Whether or not Microsoft is attempting to quell talks about its beloved platform is starting to stagnate, it has certainly piqued people’s interest at Ignite 2021.
In a fireside chat with Microsoft Corporate VP & Product Manager, Roanne Sones, Chief Product Officer Panos Panay made a couple of interesting, if short-lived, comments about the future of the platform, saying that the “future of Windows is incredible, what we're bringing to the table for sure.”
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According to Windows Central, Panay was asked what question gets posed to him the most during the 15-minute one-on-one, to which Sones replied that it’s usually regarding Windows. While Panay does go on to list the platform’s many accomplishments in response, it’s the part about the “next generation of Windows” that caught the attention of many:
"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."
It’s a rather vague and non-committal tease, to say the least. However, it’s certainly coming at the right time, with many Windows users starting to wonder if the platform has peaked.
What is the next generation of Windows?
We don’t quite know what Panay meant when he said “the next generation of Windows.” However, we do know that Microsoft has at least a couple of things in the works for the platform.
Well-known Microsoft leaker WalkingCat has tweeted that Microsoft is getting ready to deploy what it’s calling ‘the new Windows’ in the near future, perhaps in the next few months. That could either be the long-awaited Windows 10X or possibly Sun Valley, the next Windows 10 update.
Sun Valley is supposedly coming soon and could come with a massive user interface redesign, among other things. Meanwhile, the release date of Windows 10X is rumored to be in the spring of 2021.
Or it could be something different entirely and much closely related to Panay’s “next generation of Windows.” Whatever Microsoft has in store, it’s definitely going to be a busy year of revamps for the platform.
