Windows 11 Release Date Effectively Leaked By Intel
This week the folks at Intel effectively leaked the release date for Windows 11. In support documentation for a variety of Intel processor hardware, Intel suggests that Microsoft Windows 11 (64-bit) will appear in an October 2021 update. This information may have been a placeholder for dates that've changed since this document was released, as it also points to a build date for driver 30.0.100.9684 back on July 9, 2021.
The platforms covered by this documentation include Apollo Lake, Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffe Lake, Amber, Gemini, Whiskey, Comet, Ice, Lakefield, Jasper Lake, Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake, DG1, and Elkhard Lake. The readme link was available as of the posting of this article at just after 10:15AM central time, July 20, 2021.
Microsoft has previously suggested that those users working with Windows 10 right now will not get an update to Windows 11 until the year 2022. A combination of these two bits of information suggests we'll see the first hardware devices – NEW hardware devices – released with Windows 11 in around October of 2021. Releasing to manufacturing partners first allows new hardware to appear with Windows 11 before the general public has access to Windows 11, somewhat like what happens with every major operating system release from a company that sells their own hardware with their own software onboard.
Microsoft sells their own hardware with devices like Surface, but also has a bunch of hardware partners that benefit from the process of releasing this new operating system to their new devices before it's released to devices already out in the field, in the hands of consumers. You can count on availability of a full public version of Windows 11 in the weeks or months before Windows 11 is released to the general public as a software update to Windows 10 devices.
What do you think about this timing process in general? Do you think that every software company should make sure to update old devices at the same time as their new software is available on new devices? Or is it fair that a company like Microsoft releases software where and when it likes?