launched in October of 2021, which seems like forever ago despite it being less than a year. Initially, Microsoft said the update schedule for 11 would be the same as it is currently for Windows 10. That means both OSes would get a single big update a year. That’s the kind of update that adds a smorgasbord of new features, and is the same as Apple’s OS update schedule. Now Microsoft is looking to alter that schedule, at least as far as Windows 11 is concerned. It’s now saying it will move to a three-year cycle for major, new versions of its OS. In between that glacial timespan, it’ll be dropping more regular feature updates. Overall, this sounds like good news.

News of the revamped release schedule comes from Windows Central. It marks an abrupt change of its previous policy of big annual updates for the OS. For Windows 11, this means every three years there will be a new version of the OS. Currently, that version is scheduled for 2024, and we assume it’ll be Windows 12. Windows Central says that a new, updated version was originally slated for 2023, but that’s been cancelled. To make up for the increase in time between major releases, Microsoft will reportedly be upping the pace of its smaller updates.

The new update schedule will begin with Windows 11 22H2, aka Sun Valley 2. Microsoft will reportedly roll out an update process known as “moments,” which will see it continuously add features to the OS. The report says Microsoft will release new features for Windows 11 four times a year. That’s the good news. The bad news is this process won’t begin until 2023. Apparently the recent deployment of the Taskbar weather alert was a test of its new updating system.

New features the company has been testing via Insider builds will roll out to users every few months. We’re actually totally onboard with this, as we really like some of those features. It will bring new features to the OS faster, after all. Instead of waiting for the big annual release, they will come with these “moments.” Also, the report states “moments” is Microsoft’s internal word, and publicly it might be called something different.

Summarizing things, we can look forward to the next version of Windows in 2024. Between now and then we can expect major feature additions every few months, starting next year. If Microsoft is reading this, you can start with the Quick Look feature you were testing earlier. Next, feel free to give us those tabbed Explorer windows from April. After that, we’ll take the desktop Widgets please, thx. While we’re at it, feel free to move the desktop search box code into the Recycling Bin. You can do the same with those ads in Explorer you inadvertently deployed for testing. Our final request for the next update: can you please let us move the taskbar?

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