For quite some time, many thought the 2024 Windows release would be called Windows 12. Many arguments have been made about why it should and why it shouldn't be called Windows 12. Insider build 26052 confirms that "Windows 11 2024 Update" is coming, not "Windows 12".
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2024's Windows release, while shaping up to be similar in development process to Sun Valley, the initial Windows 11 release in 2021, is reportedly going to be "Windows 11 2024 Update" and not "Windows 12" because Microsoft wants to avoid fragmenting the Windows user base with multiple different versions. Except that's already happening!
When Windows 10 came out, Microsoft developer evangelist Jerry Nixon called it "the last version of Windows", and almost everyone believed his statement, and despite Microsoft showing an end-of-life date, everyone expected endless support. However, Apple broke free from "10 forever" in 2020 with macOS 11, and Windows 11 came out in 2021 (maybe because of macOS 11) and the end-of-life date Microsoft set for Windows 10 back in 2015, 10/14/25 was confirmed to be true. However, due to Windows 11 leaving more than half of Windows devices behind, Microsoft may be forced to extend Windows 10's support.
Panos Panay, the former leader of the Windows team, left Microsoft to join Amazon in September 2023. With this leadership change, not only has Microsoft decided to backport Copilot to Windows 10 2022 Update, they might also decide to call the 2024 Windows release "Windows 11 2024 Update" instead of the much-anticipated "Windows 12".
Windows was rejuvenated in 2021 with Windows 11, but Build 2022 was still disappointing, as was the case with Build 2019, Build 2020, and Build 2021. For Build 2023, Bing Chat and ChatGPT meet together in Windows 11 to form Windows Copilot. But that's just the Start!
Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, introduced 6 years ago on 5/10/17, introduced Fluent Design, and it promised to bring a slick, futuristic redesign to the entire Windows 10 (and now 11) UI. 6 years later, it's still a disappointment, even with Windows 11 redesigning most of the Windows shell, including the taskbar.
We all know by now that what was to be Windows 10 version 21H2's massive UI update was actually Windows 11. But during the "it was just going to be another Windows 10 update" phase, many people thought that it was still going to look mostly like Windows 10: taskbar still left-aligned, search box on the taskbar, and theme-aware start menu tiles. In Windows 11 2022 Update and later, all but the theme-aware tiles are present, and here's how you can make your Windows experience resemble the "Windows 10 Sun Valley" vision.
Microsoft Edge has 3 insider channels: Beta, Dev, and Canary, and Windows has Release Preview, Beta, and Dev, but no Canary. That all changes for 2023!
Windows 11 build 25309 added a pizza icon to File Explorer. This indicates that File Explorer is now using WinUI 3 instead of WinUI 2 as it has been using up until now. The switch from WinUI 2 to 3 is one of many changes coming to File Explorer in a future version of Windows.
Windows 11 2022 Update was updated with many new features in the February 2023 Moments update. This update is the biggest minor update yet for Windows 10 or 11, and the changes, and the title of this blog post, show that this update should really be called Windows 11.1.2.
Windows 11 started a new era for Windows, with major UI changes and lots of removed features. But the biggest change is the fact that for the first time ever, Microsoft has given this version of Windows some very strict system requirements.
Microsoft will stop offering Windows 10 starting on 2/1/23, something I thought would never happen when I first started this blog in 2017 given what Microsoft developer Jerry Nixon said in 2015. But, times have changed, Windows 11 came out in 2021, and Windows 10 is coming to an end in 2025.
Windows 11 initial release only redesigned the top of File Explorer, as well as the context menus, but the majority of the window, and every dialog, is still ancient win32 UI. That appears to be changing soon!
The Windows Insider Program allows people to preview new Windows features before they're publicly released. But there's a problem...
Apple released new Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps for Windows 11 2022 Update and later in September 2022, and were announced by Microsoft with the release of Windows 11 build 25276. These are Apple's first Windows apps to use modern UI! (UPDATE: These apps are now out of preview and are now available to Windows 10 2022 Update and Windows 11 initial release as well.)
It took 7 years, but iCloud for Windows finally supports syncing bookmarks with the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge!
Lots of weird things happen with the way Windows builds are numbered. A build may be compiled, and then Insiders may get a build with a lower build number later. Or there may be more than one build with the same number, but with very different features. Build numbers may also jump very high. Why is all this?
Sun Valley, the UI update which became Windows 11, didn't introduce everything it was planned to introduce.
Sometimes, new features will be introduced in an insider build, be removed in a later build, and then return in an even later build. Usually, the feature isn't any different on return than it was on removal.
A mysterious new Windows shell design made an unexpected appearance at Microsoft's 10/12/22 Surface event, and it's such a departure from Windows 11's design that it may indicate Windows 12 is coming after all!
With the Release Preview Channel starting to get features for October 2022's Moments update to Windows 11 2022 Update in the form of cumulative updates to build 22621, we are now 99.9% sure Moments updates won't increment the build number after all.
Windows Insider Beta Channel Starts Previewing 2nd "Moments" Update for Windows 11 2022 Update10/3/2022 Along with build 25211 for the Dev Channel last week, build 22621.730 and build 22623.730 were released to the Beta Channel. The jump from build 22622 to 22623 implies that the Beta Channel is now testing features that will ship in Windows 11 2022 Update's 2nd "Moments" update in February/March 2023.
Microsoft released Windows 11 2022 Update, the latest version of Windows, on 9/20/22, and made clear that they are committed to yearly Windows 11 releases for the foreseeable future, instead of new major Windows releases every 3 years.
With Windows reportedly moving back to a 3-year upgrade cycle, Windows 12 should be released in 2024. Current Dev Channel Windows Insider builds are testing features that will either ship in Windows 11 22H2 Moments updates or in Windows 12.
Marketing names for new Windows 10 versions used to be unique, with names such as Anniversary Update and Creators Update, but starting with Windows 10 1803, the naming scheme changed to Month Year Update. With 22H2 being the anniversary update to Windows 11, it's unknown if the Month Year scheme will continue.
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TechWithTylerI am a tech lover. I am a Windows Insider. |