Microsoft’s next major Windows 10 update focuses on improving remote work

The next major update of Windows 10, version 21H1, will be delivered in the first half of 2021 and focuses on improving remote work scenarios. Microsoft traditionally delivers two major Windows updates a year, with most of the larger features falling in the spring and a smaller update in the fall. While IT executives are accustomed to this approach, it appears that Microsoft is reversing this cadence for 2021.

“Windows 10, version 21H1, has a comprehensive set of features that improve security, remote access, and quality,” explains John Cable, Microsoft’s head of Windows Service and Delivery. “The features we announce in this update are focused on the core experiences that customers have told us they currently trust the most.” These improvements will include:

• Windows Hello Multi-Camera Support to set the default as the external camera when there are both external and internal Windows Hello cameras.
• Windows Defender Application Guard performance enhancements, including optimizing document opening times.
• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC), which updates performance enhancements to support remote work scenarios.

Image: Logitech

The changes to the Windows camera mean that you will soon be able to turn on an external Windows Hello camera and get the benefits of face detection on a laptop with a Windows Hello camera built into it. Windows does not currently support this scenario well and this means cameras like Logitech’s Brio do not work properly with devices like Microsoft’s Surface series that also have Windows Hello cameras.

Other enhancements from Microsoft for this 21H1 version are clearly designed for IT administrators to improve support for remote work. These include improving document opening times for Microsoft’s built-in antivirus software, and improving performance for the management and configuration side of Windows.

This 21H1 update will also be installed quickly, such as a monthly cumulative update of Windows. Microsoft began testing this 21H1 update with beta testers today, and plans to make it available to all Windows 10 users later in the first half of this calendar year.

Microsoft is also expected to deliver a major Windows 10 update later in 2021. The company is planning an “extensive visual rejuvenation of Windows”, codenamed Sun Valley. Microsoft plans to discuss the next major changes to Windows during a special event in the coming months.