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When Microsoft released Windows 10 in 2015, it was widely reported that the company was calling

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their newest operating system the last version of Windows, leading to widespread confusion and

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memory when the company proceeded to announce Windows 11 in 2021. It turns out the last version

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thing actually came from a throwaway comment by a Microsoft developer and not an official company

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statement. So is Windows 11 the last last version or will we be seeing a Windows 12 in the next few

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years? Prior to Windows 10, a new full-fledged version of the OS came out once every two or three

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years, but by the time 2015 rolled around, Microsoft no longer thought that this was a viable model.

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As computing was shifting more to applications that depended on the cloud, especially on mobile

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devices, Microsoft believed forcing its users to wait literal years for major updates was silly

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when people were used to getting updates on other platforms on a much more frequent basis,

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and I'm sure Microsoft didn't want to end up lagging behind in terms of compatibility

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with rapidly evolving technologies. So the company's strategy shifted to releasing multiple

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feature updates per year on Windows 10, giving users a gradual improvement to keep up with the

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times. And that seemed like a good idea, but a huge issue was that the improvements often weren't

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all that gradual. Not only did many users not get used to how often major changes were made to the

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OS, but updates were also cumulative. This meant that you couldn't pick and choose which features

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you wanted, and if a long period of time passed since you last updated your system,

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you'd get hit with a huge number of changes all at once. Although the changes themselves

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weren't all that bad, many users weren't happy with the frequency of them, especially larger

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organizations that had to manage large-scale Windows deployments for users who might not

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have been all that tech savvy. Now, this wasn't the only reason that Microsoft ended up releasing

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Windows 11, and putting out those major updates with an H in the name only once a year as a compromise.

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There were enough differences in Windows 11 to make it a full-fledged separate product,

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especially considering the beefed-up security requirements. But enough had changed overall

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from the original Windows 10 paradigm for the Windows 11 designation to make sense.

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But if Microsoft is fine with the annual update cadence and consumers end up being okay with it

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as well, is there a point to Microsoft coming out with the Windows 12? There have already been

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reports that Microsoft is indeed returning to their more traditional strategy of releasing a

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new version of Windows every three years. This is probably a tacit admission on Microsoft's part

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that the whole Windows as a service idea didn't completely take off. But beyond just that,

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not sticking with one version of Windows for the rest of time makes sense for a couple of reasons.

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As we saw with the controversy over TPM requirements for Windows 11,

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hardware requirements are going to keep changing in the future. At some point, newer standards

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will become necessities instead of nice to have. And once a Windows update requires some

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major hardware change, it would be much more confusing to consumers if an update to the same

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Windows version simply did not work in their existing hardware. Going back to a new full-fledged

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Windows version every three years also gives consumers more of a choice as to whether they

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want to drastically change how they interact with their computer. And for administrators

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in large organizations, they might have really good reasons to stick with what they have, whether

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that's a need to run older software or the fear that migrating to a new version of Windows would

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cause chaos and calamity among the rank and file of their company. Although Microsoft has gotten

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plenty of criticism for forced updates, upgrading to an entirely new version of Windows has always

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been completely optional and remains so to this day. Right now, most folks in the industry are

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expecting Windows 12 sometime in 2024, but we don't have much information as to what it would look

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outside of possibly adding battery and Wi-Fi indicators at the top of the screen to make

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the experience slightly more phone-like. Hopefully, exciting changes will be coming for those of us

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using a desktop, like the ability to move the taskbar again. Oh, please, God, give me that back.

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