Your PC could soon be treated to a slew of new AI-powered features, a huge battery life boost, and a radical new design. Microsoft is widely believed to be building the next-generation of its desktop operating system, dubbed Windows 12, ahead of a release in the second half of 2024.
Microsoft just confirmed plans to start charging Windows 10 users a monthly fee to guarantee critical security patches and bug fixes, so it makes sense that as it's preparing to retire one operating system, it’s also looking to launch the next iteration of Windows.
The update, codenamed Hudson Valley internally, looks set to bring “groundbreaking” new Artificial Intelligence (AI) features to your desktop PC, laptop, and tablet, sources told Windows Central.
Microsoft looks set to bring AI to the fore with its next major version of Windows. Having invested $10 billion into OpenAI, the company behind ChatGTP, Microsoft has already started to roll out chatbots powered by large-language models across its products.
Windows 11 already boasts a number of ChatGTP-powered features, including a first-generation version of the Windows Copilot that uses generative AI to put together comprehensive answers to questions, summarise emails, and create How To tutorials for your PC
MICROSOFT
Known as Windows Copilot, which can summarise emails, generate content, forward-plan and much more, can already be found in the Microsoft Edge web browser and Microsoft Office applications.
An improved Copilot could be baked into Windows 12, constantly working in the background and monitoring your actions and habits to understand the context behind any requests. It could also proactively jumpstart workflows for you.
Those familiar with the functionality describe the AI capabilities as “groundbreaking”.
AI will enable natural language searches across the operating system. So, instead of searching for the exact title of a Word document, you could search for a document that “was created last week and contains a chart about Q4 revenue” or “the PDF that Matt sent on WhatsApp on Monday”.
Task View, which lets you scroll through a timeline of your active windows and past documents, will be enhanced with advanced search features too. You’ll be able to search for “Q1 earnings” and every instance where that term can be found in the windowed documents in your history reappear for you to open with a click, sources within Microsoft claim.
Other AI-powered additions to the operating system include Super Resolution, Windows Central reports. This uses artificial intelligence to upscale lower-resolution videos and games in real-time.
Microsoft is also looking to supercharge Live Caption, so that its AI can translate several different languages in real-time during a video call, video, or phone call.
If you need an indication of the unprecedented role that AI will play within Windows 12, the Redmond-based firm will even use machine learning to improve the appearance of your wallpapers, tipsters say.
AI will analyse the picture you’ve set as your desktop background and try to identify different layers in the image (separating a subject in the foreground from the background, for example) so that it can apply a parallax effect that shifts as your cursor moves on-screen.
The built-in gyroscope found in a handheld can also adjust the parallax effect, like Apple does on iPhone and iPad.
Improvements to battery list also rank high on Microsoft’s To Do list. Upgrades to the Energy Saver mode could extend battery life by as much as 50% on certain hardware, sources claim.Of course, your mileage with theHudson Valley update will vary as battery life depends on your usage and the age of the lithium-ion cell in your device.
Nevertheless,those with Windows-powered tablets and laptops will likely be glad to hear that battery life is such a priority for Microsoft.
A dramatically redesigned user interface is also being tested for Windows 12, although reports disagree about whether this ambitious new appearance will make it into the final product.
The most radical redesign will see elements of the Taskbar, like the System Tray, relocated to the top of the screen. This would be similar to macOS, which has quick toggles to some of the most common system settings, including Wi-Fi controls, Bluetooth, volume in the top right-hand corner. The existence of this dramatic new design was first reported by ExtremeTech.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
A centred search bar at the top of the screen was also shown to those in attendance at Microsoft’s IT-focused Ignite 2022 conference. However, Windows bosses are believed to be considering rowing back on some of the biggest changes (at least with the first iteration of Windows 12) to avoid too much change too fast, which could spook users.
Until Microsoft announces its plans, take everything with a healthy pinch of salt. After all, plans are likely to change during the development process.
