It looked like the logical choice for Microsoft to slow down the speed of Windows feature upgrades in order to concentrate on system stability with monthly security patches and bug fixes after Windows 11 and 10 combined reached a total of 1.4 billion monthly active PCs earlier this year.
The business is apparently switching to a new development cycle that calls for releasing feature upgrades as frequently as four times per year and releasing a new major version of the Windows client every three years.
With Windows 11, Microsoft announced that feature upgrades will be released annually and would be made available in the second half of each calendar year.
Microsoft changed Windows 10’s feature update cycle from its twice-yearly cycle to the same single update cycle shortly after the introduction.
Because of this, neither operating system received an official 22H1 upgrade, though Microsoft did provide a Windows 11 feature update earlier this year that deviated from the company’s predetermined release schedule.
Microsoft is already adjusting the development cycle further by increasing the frequency of planned feature upgrades and switching to a three-year release cycle for “major” Windows versions with the impending 22H2 release for Windows 11 (code-named Sun Valley 2).
According to this new strategy, Microsoft will release new functions and experiences for its current OS up to four times per year.
The upcoming feature drops will be part of Microsoft’s internal “Moments” engineering initiative, which suggests that IT administrators may soon experience more of their own.
Additionally, given that Microsoft is once again numbering its main OS updates, Windows 12 may be officially announced by 2024.
Details on Microsoft’s upcoming big OS release are currently scant, as one might expect.
The project is now in the early planning and engineering stages and is reportedly referred to internally as “Next Valley.”
To read our blog “The newest Windows 11 preview contains a web search bar,” click here.
