Microsoft may release 'Windows 12' in 2024, report
Farewell rolling updates, again
Microsoft is once again changing the process it uses to release major versions of Windows, which could means ‘Windows 12' in 2024.
As reported by Windows Central, Microsoft is returning to a three-year release cycle for Windows, implying the next major version of Windows is due in 2024.
In line with this meaure, the firm has reportedly abandoned the planned version of Windows 11 for 2023, which was codenamed 'Sun Valley 3'.
If true this would mark another abandonment by Microsoft of its plan to roll out improvements and patches on an ongoing basis, rather than releasing a new major version every three years, as it always used to do.
Before releasing Windows 11 last year, Microsoft had referred to Windows 10 as the "last version of Windows". Windows 11 moved from an abstract idea to an actual announcement in a matter of weeks. Microsoft had previously said that it would only deliver one major feature update for Windows 11, but, according to Windows Central it intends to revert to its previous cycle, releasing major Windows updates every three years.
The report says the work on Windows 12 has already started, and the operating system is "now in the early planning and engineering stages."
Having a new nmed version every three years allows Microsoft to remarket Windows.
The company will concurrently increase the delivery of new features to the current version of Windows. It is reported that new features will be introduced as often as four times per year, beginning with the soon-to-be-released Windows 11 version 22H2 (Sun Valley 2). The 22H2 update for Windows 11 is scheduled to arrive in September or October.
With the release of the Taskbar weather button on Windows 11 earlier this year, Microsoft is said to have tested this approach. The firm will use a similar strategy for these Moments, grouping a few new features that have been in testing with Insiders and rolling them out to everyone on top of the most recent shipping version of Windows.
Instead of a separate new release of the Windows client in the autumn of 2023, many of the features that were slated for the now-cancelled Sun Valley 3 client release would ship as part of one of these Moments on top of Sun Valley 2.
Little information is currently available about the 2024 version of Windows. The version is allegedly dubbed as the "Next Valley" client by the developers, although its existence has not been officially verified by Microsoft.