Microsoft's operating system strategy seems to have been called into question several months ago.
Not so long ago, all Microsoft specialists were saying that a new version of Windows would be released "very soon", drastically shortening Windows 11. Of course, this supposed new version would have been called Windows 12, and some even envisaged its release for the end of 2024, in order to keep a three-year cycle. It's now October, and Microsoft has yet to make any such announcement. On the other hand, the Redmond-based company has spoken at length about Windows 11 24H2, a major system update that has just been officially rolled out.
And what if this 24H2 is none other than the Windows 12 that was once mooted? At least, that's what other specialists such as João Carrasqueira for XDA Developers are now considering. Of course, 24H2 is not a complete overhaul of Windows 11. It is, however, a far more ambitious and profound update than previous OS updates. So, whether we're talking about 22H2 or 23H2, the updates were certainly feature-rich, but they maintained identical fundamentals, based on the same platform. As João Carrasqueira explains in his article, this is not the case with 24H2, which is based on a platform codenamed Germanium. The various features highlighted by Microsoft don't necessarily reflect a change of any great magnitude, but on closer inspection, the changes are profound, particularly in terms of support for ARM architecture... which is why Qualcomm was able to present its new Snapdragon X processors with Windows 11 24H2 preinstalled on them.
Microsoft introduces Copilot+ with Windows 11 24H2 © Microsoft
Other far-reaching changes to the system have resulted in improved performance. We reported on this in the case of AMD's Ryzen 5000, Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 processors, but the movement is much broader in scope. Several users have published feedback on hardware that is sometimes much older - 5 or even 10 years old - and in some cases not even officially supported by Microsoft. For all that, João Carrasqueira stresses how far 24H2 remains from what could be a new version of Windows like we were used to before Windows 10.
These include performance improvements and the integration of useful features such as Sudo support in the Windows Terminal application. We can also talk about the new file compression options ("new" archive formats and compression levels), but that's not yet what makes a truly new Windows. In this sense, 24H2 is both "too much" for a simple update and "too little" for a new Windows. But what if it's just a new "step-by-step" enhancement method that Microsoft is trying to implement?
PureInfoTech explains how to activate the Sudo command © PureInfoTech
In the past, a new version of Windows was often an opportunity to change PCs. Of course, you could simply install the new version on your current PC, and some users did, but in the vast majority of cases, you kept your PC as it was, and it was only when you renewed your machine that you really discovered the new Windows, sold pre-installed at your local assembler or supermarket. So we're living in a transitional era, where Microsoft is integrating all the new Copilot+ features into its OS with 24H2, but without requiring you to change your machine... unless? In fact, 24H2 does not require a change of machine and, as we said earlier, it even delivers better performance on sometimes very old machines. But at the same time, to take advantage of Copilot+ - one of the major new features of the update - you need a very modern processor, incorporating a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of delivering at least 40 TOPS of performance. Even a Ryzen 9 9950X released last July, with its 16 cores/32 threads, is not sufficiently equipped.
Of course, this is not to say that Copilot+ currently justifies changing your PC for a machine with an NPU chip worthy of the name. In fact, we're currently rather dubious about the Copilot+ functionalities as presented by Microsoft. On the other hand, it seems that Microsoft has decided to change the way Windows evolves, making it progress gradually through major updates rather than new versions that bring things up to date. Of course, we can't completely rule out a Windows 12 release - after all, Windows 10 was presented as the " last version " by Microsoft itself - but the Redmond firm gives the impression of taking a new direction. To be continued...
