As suspected, it is marketing . . .

[britechguy]

Received privately from someone I know who is an "insider's insider" who works closely with Microsoft in his capacity working on the NVDA Screen Reader:

At least we now know that Windows 11 is a marketing name - internally it is Windows NT 10.0 and version shown will be 21H2.

 

[A Guy]

I had heard that 10 will update to 21H2...but not that that will be 11?

A Guy

 

[britechguy]

I had heard that 10 will update to 21H2...but not that that will be 11?

I'd imagine Win10 will have that release as well, but without the new UI frippery. If Microsoft proceeds as they state they are, Windows 10 will exist in parallel with Windows 11 much as Windows 8 does with Windows 10. The difference being that Windows 10 and Windows 11 both started their lives during the era of Windows As A Service, so, unless they change something about their release naming again, both would have YYH1 or YYH2 release numbers. But the build numbers are quite likely to diverge over time.

As I've said multiple times where hand-wringing about Windows 11 has been taking place: it was developed, virtually in its entirety, as the next release to Windows 10, including having been tested with that intent and released to insiders with that intent before the marketing geniuses stepped in. Regardless of what it's called, it is just the next release of Windows 10 for all practical intents and purposes at the present time. What may, or may not, happen as time marches on remains to be seen.