Microsoft now working on 2020 build of Windows 10

Windows 10 build for the first half of 2020 will require more intensive testing than usual

Microsoft is currently beta testing versions of Windows 10 for release in 2020, despite the autumn update from 2108 still making its rounds in February 2019.

At the moment, Microsoft's Windows 10 Insider Programme is currently testing the spring 2019 update, and there's no sign yet of the autumn 2019 update. However, internally at Microsoft an update planned for the first half of 2020 is already in production.

That news comes from Dona Sarkar, the head of Microsoft's Insider programme, who is already recruiting testers on account of the fact that there will certain aspects of the 20H1 release that require a longer lead time, and more testing.

Build 18836 is available from today to those who have opted to ‘skip ahead' on the Fast Ring of the programme, but Insiders won't get hold of the 19H2 update until 19H1 is pushed out of the door.

The first update of 2019 can't come soon enough for the many people who suffered various different forms of borkage as soon as it lumbered onto their machines. It will, hopefully, contain a whole variety of fixes for all the problems caused by Build 1809.

These include Start menus that reset themselves with every session, with no ability to successfully run System Restore, the chewing up of users' existing files and total borkage if users have certain graphics cards.

Build 1809 only arrived, months late, in November 2018 and was still making its way to users' PCs in February.

And January 2020 will see Windows 7 reach its formal end of life, leaving Windows 8.1 as the last pre-Satya Nadella client operating system supported by Microsoft.