Microsoft confirms Windows 10X isn't coming in 2021, may never launch

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Microsoft has confirmed that it won't release Windows 10X in 2021, and has suggested that the update in the form it was announced may never see the light of day.

Credit: Microsoft
Credit: Microsoft


John Cable, Microsoft's head of Windows servicing and delivery, confirmed on Tuesday that Windows 10X won't arrive in 2021. Instead, Cable shared plans that Microsoft will incorporate features from the operating system into other parts of Windows.

"Instead of bringing a product called Windows 10X to market in 2021 like we originally intended, we are leveraging learnings from our journey thus far and accelerating the integration of key foundational 10X technology into other parts of Windows and products at the company," Cable wrote.

This decision follows a year of conversations with customers and other explorations. Cable said that Windows "realized that the technology of Windows 10X could be useful in more ways and serve more customers than we originally imagined." As such, Microsoft has decided not to confine the technology to just one subset of customers.

Microsoft announced the Windows 10X operating system in 2019 alongside dual-screen devices like the Surface Neo. It was meant to be an evolution of the iconic operating system with a pared-down and simplified design and feature set.

In July 2020, however, reports indicated that development of Windows 10X was delayed. At the time, it was suggested that the operating system could make its debut in 2021. Earlier in May, another report indicated that development may have been scrapped entirely.

Like Microsoft, Apple has also been modernizing its Mac operating system. The latest release, macOS Big Sur, introduced design elements first seen in iOS and iPadOS and laid the groundwork for the transition to Apple Silicon.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    That is some spin …

    Alex_VwilliamlondonFileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 14
    jblongzjblongz Posts: 165member
    Let me translate:  Windows 10x was obsolete before we could finish it.  So we'll find a way to sell to lower margin economies and put a few of its features in future updates while we figure out how innovate again.
    StrangeDaysbestkeptsecretdoozydozenBeatsFileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 14
    MicDorseyMicDorsey Posts: 100member
    "Instead of bringing a product called Windows 10X to market in 2021 like we originally intended, we are leveraging learnings from our journey thus far and accelerating the integration of key foundational 10X technology into other parts of Windows and products at the company…"

    Where can I get me a gobbledegook dictionary?
    dysamoriaAlex_VbestkeptsecretdoozydozenrezwitsFileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 14
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Cable said that Windows "realized that...”

    Windows is an intelligence now? I always suspected that the only way humanity would create actual artificial life would be entirely by accident, as an emergent property of monstrous piles of non-deterministic code that no one can manage anymore. You know, like actual life.

    ...the technology of Windows 10X could be useful in more ways and serve more customers than we originally imagined." As such, Microsoft has decided not to confine the technology to just one subset of customers.”

    Wow. What an incredible pile of dren. “How can we make failure sound like a major success?”, asked the executive PR manager to his team of PR spin doctors...
    rezwits
  • Reply 5 of 14
    What? Microsoft changing strategic direction...suddenly...again? You don't say...
    BeatsFileMakerFellernarwhalwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 14
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,328member
    So…. Microsoft has just opened a lemonade stand. Ok.
    rezwitsBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 14
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    As soon as I saw the reveal video for this I knew it was vapourware and wouldn’t see the light of day. Microsoft does not have what it takes to make any meaningful or substantial foundational change to windows. Meanwhile, every single time of these fake videos come out people use them to pretend that Microsoft is innovating while Apple does not. 

    Microsoft doesn’t even have the fucking guts to remove USB-A from the newest surface books because they’re terrified of change. This is not a product they have the ability to make. 
    StrangeDaysgenovellewilliamlondonnarwhalwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 14
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member
    dysamoria said:
    Cable said that Windows "realized that...”

    Windows is an intelligence now? I always suspected that the only way humanity would create actual artificial life would be entirely by accident, as an emergent property of monstrous piles of non-deterministic code that no one can manage anymore. You know, like actual life.

    ...the technology of Windows 10X could be useful in more ways and serve more customers than we originally imagined." As such, Microsoft has decided not to confine the technology to just one subset of customers.”

    Wow. What an incredible pile of dren. “How can we make failure sound like a major success?”, asked the executive PR manager to his team of PR spin doctors...
    You've heard of AI, right? Windows is AS - Artificial Stupidity. 
    rezwitsBeatswatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 14
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,480member
    slurpy said:
    As soon as I saw the reveal video for this I knew it was vapourware and wouldn’t see the light of day. Microsoft does not have what it takes to make any meaningful or substantial foundational change to windows. Meanwhile, every single time of these fake videos come out people use them to pretend that Microsoft is innovating while Apple does not. 

    Microsoft doesn’t even have the fucking guts to remove USB-A from the newest surface books because they’re terrified of change. This is not a product they have the ability to make. 
    I agree. I was thinking vapourware too. It is what they have done for decades and never seem to get any flack for it. 
    williamlondonBeatsnarwhalwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 14
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    dysamoria said:
    Cable said that Windows "realized that...”

    Windows is an intelligence now? I always suspected that the only way humanity would create actual artificial life would be entirely by accident, as an emergent property of monstrous piles of non-deterministic code that no one can manage anymore. You know, like actual life.

    ...the technology of Windows 10X could be useful in more ways and serve more customers than we originally imagined." As such, Microsoft has decided not to confine the technology to just one subset of customers.”

    Wow. What an incredible pile of dren. “How can we make failure sound like a major success?”, asked the executive PR manager to his team of PR spin doctors...
    You've heard of AI, right? Windows is AS - Artificial Stupidity. 
    I remember once reading or being told that a watermark in AI will be when a computer can be stupid in a way indiscernible from a human.  A Turing test for idiocy.
    hydrogenmuthuk_vanalingamFileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 14
    michelb76michelb76 Posts: 610member
    Pretty sure Microsoft doesn't need an OS anymore in a few years. They'll dominate most dev tooling and move most if not all of their products into the cloud, as they already have been doing. I'm pretty sure Apple is keeping MacOS alive on life support because it's the only platform available to develop on for iOS, for now.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 12 of 14
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 1,987member
    "Instead of bringing a product called Windows 10X to market in 2021 like we originally intended, we are leveraging learnings from our journey thus far and accelerating the integration of key foundational 10X technology into other parts of Windows and products at the company," Cable wrote.

    The use of weird MBA-speak language like that is generally a tell that the speaker or writer isn't being honest about something. In this case, he's dancing around the reason for cancelling a product that had already been announced for release. That's surely an embarrassing thing, but it's the complete avoidance of even a vague explanation of what happened that makes the whole statement obtuse. Without the weirdness, it ought to read something like this: "We have decided to cancel the release this year of Windows 10X, because [unstated reasons]. We did learn some things as we worked to develop 10X, however, and useful components of that system will be introduced in upcoming updates of Windows and other Microsoft products."

    Reading the whole statement at Microsoft, it's really hard to tell, but perhaps the "customer first" mumbo-jumbo is the secret to the explanation. Perhaps they built 10X, started testing it, and customers hated it so much that releasing it would've been more of an embarrassment than not releasing it. Who knows?
    edited May 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 14
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    “10X?”

    Oh well. Time to release
    Windows 12 Pro Max
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 14
    AppleZulu said:
    Reading the whole statement at Microsoft, it's really hard to tell, but perhaps the "customer first" mumbo-jumbo is the secret to the explanation. Perhaps they built 10X, started testing it, and customers hated it so much that releasing it would've been more of an embarrassment than not releasing it. Who knows?
    You mean Vista left an impact on the company?
    watto_cobra
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