14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just confirmed that it plans to release Windows 10 Redstone 3 in September, as the company is trying to align Windows releases with the Office productivity suite.
In an announcement today, Microsoft has said that it plans to stick with two different OS releases every year, with March and September to be the two months when these major updates are being shipped.
“Windows is committing to a predictable twice-per-year feature release schedule, targeting September and March of each year, aligning with Office 365 ProPlus. The next Windows 10 feature update will be targeted for September 2017,” Microsoft said.
Even though the company hasn’t provided any specifics on this, the September target date for Windows 10 Redstone 3 is most likely the month when Microsoft aims to finalize work on the next OS release. This means that only Windows insiders are expected to get their hands on the Redstone 3 in September, while the public launch should take place in October.
Launching as version 1709
Windows 10 Redstone 3 RTM could thus be compiled as version 1709, according to Microsoft’s version numbering, with the first two digits representing the year and the other two the month when a release takes place - in the case of the Creators Update, the RTM build is version 1703, so we have year 2017 and March (the third month), which is the date when work on this release was finalized.
Microsoft also revealed that each version of Windows 10 would receive updates for one year and a half, so basically this means that the Creators Update should continue getting updates until Windows 10 Redstone 5 goes live (if the same naming scheme is maintained).
“Each Windows 10 feature release will be serviced and supported for 18 months. This is consistent with our current Windows 10 approach, but adds further clarity and predictability to organizations by aligning with Office 365 ProPlus,” Microsoft said.
Work on Windows 10 Redstone 3 has already started and insiders in the Fast ring can download early builds, though the number of new features at this point is still small.