Did we just get our first glimpse of Windows 12? If so, we won’t get the new operating system until 2025
We may have just gotten our first glimpse of Windows 12, although we can’t be sure, but what we do know is that Microsoft is making a big change with test builds of Windows.
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(Corrected) There has been a construction jump for the internal canary! 26047 > 27547January 30, 2024
The most recent version of the Canary Channel is version 26040, as you may know if you’ve been following these preview releases (which comes with a new Voice Clarity feature to improve video chats).
So now we have builds in the 26XXX range and also the 27XXX range, which begs the obvious question: is the latter Windows 12 in early testing? Let’s discuss that in more depth next.
Analysis: I’ll give her everything she’s got, Captain!
As noted Microsoft leaker (of Windows Central fame) Zac Bowden points out, there’s a good chance here that the next release of Windows will be the 26XXX branch, which is currently rumored (by Bowden) to be Windows 11 24H2 which will be released later this year. year.
ge_release has been forked! Insiders won’t be getting the 27XXX builds for a while, I suspect. The next Windows release should have RTM in the 26XXX range. https://t.co/U3y50S5Q81January 30, 2024
That means the 27XXX preview builds after that could be the next incarnation of Windows, arriving in 2025 (and these builds likely won’t be tested with Windows Insiders for a while). Hence the (cautious) conclusion that this may be Windows 12, or a completely new Windows, whatever it may be called.
(Although we should further note that Windows 11 24H2 will technically be entirely new. Not the front-end mind, but the underlying foundations – it will be built on a new platform known as Germanium, which will bring significant performance and security benefits will provide deep under the hood).
In any case, this pretty much underlines the idea that Windows 12 (or Windows next generation, whatever the final name is) isn’t coming this year, and probably next year. After all, Windows 10 is being dumped in 2025, so it makes sense that a new operating system will arrive as soon as you shuffle out the exit door (in October 2025 to be precise).
As we discussed previously, one of the dangers of introducing Windows 12 this year is that the move would divide the desktop user base into three camps, which is inconvenient and difficult to organize updates. That scenario is therefore neatly avoided if Windows 12 does not appear until 2025.
As a side note, Microsoft has code names for its OS development semesters, and the next one was supposed to be Arsenic – but because it’s perceived as “scary and violent”, the software giant has avoided it and instead uses the code name Dilithium. That’s pretty cool for Star Trek fans (perhaps Duranium will be next in line if another inappropriate real-world element shows up).