Playing riddles, are we, Panos? There has been much hubbub over the past few months about how long it has been since a big feature update for Windows. And we have a reason for that.
Microsoft is working on what it calls the “next generation of Windows”.
And at the first day the Ignite 2021 conference, Panos Panay talked a bit about what the company is cooking. The Chief Product Officer hyped things up, without diving too much into the details, and saying that what the software titan has to show is not for this event.
His words:
“Windows is such an important platform, for connecting people, helping people be as productive as they possibly can be. It is the heart beat right now of what is modern work. It really is, just take a step back. But it’s also the heartbeat of what we do every day in our lives. It’s familiar, it’s intuitive, it adapts to you. These are really important elements.
This is a product right now that more than a billion people all over the world are relying on every day, to work, to learn … and ultimately to create. And that’s what this is about, how we continue to see where technology can take us versus what it does for us today and where is it that we will be and how can technology be there for you, Windows is the core of that.
It’s there to light up Microsoft 365 experiences, it’s there to light up the devices for OEMs, but most importantly like we talked about it’s there for people to connect, create, and ultimately be productive as they need to. We have new features coming—here I got to tell you this—look and I haven’t talked about the next generation of Windows and what’s coming next, but I can tell you I am so pumped. We’re not talking about that today.
Because we have so much right now, we talked about the depth of features and the breadth of what Windows can bring for each of you for IT Pros … I know that the future of Windows is incredible, what we’re bringing to the table for sure. But ultimately, we’re here today to talk about Windows 10 and what Windows 10 brings to the table, and how we can support our customers and partners here at Ignite.”
You can almost feel the hype!
Of course, that Microsoft actually has some big plans for Windows is perhaps the company’s worst kept secret. It is already readying Windows 10X for release soon, while also working on a major overhaul of the mainline Windows 10 codenamed Sun Valley.
Whether Panay is referring to either one of these, or both of these things as the next generation of the operating system remains to be seen.