Next-generation Windows development plan

Dear Windows Team:

Here's a supplementary systematic summary and analysis of the main features of Windows 12:

Start Menu/Screen:
Fresh layout: Clearly divided into different zones — account area (user account at the top left), shortcut area (on the far right for easy access to common folders), list area (where you can pin apps, including most used and suggested ones), and pinned tiles area (four-column layout). It's cleaner and you can even resize it by dragging the edges.

Full-screen start screen is back: Combines the classic Windows 7 list (easy to browse) with Windows 8.1 style live tiles (for info and quick launch). Tiles can be arranged both horizontally and vertically.

More flexible tiles: Tiles now come in five sizes — small, medium, long, wide, large, and tall — way more options than before, plus there's a new animation when you resize them.

Structural Innovation: Clearly divided into the Account Area (user account located in the upper left corner), Shortcut Area (located on the far right for easy access to commonly used folders), List Area (applications can be attached to the list, including most frequently used and recommended apps), and Pinned Tiles Area (four-column layout). The structure is more organized, and the size can also be adjusted by dragging its edges.

Full-screen Start screen return: It combines the traditional Windows 7 list (for easy navigation) with Windows 8.1-style live tiles (for information display and quick launch), with tiles supporting both horizontal and vertical arrangements.

Enhanced Tile Flexibility: Provides five sizes—small, medium, long, wide, large, and tall—far exceeding previous options, while also introducing tile resizing animations.

Custom tile options: including colorful, gradient, light, dark, transparent (default), and semi-transparent tones, offering a high degree of personalization.

Migration Friendly: When upgrading from Windows 7, 8.1, 10, or 11, pinned apps and websites are automatically migrated, reducing the user's reconfiguration workload.

Copilot Tile: The AI assistant Copilot has received a dedicated tile, highlighting its significance.

A new rainbow effect has been added.

Taskbar & Search:

The taskbar consists of the Cortana icon (on the left), mobile devices (on the left), Start, Search, Task View, Chat, applications, the system tray (on the right), and notification icons (on the right), among others.

Search box enlargement & shape change: The search box is more prominent, changing from a circular shape (Win11) to a rectangular one, and supports wider options, thereby enhancing the search entry point.

Search menu flexibility: Highly adjustable, consistent with the style of the Start menu.

Personalized lock screen interface:

Date and time alignment: supports left alignment (default) and center alignment.

Brand new photo effects: Highlight the main subject of the photo, allowing it to be placed before or after the background time.

Windows Hello: Facial recognition supports logging in while wearing a mask.

Widgets:

Pinned to the desktop: No longer limited to the small panel above the taskbar, they can be pinned anywhere on the desktop like traditional widgets.

Fullscreen mode: The left side is the widget panel, and the right side displays information sources (such as news), supporting up to six columns for greater information capacity.

New widgets: Specifically mentions the 'Calendar' widget, 'People' widget, 'Microsoft Edge' widget, and 'Cortana Suggestions' widget coming soon (although Cortana itself also seems to have updates).Microsoft Store widget: A dedicated widget for accessing the app store.

Productivity and Multitasking Enhancements:

Task View returns to the Windows 10 experience: Dragging to multiple desktops:

More mature virtual desktop management allows you to drag windows to the "Task View" icon and then move them to multiple desktops.

Timeline feature returns, supporting cross-device history.

Window switching returns to the Windows 10 experience: Alt+Tab experience restored to classic style.

Snap Assist returns to Windows 10 experience with significant enhancements:

Supports up to eight snap layouts (especially for large horizontal screens), a productivity tool.

Supports ultrawide screens (21:9, 32:9) with a variety of snap layouts.

App Updates:

New Mail, Calendar, and People: Highlights mentioned, possibly accompanied by UI and feature updates.

New Outlook App: Supports email address removed for privacy reasons, email address removed for privacy reasons and email address removed for privacy reasons.

New Cortana:

Multilingual Support: Expands usage scope.

Consumer Skills Return: Music control, smart home control, and third-party skills return, aiming to restore its practicality as a voice assistant.

Provided in two forms: rings and dough.

Supports the 'Cortana Suggestions' widget.

Screenshot Tool: Supports full-screen recording.

Media Player: Appearance selector returns, supporting live tiles.

Microsoft Store Revamp:

UWP Apps Return: Some high-quality UWP apps and Metro apps are back on the store, and the progressive web apps (PWAs) from the original Microsoft Store are transitioning to UWP apps.

Gaming Ecosystem Expansion: New PlayStation app, Nintendo Switch app, and a dedicated Nintendo game section have been added, significantly expanding gaming-related content.

Enhancing Visual Experience:

The window transparency effect has been improved, and a new glass effect has been added.

System avatars are now rounded rectangles, and the search box is rectangular (more in line with current design trends).A new top bar has been added (weather, system tray, date and time).Dynamic wallpaper effects have been introduced.

The Windows 11 startup sound has been retained.

Large-scale return of classic applications and features: This is the most striking (and also most questionable) part, including:

Applications: MSN series apps, Tips, Print 3D app, Maps, Windows 7 desktop gadgets, Windows Media Center, Groove Music, Desktop Messaging apps, Windows 8.1 apps.

System Features: HomeGroup, Timeline (cross-device history), Tablet Mode (significantly enhanced tablet experience), Windows Ink Workspace.

Evaluation: This is a very bold strategy aimed at satisfying the nostalgia and specific needs of different user groups.

Others:

Controllers: Compatible with DualShock 4, DualShock 5, Joy-Con, and Joy-Con 2, among others.

Android Subsystem Return: WSA is back, with special emphasis on supporting full-screen operation for apps in landscape mode (addressing one of the previous main pain points).

Notification Center separated from Calendar: The quick action panels for the Notification Center and Calendar are separated, which may make the interface cleaner and operations more focused.

Windows 12 Next-Generation PC: Offers larger storage capacity, longer battery life, more powerful performance, and enhanced security and stability.

Windows Backup: Expanded to more countries and regions, with the addition of backing up personal files and applications to external storage devices.

Data Transfer: Allows transferring personal files and applications from an old computer to a new one, or migrating partitions to a new hard drive.

Core and Versions:

Version Number: Initial Release 26H1, with the OS internal version reset to 12.0.0.0, marking a significant new beginning.

System Naming: References to Windows 12 and Windows 12e, as well as Windows 12 Ultra.

Extensive Free Upgrade Path: Covers Windows 11 (including SE), Windows 10 (including S), Windows 8/8.1 (including Windows RT), and Windows 7. This is a key strategy to attract user migration.

Hardware Requirements by Tier:

Windows 12e: Ultra-low system requirements (2GB RAM, 32GB storage), aimed at education or basic devices, possibly similar to Cloud/SE versions.

Windows 12 (Home/Pro/etc.): Mainstream system requirements (4GB RAM, 64GB storage, DirectX 11), removal of strict restrictions like TPM (the biggest change!).

Windows 12 Ultra: High-performance requirements (8GB RAM, 128GB storage, TPM 2.0, DirectX 12), unlocking all advanced features (such as advanced AI functions, ultimate performance optimizations?).

Significant Extension of the Lifecycle:

Home & Pro: 2 years (24 months) -> 4 years (48 months).

Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise: 3 years (36 months) -> 6 years (72 months). 

This presents a considerable advantage for corporate and institutional users, reducing migration frequency and overall costs.

I hope this leaked information can be reported to Pavan Davuluri.