Microsoft made a promise last year that Windows 10 will be the “last ever version” of its venerable operating system as it transitions to a Windows-as-a-Service strategy that’ll see it just roll out regular updates in a similar fashion to what Google does with Android.

The first major update is slated for later this summer, and has been code-named “Redstone”, though details of what’s in store are still a bit scant at the moment. However, new reports suggest that while Redstone is still on track, a second major update, known as “Redstone 2” and originally scheduled to arrive just a few months after Redstone 1, is set to be pushed back until spring 2017 at the earliest.

ZDNet reporter and famed Microsoft-watcher Mary Jo Foley said in her report that Redstone 2’s delay is likely due to the reluctance of companies to install new updates as they arrive, but some of her contacts suggested an alternative reason that has more to do with Microsoft’s next hardware lineup.

It’s a theory that makes sense, especially now that Executive Vice President Terry Myerson has been charged with ensuring that Microsoft’s Windows and Devices business units cooperate more closely with each other. The idea is that Microsoft will develop Windows specifically for its own future hardware, so it can iron out the numerous bugs found in Windows 10 when it was run on last year’s Surface Books and Surface Pro 4s.

Microsoft of course would absolutely want to avoid any more mishaps such as those, especially with Intel due to release its next generation Kaby Lake processors at the end of this year. As such, it makes sense that the company would wait until spring 2017, the expected launch date of the Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2, to issue its next big Windows update.

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