Microsoft bucks historical past, pegs Home windows 10 21H1 as ‘minor’ improve

Microsoft will launch a spring replace for Home windows 10, opposite to earlier experiences that claimed the corporate would omit a first-half refresh of the working system.

In a Feb. 15 submit to the WinHEC weblog — a message heart used to maintain Microsoft’s {hardware} companions knowledgeable — the Redmond, Wash. developer mentioned that the following improve, designated 21H1, will “comply with the identical [hardware compatibility] tips as 20H2,” referring to the characteristic improve launched final October.

Final yr, experiences surfaced asserting that Microsoft would forgo a spring characteristic improve all collectively in order that the slot might be devoted to the launch of Home windows 10X, the agency’s newest try and craft a lighter-weight OS that may compete with Google’s Chrome OS.

The WinHEC announcement put paid to such speak.

Microsoft’s revelation about 21H1 — Microsoft’s latest nomenclature utilizing yy and H1 and H2 for first- and second-half of the yr updates — additionally implied that will probably be 2021’s “minor,” not its “main” improve, as in years previous.

(In 2019 and 2020, Microsoft used a “major-minor” rhythm for Home windows 10’s upgrades. Somewhat than two more-or-less equal updates in a yr, every sporting an extended record of recent options and improved performance, Microsoft issued a “main” launch within the spring and a “minor” one within the fall. The previous contained the standard bunch of recent options whereas the latter was primarily a rerun of the spring’s refresh, albeit with a handful of recent, inconsequential instruments.)