Windows 11 could get its next feature drop in early 2024, thanks to what will be the fifth 'Moment' update for the operating system.
As you probably know by now, a Moment is the name given to smaller feature updates that appear outside of the major annual upgrade that Microsoft releases for Windows 11 (23H2 this year).
And we just heard about it Windows Central (Zac Bowden) that Moment 5 should arrive in February (the alternate name is indeed the 'February 2024 Moment').
That said, the catch is that this will be the first preview release late in the month, so the full version of the Moment 5 update won't arrive until March. On the second Tuesday of the month if the typical release frequency of Microsoft's cumulative updates is maintained – which would be the date to mark your calendar for March 12th.
What new features will this update contain? Well, don't get your hopes up for anything too exciting, as we're told this will be a smaller release compared to some of the previous Moments.
Still, there will be a fair amount of tweaks and additions, and one clever bit of functionality is aimed at stylus users – namely the ability to write directly in text fields with their pen (something Microsoft has promised will eventually be an OS-wide system). capabilities in Windows).
Voice Access also gets commendable attention, including multi-monitor support and powerful new voice shortcuts. The latter are customizable commands that allow you to, for example, open files and folders or paste some of the standard text (and they can be linked together for multiple steps).
Microsoft plans to make some minor tweaks – some of which are useful, like adding the number of characters in Notepad and the ability to rename devices with the Nearby Share feature to make them easier to identify at a glance (“Darren's PC” for example) – but some of the work elsewhere is purely about complying with European regulations.
In concrete terms, these changes are related to compliance and intended for the European Economic Area (EEA). They include the choice to remove Windows 11's Edge browser, as well as the ability to remove Bing from the taskbar search box (and instead funnel web results through an alternative, like Google).
Analysis: March of Progress
Unfortunately, Windows 11 users outside the EEA won't get these latter options, but they will benefit from another move to let the user delete a wider range of default apps, like Photos for example.
Additionally, Microsoft introduces an option to specify that the widgets panel contains only widgets, where users can delete the news feed. Interestingly, we're also told that Microsoft will allow other third-party services to be integrated into the panel – so you can populate the widget board with Google news, if you wish.
These widget-related capabilities are coming to everyone, thankfully not just the EEA – and we can keep our fingers crossed that the other Europe-related changes mentioned will be rolled out more widely as well. Many people would undoubtedly like the option to make Windows 11 a bit clearer by removing Edge.
Of course, we have to keep in mind that these changes are all rumors, although we've seen all the features mentioned tested lately, so this all makes sense. The February (for preview) and March release dates are the nugget of information that more salt should be applied to, but Bowden is one of the more reliable sources for information from Microsoft. It is always possible that an intended time frame shifts a bit, mind you.
From what we've heard, this could be the last Moment update before the next-generation version of Windows launches later in 2024. Whether that will be Windows 12, or something else (Windows AI?), or whether Microsoft will stick with Windows 11 (creating the upgrade version 24H2), we don't know yet, but the theory is that this may be the last moment before the next big step arrives.
According to another recent rumor from Bowden, Microsoft is expected to move away from Moments, releasing fewer of these updates in the future and making more changes and feature additions in the major annual upgrade. (And yes – in short, this is more a return to the way things used to be).