The Windows 10 Anniversary Update has been said to be the last one for Microsoft's latest operating system for this year, but customers can look forward to two major Windows 10 major updates in 2017.
Microsoft has only recently started rolling out the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which can be downloaded by users through a few methods. The update adds several new features and makes significant improvements to Windows 10, including security enhancements, better versions of digital voice assistant Cortana and the Microsoft Edge browser and more promoted apps.
In a blog aimed toward information technology professionals, Microsoft's Nathan Mercer wrote that based on the feedback from organizations that moved to Windows 10, the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, also known as Windows 10 version 1607, will be the last feature update for the operating system.
Mercer went on to write that there will be two more feature updates that can be expected next year.
With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update just having rolled out, it is understandable that Mercer did not provide more details regarding the two upcoming updates for next year. However, rumors claim that the next feature update for Windows 10, which bears the code name Redstone 2 after the Redstone 1 code name of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, will be released early next year before spring.
Redstone 2 may coincide with upcoming hardware updates to the Surface Book and Surface Pro devices of Microsoft, with internal builds of the next major Windows 10 update already out for testing.
The first major Windows 10 update in 2017 is also expected to be more significant compared to the second one, code-named Redstone 3, which is said to be coming in the fall.
Microsoft launched Windows 10 in July of last year, under the code name Threshold 1, followed by a big update released in November 2015 with the code name Threshold 2. The Windows 10 Anniversary Update is the second major update overall for the operating system, with Redstone 2 at one point being planned by Microsoft to also be released within the year.
However, company officials earlier in the year decided to push back Redstone 2 to early 2017. Moving forward, it seems that Microsoft is settling with two major updates for Windows 10 every year, after releasing only one this year.
Windows 10 Home users will simply have to wait for the Anniversary Update to arrive to their machines if they have activated the operating system's feature to install updates automatically. For impatient users, there are two ways to download the update manually, both of which require users to go to the Windows Update option under the Updates & Security section of their computer's Settings menu.
