Microsoft is reportedly planning to release new major updates for Windows 11 every three years. According to Windows Central, this means that the next major update for Windows 11 could now ship in 2024, three years after the initial release of Windows 11.
“This means that the originally planned 2023 client release of Windows (codenamed Sun Valley 3) has been scrapped, but that’s not the end of the story. I’m told that with the move to this new development schedule, Microsoft is also planning to increase the output of new features rolling out to users on the latest version of Windows,” Windows Central’s Zac Bowden explained.
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Last year, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 would receive major updates once a year, and so would Windows 10 until its end of support in 2025. However, Microsoft already released the first feature update for Windows 11 back in February, which brought the Amazon Android App Store in the US, a new Media Player app, as well minor improvements for the Windows 11 taskbar.
The next Windows 11 update (22H2, or Sun Valley 2) coming later this year is already being tested with Windows Insiders. However, Windows Central believes that the next major update coming next year (Sun Valley 3) has been “scrapped” due to Microsoft adopting a new release schedule. However, Microsoft minor updates like the one we had in February should continue to happen throughout the year.
“Starting with Windows 11 version 22H2 (Sun Valley 2), Microsoft is kicking off a new “Moments” engineering effort which is designed to allow the company to rollout new features and experiences at key points throughout the year, outside of major OS releases. I hear the company intends to ship new features to the in-market version of Windows every few months, up to four times a year, starting in 2023,” Bowden explained.
If you’ve been following Windows Insider news since the release of Windows 11, the team has been pretty clear that new features being tested with Insiders are not tied to a specific Windows release. Instead, the Windows Insider team insists that new features can ship “when they’re ready.”
Bowden explained that this more flexible approach will allow Microsoft to release new Windows 11 features more often. “Many of the features that were planned for the now-scrapped Sun Valley 3 client release will ship as part of one of these Moments on top of Sun Valley 2 instead of in a dedicated new release of the Windows client in the fall of 2023,” the report reads.
If Microsoft does really plan to release the next major update for Windows 11 in 3 years, it wouldn’t exactly be a comeback to previous Windows eras. Enterprise customers may certainly welcome the slower release schedule, while consumers would still get new features throughout the year that IT admins may be able to disable if needed.
blue77star
<p>I usually don’t comment on anything but I have to on this one. I really do not understand why Microsoft did not drops numbers by now. All we really need to have is OS called Windows versions (Like Ubuntu does). Windows version 2207, 2209, 2301 (Example – where first two digits indicate year and other two a month).</p>