Microsoft reveals commitment to biannual Windows 10 updates

Microsoft 'officialises' unofficial Windows 10 updates policy

Microsoft has committed to rolling out major updates for Windows 10 according to a fixed, six-monthly schedule. Users can expect the biannual updates to be released in March and September.

The company has basically been doing this for a while and we knew that after the Creators Update (Redstone 2) was released in late March that we'd start to see evidence of ‘Redstone 3' in September. But now, the policy has been made official.

The company justified the move in a statement in which it claimed that, "We've... heard our customers want more predictability and simplicity from this update servicing model to help make deployments and updates of Microsoft products easier".

The proclamation begins with an update on how Windows 10 adoption is going: "We're thrilled that Windows 10 continues to be the fastest-adopted version of Windows ever, with more than 400 million monthly active devices and ever growing adoption in the enterprise."

However, Microsoft has been claiming the figure of 400 million Windows 10 devices for some seven months now - when it is just weeks away from its avowed aim of getting Windows 10 onto two billion devices by June 2017.

In other words, 1.8 billion people who could have upgraded to Windows 10, have chosen not to. And it looks like that figure flatlined as soon as the upgrade stopped being free.

Microsoft continued: "Based on this feedback, [we are] excited to share today that we are aligning the servicing models for Windows 10, Office 365 ProPlus (with added caffeine?) and System Centre Configuration Manager for our customers, particularly those with Secure Productive Enterprise."

So, Microsoft is basically confirming its unofficial policy, and also announcing that it will put business customers (who, haven't exactly flocked to Windows 10 in droves) first.

It also affirms an 18-month support timescale for each update and, most importantly, confirms that Redstone 3, which is expected to see the UI get a massive overhaul, will be rolled out in September.

But that figure of 400 million will remain troubling for Microsoft. It represents nine months of flatlining, even with Windows now running on Microsoft Xboxes and a number of other non-PC devices.

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