Friday, July 26th 2019
Microsoft's Biannual Major Windows 10 Update Cycle to Slow Down
Microsoft has reportedly restructured the way it adds major features to Windows 10 over time. The company currently has a biannual (twice a year) cadence in updating Windows 10 version. A major update in this context refers to a multi-gigabyte update package that changes the operating system's version, its key system files, and makes significant changes to the user interface. The most recent of these was the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903).
With its new update cadence, Microsoft plans to distribute a major update in one half of an year, and a "minor" update in the other half. This "minor" update, or "point update," is much lighter in download size, but is still fairly bigger than a monthly "Patch Tuesday" update, and adds features and UI changes. The "major" annual update brings with it under-the-hood changes to the OS, such as updates to its kernel, scheduler, APIs, driver models, etc. The next version of Windows, which is expected to be Windows 10 version 1909, will be a lightweight update if you're already on 1903, but a "heavy" update if you're still on 1809. Its successor, Windows 10 version 2003 (March 2020), will be a "heavy" update regardless of which version you're on.
Source:
ExtremeTech
With its new update cadence, Microsoft plans to distribute a major update in one half of an year, and a "minor" update in the other half. This "minor" update, or "point update," is much lighter in download size, but is still fairly bigger than a monthly "Patch Tuesday" update, and adds features and UI changes. The "major" annual update brings with it under-the-hood changes to the OS, such as updates to its kernel, scheduler, APIs, driver models, etc. The next version of Windows, which is expected to be Windows 10 version 1909, will be a lightweight update if you're already on 1903, but a "heavy" update if you're still on 1809. Its successor, Windows 10 version 2003 (March 2020), will be a "heavy" update regardless of which version you're on.
44 Comments on Microsoft's Biannual Major Windows 10 Update Cycle to Slow Down
HOWEVER: nvidia drivers are supported day 1 on linux, because they work like windows drivers. Because AMD MESA drivers are updated slowly, slow releases like ubuntu LTS will often not support the latest AMD GPUs. If you tend to buy GPUs near the end of the generation like I do, then this will not be an issue, but if you like newer GPUs, nvidia will be a bit easier to deal with unless you feel comfortable updating MESA yourself.
As for printers, I have had 0 luck with network printer support, it is like slamming my head against a brick wall getting them to work. I know I must be doing something wrong, but IDK.
I figured the news would be like updates every 9 months instead of 6 months. I'm not sure I see the point of changing to a tick-tock cadence. Anything too big to target 6 months would target 12 months. Now they're talking like big updates could get pushed out a full 18 months if they miss a six month target.
I think the intent is to make the six month update less scary so people don't have reservations about getting it.
Regarding the fixed deadlines, I guess you can never be "ready": I suppose there will be hundreds of projects going on at once on a new release and it would be impossible to have them ALL ready - so it makes sense to me to set a fixed deadline and include/exclude what is ready by then. If the deployment is properly managed, a deadline would not include anything that is not ready. If they made the deadline flexible, a poor management would STILL include untested/unfinished code.
... and why the rollout schedule change? A: they’ve run out of ideas. Lol
On the other hand, I'm used to KDE and next to that, any other UI looks like a toy. Just don't forget the OS (and its UI) are just the means to an end.
Edit: What do you know, three hands. Now that's multi-tasking :D
Maybe now we’ll see more people adopt Windows 10 because they’ve slowed down on the big upgrades. That’s one of the biggest complaints people have had regarding Windows 10.
For home users, set security to 1 day, and feature updates to 14 days, and even the chance of a bad patch will be low.
That being said, I do welcome the change. Although I fear we will see further fragmentation of software from Microsoft to compensate (such as Powershell Core still not being in mainline feature release).
As a not native English speaker I couldn't clearly make sense of the title so I went looking:
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biannual
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biannual
"Biweekly" and "bimonthly" unequivocally means every 2 weeks/months, but not "biannual", not "every 2" but mainly "twice". Of course using "semiannual" instead would be as much correct and eliminate the ambiguity entirely. But what about the fun then? What about the everyday infinite learning chances?
So I think I'm going to mindmap "Biannual" just shy the shelf where I've placed the pesky Imperial System measure units.