Microsoft is preparing to change the Windows update cycle. Releases of the company's operating system will come every three years, while at the same time new features will be available in the version of Windows that is on the market.
Zac Bowden reports on Windows Central:
The news comes just a year after the company announced it was preparing annual releases of new versions of Windows. According to my sources, Microsoft now plans to release “major” versions of Windows every three years, with the next version currently scheduled for 2024, three years after Windows 11 launches in 2021.”
This means that the originally planned version for Windows in 2023 (codenamed Sun Valley 3) has been scrapped, but the story doesn't end there.
"I'm told that by moving to this new development program, Microsoft plans to increase production of new features that will be released to users in the latest version of Windows."
Starting with Windows 11 version 22H2 (Sun Valley 2), Microsoft is launching a new “Moments” effort designed to allow the company to deliver new features and experiences at key points throughout the year, outside of major versions of the operating system.
The company plans to release new features to the installed version of Windows every few months, up to four times a year, starting in 2023.
Microsoft has already tested this system with the release of the Taskbar weather button in Windows 11 earlier this year.
This same approach will be used for the "Moments" that the company is preparing. “Moments” will bundle new features that have been tested with Insiders and make them available to everyone using the latest version of Windows.
Many of these new features that were slated for release with the ultimately defunct Sun Valley 3 release will come via Moments in the Sun Valley 2 release in fall 2023.
