Microsoft: Windows 10 is the last version of Windows

Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 operating system will be the last version of Windows as we know it, a developer evangelist from the company said this week. This does not mean that Microsoft is killing off its operating system. In the future Microsoft will bring innovations and updates in an ongoing manner and there will be no more huge releases of the platform. At least, Microsoft says so.

“Right now we are releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10,” said Jerry Nixon, a developer evangelist at Microsoft, speaking at the company's Ignite conference this week, reports The Verge.

Mr. Nixon indicated that the future is “Windows as a service”, which means an entirely new usage models for end-users and a new business model for Microsoft. The world’s largest software developer has been thinking about making major changes to Windows for years now and Windows 10 will include a number of radically new things.

Microsoft has altered the way it develops and delivers Windows with its next OS. The upcoming Windows 10 will be fully modular and Microsoft will be able to update every single component independently to the core OS. This also allows building versions of the operating systems for different kinds of devices.

While the idea of a fully modular OS means that Microsoft will theoretically be able to add new features to Windows 10 forever, there will probably be hardware limitations, which will prevent certain functions from working on every single device. The concept of modularity also means that we will either not see any new major releases of Windows going forward, or Microsoft will introduce them once in many years (e.g., once in a decade). Keeping in mind all the uncertainities, the software does not want to talk about Windows 11 name, for example.

“Recent comments at Ignite about Windows 10 are reflective of the way Windows will be delivered as a service bringing new innovations and updates in an ongoing manner, with continuous value for our consumer and business customers,” said a Microsoft spokesperson when asked to clarify the future of Windows. “We aren’t speaking to future branding at this time, but customers can be confident Windows 10 will remain up-to-date and power a variety of devices from PCs to phones to Surface Hub to HoloLens and Xbox. We look forward to a long future of Windows innovations.”

A couple of years ago a rumour revealed Microsoft’s plans to introduce an operating system that would heavily rely on cloud technologies. No details were unveiled at that time, but one thing that is clear at the moment is that modularity is definitely not the final step in the evolution of Windows.

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KitGuru Says: Modular OS with upgradeable components is definitely a cool feature that will in many ways revolutionize user experience and Microsoft’s business. But with great power, comes great responsibility. What if an end-user does not want a certain upgrade? What if Microsoft wants to radically change graphics user interface of its OS? What if an upgrade ruins user experience on outdated machines? What if an update is not compatible with certain third-party apps? There are a lot of questions that Microsoft will need to answer in the coming months.

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