What you need to know
- Some Windows 10X innovations will come to Windows 10 next year.
- Windows 10 and Windows 10X will co-exist side-by-side.
- Microsoft promises reinvestment in Windows.
Microsoft spokespeople are confirming plans to bring some of Windows 10X's innovations and features over to the existing version of Windows 10 as the company moves to refocus investment in the Windows operating system. Windows 10 and Windows 10X will co-exist side-by-side on PCs next year, and Microsoft wants to provide the best of both worlds on either platform.
Microsoft isn't yet ready to talk about which Windows 10X features and innovations will make their way to Windows 10, but it's likely to include some of the underlying platform improvements as well as new modernized user interfaces. Microsoft tell us that it will begin talking more about these plans over the summer and into the fall.
Windows 10X itself isn't expected to be ready until next year. Microsoft isn't committed to a timeframe just yet, but it hopes to have Windows 10X ready for single-screen PCs in the first half of 2021. Over the course of this year, Microsoft will begin to detail which Windows 10X features are coming to Windows 10, and how it plans to differentiate between the two versions.
Renewed investment in Windows 10
Microsoft's renewed investment in Windows 10 comes at a time where more and more people are using Windows PCs. Microsoft has seen huge engagement numbers with Windows 10 over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and wants to deliver the best PC experience possible to all one-billion Windows 10 users.
It's fair to say that Microsoft has put Windows on the backburner in the last couple of years as it shifted focused to other efforts at the company. But Windows remains an incredibly important part of Microsoft, and now that Panos Panay is in charge of the Windows client it seems the company is interested in using Windows as a platform to push software innovation once again.
The fact that Microsoft spokespeople are using words like "reinvestment" when talking about Windows 10 is a breath of fresh air for Windows fans who have been calling for Microsoft to refocus their efforts on Windows. The last several releases of Windows 10 have been very enterprise focused with not much going on the form of features or platform innovation.
It's likely we will begin to see this reinvestment come to life with Windows 10 releases in 2021, as that's when Microsoft is expecting to begin bringing Windows 10X innovations to Windows 10. Windows Insiders have been hoping to hear more about plans to test Windows 10X on real hardware, and although Microsoft isn't announcing anything today, it is something they are thinking about internally.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on Microsoft's reinvestment in Windows 10? Let us know in the comments.
