Microsoft to reveal the ‘next generation of Windows’ on June 24

Users can expect some of the biggest changes, both visual and under the hood, to the operating system and its built-in Microsoft Store, since it was released over six years ago.

Microsoft teased a new Windows logo for its upcoming Windows upgrade.  (Microsoft)

Microsoft may have shelved its plans for Windows 10X, a special version of its operating system designed for new computers with multiple screens that was supposed to launch this year, but the company's plans to launch the next generation of Windows are right on track and will be revealed at a special event later this month.

The company has revealed that on June 24, CEO Satya Nadella and chief product officer Panos Panay will unveil the company's upcoming changes to its Microsoft Windows operating system, which was first announced by Nadella last week. Users can expect some of the biggest changes, both visual and under the hood, to the operating system and its built-in Microsoft Store, since it was released over six years ago.

These new changes to the operating system have been discussed as part of varying rumours on online forums, but several news reports suggest that the company is referring to the upgrade as “Sun Valley”, which should bring some important changes to the operating system as we know it. While not much is currently known about the upgrade at the moment, Microsoft has suggested that some of the improvements for dual-screen devices that it has been working on for Windows 10X could make it to Windows, which is promising.

While launching Windows 10, Microsoft had done something unprecedented in the history of its operating system – it said that the upgrade for existing Windows 7 and Windows 8 users would be free for a year. While there are reports of users on older versions still being able to upgrade to Windows 10 if they have a valid older license, we do not know if this upcoming upgrade to Windows 10 will also remain free for all users who have valid licenses for the current version of Windows.

It will be interesting to see how much progress Microsoft has made when it comes to making its OS run on ARM processors as far as the new Windows upgrade is concerned. While Windows does work on ARM processors, it is currently leagues behind Apple's macOS Big Sur that has been optimised to work with its powerful 5nm in-house M1 chipset.

This is especially important given recent revelations that Samsung's upcoming Exynos chip could feature excellent graphics performance with AMD's RDNA 2 technology and could be heading to mobile computers as well as smartphones. Whether Microsoft manages to optmise the experience for Windows users on ARM hardware with the upcoming Sun Valley update, only time will tell.