Sources: Microsoft retiring Redstone codename later this year for upcoming Windows 10 releases, new codename format will reflect expected release timing
Zac Bowden / Windows Central :
Context & Ripple Effects
Redstone began in 2015 as the codename for the next Windows 10 update wave due in 2016, and its meaning quickly blurred — Redstone 2 slipped to Spring 2017 to line up with a Microsoft device wave, leaving a single codename stretched across multiple releases and shifting ship dates. Retiring it for a format that encodes expected release timing is Microsoft's answer to that drift: the name itself will now state when a build is supposed to land.
First-order effects
- Windows 10 feature updates shipping later this year arrive under the new timing-based codename scheme, ending the Redstone label that insiders, leak-watchers, and IT teams have used to track builds since 2015.
Second-order effects
- Timing-encoded codenames make slips self-documenting — a release that misses its stated window leaves a stale name in the wild, adding pressure on Microsoft to hold announced dates the way the Redstone 2 delay did not.
Third-order effects
- The naming change fits the cadence structure that followed: [[a:980861|the move to a three-year cycle for major Windows versions with feature drops up to four times a year]] made branded update waves like Redstone obsolete, pointing toward codenames as pure scheduling artifacts rather than product identities — much as Project Spartan ultimately shipped under a distinct brand.
The trend: Windows release management is shifting from codename-branded update waves to a calendar-driven cadence where internal names track timing rather than marketing identity.