Windows 11 has been here since October 2021, so why did Microsoft say Windows 10 is their last OS?
Did Microsoft actually say that?
In 2015 according to Microsoft, Windows 10 was going to become just Windows. An OS that receives incremental updates without putting too much time into the version branding (or making an “entirely new” OS).
The whole idea of this was based on this statement made by a Microsoft Developer when speaking at the company’s presentation:
“Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10.”
— Jerry Nixon
It could have been phrased better, but little did he know what he had just set off, as at about the same Microsoft were announcing they wanted to treat windows as a continuous service, so these two together were enough to convince everyone.
There are actually some people that think Nixon meant to say “Latest version” rather than “Last version”, which would have made much more sense given the context, although it is still very likely he just phrased it that way as it would get more attention (which it certainly did!).
Windows 10 “patch”
Jump back into June 2021, videos with titles along the lines of Windows 11 just leaked: Here’s our first look started springing up, and within no time a couple of actual beta Windows 11 ISO files were being shared around online which led Microsoft to release a patch to Windows 10 which made it almost impossible to install the new OS onto it.
So, was Windows 10 really supposed to be the last OS? We don’t know. It is likely Microsoft actually did have no plans to release a new OS but decided to change down the line, which isn’t too unlikely, or it could just be a successful attempt at getting all the media attention possible.
What’s new?
Windows 11 doesn’t exactly bring many new features to the table, it’s more of a paint job to windows 10 giving everything a more fluid and consistent design.
The most noticeable changes are:
- The taskbar is now centred
- They redesigned the start menu
- Added rounded corners to all the windows
- A widgets menu was added (although that was already added in a late update on windows 10)
- Newly designed icons
- A window snapping menu
- Microsoft teams has been more integrated into windows
- The settings menu was completely redone (that’s one good reason to update 😜)
If you’d like an article going into the more in-depth, behind the scenes changes of windows 11, comment below and I’ll be sure to post it!
Originally published at https://kilabyte.org on January 31, 2022.
