In-Depth

The 2020 Microsoft Product Roadmap

From the next major update to Windows 10 to the next generations of .NET and PowerShell, here's what's on tap from Microsoft this year.

Recently updated: .NET 5 (9/15), Windows 10 (9/10), Windows Server vNext (8/27)



Windows 10 and Windows 10X

Spring 2020 (20H1): Released

Fall 2020 (20H2): Second Half of 2020

Microsoft's spring/fall release cadence for Windows 10 feature updates is rote by now. The next major update, known widely as "20H1," is expected to be released in March sometime. Microsoft is changing its naming convention for this release, though; rather than call it Windows 10 "2003" (two digits for the year followed by two digits for the month), the company said 20H1's official version number will be "2004." The move is an effort "to eliminate confusion with any past product names (such as Windows Server 2003)," Microsoft said last November.

As of this writing, Microsoft is believed to be in the last few stages of testing 20H1, and will presumably begin testing the first preview builds of 20H2 (expected to arrive in the fall) soon.

Also expected to debut this fall is Windows 10X, a new flavor of the operating system that's designed to run on foldable tablet devices that Microsoft and some of its hardware partners are planning to release in the later part of the year. Microsoft's Surface Duo and Surface Neo, announced last October, are two such devices that feature a foldable form factor. Microsoft describes Windows 10X as optimizing the existing Windows 10 code "for flexible postures and more mobile use." [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



Azure Sphere

Released

UPDATES Feb. 24: Azure Sphere Azure Sphere becomes generally available

Microsoft is set to launch Azure Sphere, it's innovative new approach to IoT security, in February 2020, nearly two years after first unveiling it at the 2018 RSA Conference and running it through its paces in a private preview.

Microsoft touts Azure Sphere as a "turnkey solution" to help organizations secure their ever-expanding networks of connected devices. The solution has three layers -- a microcontroller unit, an operating system and a cloud-based management service. Microsoft has partnered with several chip partners, including Qualcomm, NXP and MediaTek, to develop the silicon behind the service. As for the OS, it notably runs on a Linux kernel and will act as a defense-in-depth security platform. Finally, the Azure Sphere Security Service will enable ongoing security monitoring, over-the-air software updates and device deployment capabilities.

To secure older devices, Microsoft also offers "guardian modules," a related Azure Sphere service. Guardian modules will enable newer microcontrollers to connect older (or "brownfield") IoT devices to the Azure Sphere solution, letting organizations extend Azure Sphere's security capabilities to their less-advanced or even discontinued equipment. A few guardian modules have been available since last fall from partners like Avnet and AI-Link, though Microsoft has indicated that others will arrive to the market in the future. [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



SharePoint Spaces

Expected release: First Half of 2020 (Public Preview)

SharePoint Spaces grabbed headlines when Microsoft first announced it in mid-2018 at the SharePoint North America event. The feature brings 3-D and mixed reality experiences to SharePoint Online -- for instance, allowing users to easily create a 3-D catalog page in SharePoint. Other Microsoft demos have shown SharePoint Spaces enabling users to remotely "tour" Microsoft's campus while wearing virtual reality headsets.

Since then, SharePoint Spaces has been in limited preview. Microsoft has said that while more than 1,800 customers have applied for the preview, only a "handful" of them are working directly with Microsoft on its development. Microsoft has said very little about its progress on SharePoint Spaces otherwise.

That is, until last fall's Ignite conference. As noted by several media outlets, in a podcast interview during Ignite 2019 with the VR/AR Association, Amy Scarfone, principal design manager in Microsoft's mixed reality division, said that a preview of SharePoint Spaces will become publicly available "ideally in Q1 but certainly in the first half of 2020." [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



Project Cortex

Expected release: Summer of 2020

The second new service to launch under the Microsoft 365 product umbrella (following Teams) is Project Cortex, an AI-powered "knowledge network" that debuted at last November's Ignite conference. Following a rigorous private preview run, it's expected to become publicly available in the first half of this year.

With its roots in SharePoint, Project Cortex aims to use "AI to reason over content across teams and systems, recognizing content types, extracting important information, and automatically organizing content into shared topics like projects, products, processes and customers," according to Microsoft's announcement. "Cortex then creates a knowledge network based on relationships among topics, content, and people." It mines information from Microsoft's product stack, including the Graph, Office 365 and SharePoint, as well as from various third-party sources (e.g., Salesforce, ServiceNow and MediWiki) by using external connectors.

Microsoft envisions Project Cortex as another way for its customers to interact more intelligently with its products. For instance, one way Project Cortex presents itself to users is in "topic cards" that pop up when a user encounters specific words, phrases or names in a document. The topic card will display relevant information that Project Cortex has surfaced from other applications. [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



Dynamics 365

Release Wave 1: Released

Release Wave 2: October 2020

As it did in 2019, Microsoft plans to issue two major sets of updates to Dynamics 365 in 2020. The first, dubbed "Release Wave 1," will roll out in April while "Release Wave 2" will be offered in October.

Specifically, April 1 will mark the "production deployment" of Release Wave 1, followed by "regional deployments" on April 3. Prior to that, however, Microsoft will let organizations test out Release Wave 1's features in non-production environments; this "early access" program will begin on Feb. 3.

Microsoft plans to give a detailed picture of what features and changes will be included in Release Wave 1 on Jan. 27, when the update's release notes will be made available. One change of note is the new Dynamics 365 Human Resources product, which will replace the "core HR capabilities" of the existing Dynamics 365 Talent application starting Feb. 3. "Eligible customers who are utilizing the core HR capabilities within Dynamics 365 Talent will have their service continued under Dynamics 365 Human Resources licensing with no disruption in service. No migration is required," Microsoft said in a December 2019 announcement. [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



Microsoft 365 Life

Released

Microsoft spun out Microsoft 365 from its older Secure Productive Enterprise product back in 2017. The suite bundles together Windows 10, Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS), which itself is a combo pack of Azure Active Directory, Intune and other Microsoft security services. There are different tiers of Microsoft 365 aimed at enterprises, SMBs and educators, but a fourth version aimed squarely at consumers is reportedly in the works.

Citing unnamed sources, longtime Microsoft reporter Mary Jo Foley said in a late-2019 blog post that Microsoft plans to launch "Microsoft 365 Life" sometime in the spring of 2020 (though it had initially been planned for a mid-2019 release, apparently). According to Foley, this new consumer-focused Microsoft 365 edition will essentially be a repackaging of Office 365 Personal and Office 365 Home, with similar pricing. However, it's also rumored to include a password manager, setting it apart from its more productivity-focused brethren. [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



.NET 5

Expected release: November 2020

Following a preview release sometime in the first half of 2020, .NET 5 is expected to become generally available this November.

Microsoft is changing its nomenclature with this coming release, forgoing the usual "Core" and "Framework" that's typically appended to the version number. That's reflective of the milestone that .NET 5 represents; as David Ramel wrote for RCP sister site Redmond, .NET 5 "will mark the transition from the aging, proprietary, Windows-only .NET Framework to a modern, open source, cross-platform .NET."

Microsoft is promising developers a common framework and runtime with .NET 5, no matter the platform. "With .NET 5, your code and project files will look and feel the same no matter which type of app you're building," the company said last May. "You'll have access to the same runtime, API and language capabilities with each app. This includes new performance improvements that get committed to corefx, practically daily." [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



PowerShell 7

Released

UPDATES March 4: PowerShell 7 PowerShell 7 becomes generally available

At first slated for a January 2020 release, PowerShell 7 is now expected to become generally available in "early February." That delay was announced after Microsoft decided to make last-minute adjustments to the product following December's release candidate (RC1) rollout. Microsoft now intends to issue RC2 in January before the final February release.

PowerShell 7 is conceived as a replacement for PowerShell Core 6.x and Windows PowerShell 5.1. PowerShell 7 will be closely tied to .NET, including the forthcoming .NET 5. "With the 7.0 previews, we've worked more closely with the .NET team than ever, not only tracking with .NET Core 3.0 and 3.1 previews, but working hand-in-hand with .NET developers to improve the performance of PowerShell," wrote PowerShell Program Manager Joey Aiello in the blog post announcing RC1. "We intend to continue taking advantage of new .NET features coming in .NET 5 and beyond that we can use to make PowerShell 7 even better."

Among PowerShell 7's key features are a Pipeline Chain Operators tool, a new null assignment operator, a new Get-Error cmdlet and the return of the Get-HotFix cmdlet. [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]



Windows Server vNext

Spring 2020 (20H1): Released

Fall 2020 (20H2): Second Half of 2020

As its moniker of "20H1" suggests, the next major update release of Windows Server will roll out in the first half of 2020. More specifically, though, it's widely expected to land sometime in the spring, mirroring the timing of Windows 10 20H1. In keeping with Microsoft twice-a-year release schedule, it'll be followed by a second update in the fall of 2020.

Microsoft has been putting Windows Server 20H1 through its paces since mid-2019, releasing test builds to the Insider program every few weeks. Those builds have given some insights into Microsoft's planned improvements to Windows Server 20H1. They include faster PowerShell speeds (an improvement of as much as 30 percent) and a 40 percent reduction in container base image size (compared to Windows Server Version 1903, released last May). [BACK TO PRODUCT LIST]

2019 Roadmap archive >>