OS development is a bit of a secret. The entire developer community around Microsoft talks about the new system, but not Microsoft itself. Is it worth switching to the new Windows? What do we know about Windows 12? I have the first answers.
Windows 11 is a challenging implementation for Microsoft. The point is not in any feature of the new system, but in the hardware requirements themselves. They are quite stringent, and not just in terms of performance. Microsoft’s newest operating platform for PCs and tablets requires a TPM 2.0 or higher hardware module. This is a very smart move – Windows 10 is still being maintained, so users are not abandoned. On the other hand, buyers of new computers can count on an even higher level of security, guaranteed, among other things, by the aforementioned TPM, which no hardware manufacturer can refuse.
This, however, means that Windows 11 is gaining market share rather slowly. Two years after its release, it is installed on only one in four Windows devices connected to the Internet, despite a large number of positive reviews. So it’s no surprise that Microsoft doesn’t want to discuss its next OS yet. The announcement of Windows 12 may encourage a significant portion of those 75 percent who have not yet installed Windows 11 to ignore it completely and wait for the “twelve”.
However, some elements of the new Windows 12 are already appearing. Some experts, including myself, even believe that the first initial builds of the upcoming Windows 12 are being published in the Windows Insider community. However, there is no concrete evidence for this. Fortunately, we have something better, and that is statements from Microsoft representatives. It’s important to note that none of them ever used the phrase Windows 12. However, it’s hard to think that it’s anything else.
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Windows 12: hardware requirements
It’s hard to believe, but Microsoft might be doing it again. Almost every time someone at Microsoft has decided to talk about the future of Windows, it’s been about hardware partners. We’re talking about AMD and Qualcomm, which are investing heavily in the development of NPUs for PCs. An NPU (Neural Processing Unit) is a coprocessor used to accelerate computations related to artificial intelligence and machine learning. NPUs have been used in most phones for many years, as well as in Apple computers for some time.
The presence of an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) is not the only advantage of an Apple Silicon chip. Apple’s processors also offered a very efficient Multimedia Engine, a computing unit related to high-definition video encoding – an ingenious addition given the high importance of producing semi-amateur videos for YouTube and TikTok.
They are manufactured using advanced lithography, which ensures very high energy efficiency. Thanks to these processors, Macs can handle most of their tasks with lightning speed, even without the need for active cooling.
In the world of other PCs, NPU is still a novelty. Intel is also introducing NPUs, but no one from Microsoft has shown up at its NPU-related events. This could mean that Windows 12 could again increase hardware requirements, again, not just in terms of processing performance. Just as Windows 11 requires a TPM 2.0 (or higher) hardware module from your PC, Windows 12 may require an NPU. Moreover, this kind of requirement is crucial for Microsoft.
The artificial intelligence boom is in Microsoft’s interest. Not only because it is one of the leaders in AI development, but also because it is the operator of the second largest public cloud in the world (after AWS). Modern AI solutions, in particular, those using large GAI language models, consume a lot of cloud resources, so anyone who wants to be on top, i.e. use the most advanced models, will consume Microsoft’s cloud very intensively, providing it with a huge income.
However, not everyone is a collective or enterprise customer. It’s hard to expect consumers and small businesses to pay big bucks to use the Azure cloud. Microsoft Copilot remains free for them – invariably using the expensive GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models. However, it would be foolish to cut them off from the ongoing revolution, because then there is a risk of losing this segment of users to the competition. Paradoxically, it is in Microsoft’s interest that relatively small workloads (computer tasks that need to be calculated) are processed locally on the user’s computer, not in the cloud. Azure can already count on this, the company is barely keeping up with the expansion of data centers to keep up with the demand for its IT infrastructure.
Therefore, it is very likely that Windows 12 will contain many solutions related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, but in this regard, it will also need a processor with an NPU. As of today, in the PC world, it’s only Snapdragon chips and some AMD Ryzen and Intel Core chips this year. However, these are just my assumptions and speculations – no such statement has been made by any Microsoft employee. What were they like?
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Windows 12 will think for you
Artificial intelligence is expected to be ubiquitous. For the first time this year, we heard about the future of Windows from the lips of Panos Panay, the former head of Microsoft’s PC division, who no longer works for Microsoft. It was during a meeting with CEO Lisa Su and the launch of the Ryzen 7040 chip with NPU. For the first time, the Microsoft representative said that Windows would use AI acceleration in various ways. Unfortunately, he did not give any specifics.
However, we learned much more from the Microsoft CEO, who appeared at the premiere of the Snapdragon X Elite chip. This new generation of artificial intelligence chips will improve the usability of computers. Its appearance will radically change the role of the operating system and the appearance of the user interface. “It’s a huge change in the UI – the natural interface,” said Satya Nadella. According to Nadella, Copilot is already becoming the second Start button among users, no less important in the interface. It should be added, however, that Copilot is not yet available in the European Union and is still only in a test, very limited form.
More specific information was shared by Pavan Davuluri, who took over the role of Windows manager after Panayi’s departure. He spoke directly about the fact that one of the advantages of integrated circuits with NPUs is to reduce the load on Microsoft’s data centers, which also benefits users. Because it will guarantee faster data processing without delays associated with connecting to the cloud.
Moreover, it will also enable new forms of applications because, as Davuluri rightly points out, not everything can be processed in the cloud due to current legislation or even some companies’ security policies. He also added that with NPUs, some of the computing that has been directed to the CPU so far will be directed by the operating system to a more suitable NPU, which should have a significant and favorable impact on computer power consumption – as evidenced by practice in Macs and programs optimized for Apple Silicon.
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And what awaits us in Windows 12?
In short, the system will be filled with assistants, chatbots, wizards in photo retouching and efficient data processing. Therefore, it is expected that Windows 12 will offer many features related to classical and generative artificial intelligence. This applies not only to Microsoft Copilot, which is closely connected to the cloud, but also to any other artificial intelligence models that are small enough to run locally. This means that program developers will be able to create hybrid solutions that combine the power of the cloud and the CPU in a computer for program-intensive tasks. For example, adding depth of field to a photo or processing a spreadsheet folder for cost estimate trends. Such tasks will be processed quickly, efficiently, with low energy consumption, and with respect for the confidentiality of the data.
By the way, it should be emphasized once again that Microsoft does not want to officially talk about Windows 12 – and the above text should be taken only as an attempt to interpret the words and actions of Microsoft representatives, and not as a report on the company’s plans for the future. Windows 12 is indeed in the works, it’s no longer a secret. Microsoft is urging hardware partners to deploy more powerful NPUs as soon as possible – for good reason, of course. And finally, Microsoft must defend its position as a leader in the development of artificial intelligence without exposing itself to the huge and ever-increasing financial costs of this revolution.
Windows 12 may not officially exist, but thanks to Microsoft’s needs and statements by its management, we can have a certain, albeit vague, idea of it. And we will probably have to replace our computer with a newer one again. Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10 in October 2025 and Windows 11 on 23H2 in November 2025. Although this time will almost certainly be extended for Windows 11 as a whole, although it is not yet clear by how many years.
So we should be patient and wait for news from Microsoft bosses. I’m almost certain that the development of the new Windows is underway. It doesn’t matter what it will be called, but it will definitely be there. Because new realities and challenges in the world of desktop computing require it.
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