Microsoft's next big Windows update: Windows 12 or another 11?

Key notes

• Microsoft’s upcoming Windows update, codenamed Hudson Valley, will focus on AI features, but its name remains undecided.
• Experts believe it’s likely to be a Windows 11 update due to leadership changes, fragmentation concerns, and user preference for familiarity.
• Microsoft might aim for a unified Windows experience, avoiding a repeat of the Windows XP fragmentation issue.

Microsoft is gearing up for a significant update to its Windows operating system later this year, codenamed Hudson Valley. Packed with AI-powered features and potentially marking a new era for Windows, the update’s name remains a mystery. Will it be unveiled as Windows 12, signifying a major shift, or simply another update for Windows 11?

Before everything, we recently covered a post clarifying that Microsoft wasn’t releasing or testing the “first Windows 12 insider build” yet.

Highlighting several factors influencing Microsoft’s decision:

Microsoft’s Windows division recently underwent a leadership change, with Mikhail Parakhin, CEO of Advertising and Web Services, now overseeing Windows alongside web products like Edge and Bing. This shift in leadership might bring a renewed focus on frequent updates and a unified Windows experience across different versions.

Currently, Windows 10 and 11 coexist, with roughly 1.4 billion users divided between them. Introducing another major version, Windows 12, could further fragment the user base, creating compatibility and support challenges for Microsoft.

Users often resist major interface changes, and Microsoft might prioritize user comfort by sticking with the familiar Windows 11 interface for Hudson Valley. This could ensure wider adoption of the update, especially considering Microsoft’s goal of showcasing its AI advancements to as many users as possible.

Recent decisions to backport features from Windows 11 to Windows 10 hint at Microsoft’s desire to treat both versions as a singular platform. This further strengthens the argument for Hudson Valley being an update within Windows 11, maintaining a unified user experience.

Microsoft’s ultimate goal could be to adopt a Chrome OS-like approach where Windows updates would be seamless and wouldn’t require major versioning, similar to how Chrome OS receives continuous updates without much hype. It would be interesting to see if Microsoft goes down this route in the future.

While strong arguments lean towards Hudson Valley being a Windows 11 update, Microsoft’s final decision remains under wraps. External factors like pressure from hardware manufacturers or internal plans for a major UX overhaul could still influence the naming and features of the update.

More here.

Source