Microsoft's next big update to Windows 10 is codenamed 'Redstone,' targeted to arrive in 2016

Reports have surfaced about codename Redstone. What is Redstone? Is it a new version of Windows? According to Neowin, and confirmed by Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet, Redstone is the codename for the next big update to Windows 10, targeted for a release in 2016.

Redstone is a name that comes from Minecraft, which Microsoft acquired back in 2014. Redstone is an element that can be used as the foundation for building new objects. 

For those that did not know, Windows 10 is codenamed Threshold and is slated for a release this summer. According to ZDNet, a minor update is slated for Windows 10 this fall — still codenamed as Threshold. This update will be in addition to the smaller regularly released fixes and updates that Microsoft will make available after Windows 10 is released. So where exactly does Redstone come into play?

“Redstone will be delivered automatically to Windows 10 users as part of their regular, every-month-or-so updates. Redstone will just be a larger update than the others and will provide new functionality and support for new classes of devices that aren’t already part of Windows 10, so the supposed thinking goes,” Foley claims.

Foley is also hearing from her sources that Redstone will not be Windows 11 or Windows 12, rather, it will continue the Windows 10 brand name. Redstone will likely contain leftover features that did not make it to the Windows 10 release.

Microsoft can easily release minor updates for Windows 10 features like Spartan, but for bigger technologies like HoloLens and Windows Phone which impact the Windows core, Microsoft needs to release a bigger update like Redstone.

Foley also adds that the Windows Insider program will continue during the Windows 10 and Redstone development timeframe. Microsoft will likely provide early test builds for updates, along with the bigger update known as Redstone.

We’ll have more on Redstone as news develops.