Microsoft Launches Windows 10 Update History Site To Share Update Release Notes (betanews.com)

Mark Wilson writes: Keeping up to date with the latest updates for Windows 10 can be something of a full time job, particularly if you're signed up to get Insider builds. To make it easier to keep track of what changes each update brings, Microsoft has launched the Windows 10 update history site.The site is in response to feedback from Windows 10 users who have been looking for an accessible way of learning about updates. The site provides details of exactly what the updates delivered through Windows Update. It is something of a work in progress at the moment, but one of the recent updates featured fixes a bug that meant browsing sessions in Microsoft Edge's InPrivate mode were not necessarily completely private.

Comments

It's a nice start

[Striek]

But what is sorely lacking is mention of specificaly which issues were fixed - a CVE number would be nice, where possible, for example "Fixed issues with authentication, update installation, and operating system installation" still doesn't really tell me much. How many issues? Which issues? Am I experiencing these issues, and therefore should prioritize this update? But at least it's a step in the right direction from them.

Now, if we could get them do do something similar for all the encrypted telemetry data, we'd be getting somewhere...

Re:It's a nice start

[bigdady92]

Does MS even track CVE's internally or externally? I honestly don't know if they do/don't and would love to see what they were doing in the past.

Right now ANY information is better than NO information as I'm trying to push updates to clients and these fixes are all a Mystery of what could be a fix for an issue and something that I want to wait for awhile.

Re:It's a nice start

[Anonymous Coward]

But what is sorely lacking is mention of specificaly which issues were fixed - a CVE number would be nice, where possible, for example "Fixed issues with authentication, update installation, and operating system installation" still doesn't really tell me much. How many issues? Which issues? Am I experiencing these issues, and therefore should prioritize this update? But at least it's a step in the right direction from them.

Marketing: You're getting all the updates whether you like them or not, you no longer own a general-purpose computing device, your desktop shall be managed externally like a mobile phone. You don't need to know all that stuff you think you need to know.

(Sadtly, I agree with you, but Marketing and Telemetry have held sway over the entire Win10 process. It's not an OS, it's an OS "as a Service," which means you don't get to make any tradeoffs, let alone informed ones.)

Re:It's a nice start

[Anonymous Coward]

I really don't understand why so many people appear to be complaining about now knowing what is in each update. For most updates Microsoft publishes a decently detailed description in the knowledge base. There is a reason why a lot of updates include the knowledge base article number in the name.

Sometimes the knowledge base article is published a few days after the update is released but I can't remember the last time I went looking for the knowledge base article associated with an update and couldn't find it within a week or so.

You could argue whether or not the knowledge base articles are detailed enough but they usually at least tell you what services are impacted and what files are modified by the update and updates for security issues almost always reference a separate knowledge base article that describes the vulnerability that is fixed.

Re:It's a nice start

[wbo]

Microsoft doesn't usually reference security vulnerabilites by CVE numbers but use their own tracking system. They usually publish knowledge base articles for security updates that detail what vulnerabilities are fixed. A recent example can be found at KB3135173

Indeed security updates obtained via WSUS almost always have the KB article number included in the title and updates downloaded manually via Windows Update usually have the KB number listed somewhere in the description as well.

Re:It's a nice start

[HideyoshiJP]

But what is sorely lacking is mention of specificaly which issues were fixed - a CVE number would be nice, where possible, for example

Or maybe like, some sort of knowledgebase article, "KB" if you will, that informed the specific issues that were fixed, and perhaps which files were included with the update. A person can dream, right? Sadly, the science just isn't there yet.

Re:It's a nice start

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Assuming that was intended to read "...complaining about not knowing..." the answer seems pretty clear: Microsoft have been serving up updates for all recent versions of Windows with little to no detail of what is actually in them for some time, and lately some of those updates have been outright user-hostile, and consequently a lot of power user or professional sysadmin types simply don't trust them any more.

Just about the one barrier they haven't crossed yet is serving up user-hostile updates under the guise of security updates rather than just recommended ones, which means you can still assume that something marked as a security update is likely to be worth installing with due diligence. Being more explicit about these issues on Win10 goes at least a little way towards maintaining that confidence.

Animals escaped, close barn door

[QuietLagoon]

Too little, too late, Microsoft.

.
Now that you've infected most non-Windows 10 PCs with the upgrade malware, now, NOW you decide to tell people what the updates will do to their PCs?

Sorry, Microsoft, you've already completely lost what little trust you had going into the Windows 10 upgrade cycle.

What's the expression? It takes at least ten times as long to regain trust as it does to lose it.

Re:Animals escaped, close barn door

[gstoddart]

I think you meant:

There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.

They've certainly gone out of their way to mask what those updates really are ... "this update addresses issues in Windows" ... like, injecting telemetry they won't ask your permission for or care even if you say no.

So many of their updates are entirely self serving to try to force you to upgrade. I'm not sure they can regain that much lost goodwill.

Re:Animals escaped, close barn door

[johanw]

No, they only do that for windows 10 updates, which are mandatory anyway. Not for windows 7 updates.

Re:Animals escaped, close barn door

[Dunbal]

Trust is not a factor when there is no viable alternative.

Great!

[Parker Lewis]

It'll be full of clear and descriptive updates, like "Update for Windows 10 for x64-based Systems - Recommended Update - Install this update to resolve issues in Window."

What about telemetry/spying features?

[Artem S. Tashkinov]

I'd like to get a changelog of those as well. From their first revision (approximately starting at the time when Windows 8.1 was released).

Alternatively I'd love to get an official how-to on how to disable tracking in Windows 10 entirely. While we're at it, I'd love to know how to fully disable Metro features and Windows defender.

Re:What about telemetry/spying features?

[gstoddart]

Alternatively I'd love to get an official how-to on how to disable tracking in Windows 10 entirely.

You're joking right? Do you really think MS is going to officially support that? I get the distinct impression tracking and eventually ads is something they've decided you're getting whether you like it or not.

Nobody builds an ad platform into the OS unless they plan on using the hell out of it -- Google has you on the web? That won't compete with knowing every single damned thing you do and monetizing it -- and I find it unlikely that even if you turn it off they won't later say "too bad, we've enabled it". You don't build that as a one off to promote some apps for a little while.

It's their computer, you just paid for it and have the right to use it for a while.

For non-enterprise customers, they don't even get a say in when/if updates are applied. It's all remote management all the time, and too bad for you.

Re:What about telemetry/spying features?

[johanw]

Oh well, on Android you can disable all Google ad services when you're rooted. I'm sure such manuals will apear for windows 10 also, given some time.

Re:What about telemetry/spying features?

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Had it been made plainly obvious what they were pushing, no one would have installed any of it.

Ironically, I suspect that's not true. It seems quite realistic that if they'd pushed telemetry transparently as a recommended update, the average home user would have just said yes with all the others anyway, yet Microsoft would not have lost the confidence of the techie crowd and gained the unwelcome reputation for being deceptive and manipulative that they've managed to cement over the past few months.

Lot of fanfare for what's essentially a readme.txt

[JoeyRox]

What's next, a help file that's actually included with the application rather than launching a slow and cumbersome web search?

Re: Launched or vaporware?

[n0creativity]

Well the website is there and publicly accessible. In that way, I suppose one could consider it 'launched'. OTOH, the number updates currently listed on there seems incomplete at best, so we can assume that's the 'work in progress' part of it. All in all, it's a typical MS rollout. Premature, incomplete, and initially gets your hopes up until you actually attempt to use it and realize that you should have waited until the 'SP1' release...

Hope this is just the first step

[ErichTheRed]

The site does appear to list more details than traditionally were provided, but I'm hoping they're planning on giving more details. It's great to know "something" was fixed with "some component" but previous granular Windows Update packages often had references to the KB articles prompting the release of the hotfix.

I know the goal is to get customers on a completely stateless iPhone-style device, but there are a lot of use cases that need the power and control of a traditional PC for whatever reason. Legacy code isn't going away, and sometimes you just need to run things locally because of network constraints or security. Knowing that "applying this KB fixes X, but will break your application because of a dependency" is a very useful thing when you're supporting thousands of PCs.

Re:Windows 10 is spyware

[johanw]

At the moment, I clean all windows 7 computers from those spy and nagware infestations with this script:

wusa /uninstall /kb:3035583 /quiet /norestart
and the same with KB's
3035583
2952664
3022345
3068708
3075249
3080149
3021917
3083324
2977759
3112343
3123862

(stupid /. doesn't let me post the entire script, complains about repetition).

After that, I reboot, let windows update run again and hide the mentioned updates. Until they get updated and apear again.

Do they have a clue?

[ITRambo]

I wonder if the powers that be at Microsoft realize the deep extent of distrust that they have brought to PC consumers. Our shop has a lot of customers that have been asking about Macs and even Chromebooks, since their kids use them in school. In the meantime, MS has been building resentment for their OS. That's going to have a negative long term effect on them. Maybe they haven't noticed how few Windows phones there are and considered that the same thing could also happen to Windows PC's market share over time.

Re:Windows 10 is spyware

[sexconker]

We already know for a fact keystroke data is sent to MS, under the guise of improving spell checking etc.
The user has no knowledge of when or where it happens or what is actually sent.

Re:Lot of fanfare for what's essentially a readme.

[sexconker]

In 2016 releasing actual patch notes and actual READMEs warrants a fucking ticker tape parade.

Re:Lot of fanfare for what's essentially a readme.

[The-Ixian]

Yes, and what a fanfare it was... this day will live on in memory as one of the most trumpeted announcements of all time... everyone will be able to tell you where they were when they heard the news such was the exuberance!

Re:Windows 10 is spyware

[justthinkit]

c:\>wusa
'wusa' is not recognized...

Re:Windows 10 is spyware

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Microsoft is certainly doing some very dubious things lately, but it does no-one any good to exaggerate or distort what they're doing. Please stop doing that.

In particular, they have issued telemetry updates for earlier Windows versions, and they have aggressively promoted the update to Windows 10, but they have not forced users of earlier Windows versions to update if they say no.

Re:Launched or vaporware?

[SirSlud]

It must get exhausting to be so obtuse.

Re:Windows 10 is spyware

[lhowaf]

That's why date-rape drugs are so cool...bitches never say no!