Despite announcing Windows 11 over a week ago, Microsoft has not revealed officially when the new version of Windows is going to be available for public release. There are various reasons that suggest that the Windows 11 release date could be 20 October 2021. The reason? The Windows 11 teaser screenshots from Microsoft show the exact date and time – 10/20/21 11.11 AM – in the taskbar.
UPDATE: Windows 11 will be released on October 5, 2021.
Windows 11 public release on October 20?
The time and date on the taskbar are not the only reason why one can expect the Windows 11 free update to arrive early. Many retailers, including Walmart, have started mentioning in the descriptions of Windows PCs that they will be available for a free upgrade in October. Why would the retailer make such claims without approval from Microsoft? That’s something to think about.
In addition to these hints, a pop-up message from Teams during the Windows 11 release event had mentioned that they ‘could not wait till October.’ So when read along with the October 20 date on the screenshots, we can be somewhat confident about Microsoft’s plans. But again, the company has kept a mum about these speculations.
However, it is also likely that the company wants to roll out the free upgrade gradually. In that case, some users may receive the upgrade as early as October, while others may have to wait until November or December.
Considering that the upgrade is available for too many devices in the market, a gradual rollout would be more effective from a logistics perspective. For reference, Microsoft has said that Windows 11 would be available for devices that already run Windows 10.
Those who do not want to wait until October may download the Windows 11 Insider Preview build from the official website. However, this build may have some half-baked features and a few bugs.
