Firing Up The Rumor Mill For The Next Major Windows Release

Discussion in 'Windows 11' started by PolidelticusFire, May 28, 2022.

  1. PolidelticusFire

    PolidelticusFire MDL Addicted

    May 7, 2020
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    Windows 11 has been out for almost a year now, meaning MSFT's devs have probably already forked the code and are quietly but steadily working on what will, eventually, become Windows 12 (or whatever it ends up being called by then)...

    Here are my predictions for the new release:

    1. New NT kernel series -- W12 will see the sunsetting of the NT 10.x kernel series in favor of a new one, such as 11.x or straight up 12.0 if they want to keep kernel version and product name consistent;

    2. UEFI Class 3-only, meaning absolutely no BIOS/MBR support whatsoever, nor UEFI+CSM (Class 2);

    3. Extinction of WoW64 -- this will be a pure, 64-bit only release, no more 32-bit binaries anywhere on the OS, and therefore also no support for many legacy IA-32-only applications;

    4. The Ultimate SKU makes a come back, bringing many extra consumer oriented features;

    5. TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot will be hard, unbypassable requirements, all new computers and motherboards launched by then will have those enabled by default from factory with no way to turn them off.

    We won't be hearing anything official until mid to late 2023. However I'm sure MSFT already has internal builds of this circling around the company, and I believe the new OS will release in the same time frame as Server 2025.

    -- It's always fun to try and predict things! :D
     
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  2. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

    Oct 30, 2009
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  3. gareths

    gareths MDL Senior Member

    Jun 5, 2017
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    I don't think we'd see Windows 12 until 2027 at the earliest
     
  4. kaljukass

    kaljukass MDL Guru

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    #4 kaljukass, May 28, 2022
    Last edited: May 28, 2022
    You are too optimistic! Are you sure that by then the World War III (nuclear war) is over and there is still someone who needs Windows 12?
    I'm not at all so sure.
    Then most of us are dead under the ruins and any kind of "windows" not needed anymore to anyone.
     
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  5. Oh, lol I'm sure that deep inside the Nuclear and EMP hardened Cheyenne Mountain, where some of the most classified US military operations take place that all their mainframes run on a Windows type OS, nothing that would be available to you and me of course.
     
  6. oilernut

    oilernut MDL Senior Member

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    It's all branding, under the covers Windows 11 is Windows 10. Whether they come out with Windows 12, Windows 20, Windows 365 it will still progress the same.
     
  7. oilernut

    oilernut MDL Senior Member

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    This will almost certainly not happen. It's one thing to require, UEFI, TPM and all that. But they will not drop 32 bit apps anytime soon.
     
  8. ohenry

    ohenry MDL Senior Member

    Aug 10, 2009
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    I suspect you're right. But it would be fine with me if they did drop 32 bit apps.
     
  9. d5aqoëp

    d5aqoëp MDL Addicted

    Jan 19, 2017
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    TBH I don’t mind if they kill 32 bit apps completely. It will force lazy devs to port to 64 bit.
     
  10. Tovadyk

    Tovadyk MDL Junior Member

    Jul 21, 2015
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    many are not lazy just dead...

    other such as the Clipmate dev are caught between a rock and a hard place with different Borland Delphi versions...
     
  11. PolidelticusFire

    PolidelticusFire MDL Addicted

    May 7, 2020
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    Maybe the removal of WoW64 won't happen immediatelly in the first W12 release. But in a later feature update. Since I presume Windows as a Service is now the norm.
    Heck, maybe even a future Windows 11 feature update will do this.

    I think many of the stuff we are seeing in today's W11 dev builds will end up in this future major release.
     
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  12. longbeard

    longbeard MDL Novice

    Oct 23, 2021
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    At some point MS may make WoW64 for Enterprise and Server editions only, Home and maybe Pro fully 64bit only.