Microsoft confirms second major Windows 10 update will land in 2017

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Microsoft has confirmed that it will be releasing a second major update for Windows 10 later this year, following the Creators Update which is due to arrive soon (most likely in April).

The confirmation comes from the Ignite Australia conference, where Microsoft showed a slide which outlined Windows 10’s release cadence (as spotted and posted by Twitter user Rafael Rivera, an engineer and technical contributor to Thurrott.com).

The slide (see below) shows the imminent Creators Update and a further update scheduled for later this year which unfortunately isn’t named – it’s merely called the ‘second update in 2017’.

There’s no specific date given for either, with a timeframe which is still marked as TBD (to be determined).

Image Credit: Rafael Rivera

Falling into place

However, over at Thurrott.com, sources have indicated a rough release date which is reportedly October or November. That certainly makes sense, and it would give Microsoft a good six months between the Creators Update and its successor; plenty of time to hammer out the latter.

Although it does go against what we’ve heard on the grapevine before, namely that the second update might follow quite quickly on the heels of the Creators Update. But then, when we heard this previous chatter, we’ve got to admit we weren’t convinced this would be the case anyway.

The second big update for 2017 is likely to be our initial taste of Project Neon, a fresh new look for the Windows 10 interface which will apply a good deal of polish, and bring back some familiar elements from Windows 7. At this point, it looks like a pretty smart set of changes for the UI, so fingers crossed it is realized this year.

We may also see the 'People Bar' which was due to make an appearance in the Creators Update, but was delayed.

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