The company will focus on updating Windows 10 under the internal name Sun Valley, according to an insider.
According to sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans, it will not release Windows 10X, a “lightweight” system for laptops, in 2021. Instead, the company focused on updating Windows 10, writes insider Brad Sams on Petri.
The publication notes that there are many reasons why 10X has not yet entered the market: for example, many in the company did not believe that the OS was ready for release, and customer surveys show that they do not expect the system to be what Microsoft is working on.
Possible Windows 10X customers needed the system features in Windows 10, not the new operating system, Sams writes. He suggests that Microsoft will migrate the features of 10X to Windows 10. For example, a new interface and technology for running applications in “containers” – a secure virtual environment.
Sams believes that the next major OS update will be a project under the internal name Sun Valley. Windows Central sources told about it in the fall of 2020: in particular, the update will affect the Start menu and the Microsoft Store app.
For example, according to the interlocutors of the publication, the company will allow developers to use third-party payment services in applications. Microsoft may announce its plans at the Build 2021 conference, which will be held from May 25 to 27.
Microsoft released the first test version of Windows 10X for dual screens in February 2020. It was supposed to help developers optimize applications before launching OS-based devices. In May of the same year, the company announced the development of 10X for single-screen devices.
In early 2021, The Verge revealed details about the Windows 10X interface. For example, the Start menu is located in the center of the screen, and instead of a large number of icons on the taskbar, the action center has appeared.