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Microsoft Says It Will Release Two Feature Updates Per Year For Windows 10, Office (petri.com)
Microsoft is making a few changes to how it will service Windows, Office 365 ProPlus and System Center Configuration Manager. From a report: Announced today, Microsoft will be releasing two feature updates a year for Windows 10 in March in September and with each release, System Center Configuration Manager will support this new aligned update model for Office 365 ProPlus and Windows 10, making both easier to deploy and keep up to date. This is a big change for Microsoft as Windows will now be on a more predictable pattern for major updates and by aligning it with Office 365 Pro Plus, this should make these two platforms easier to service from an IT Pro perspective. The big news here is also that Microsoft is announcing when Redstone 3 is targeted for release. The company is looking at a September release window but it is worth pointing out that they traditionally release the month after the code is completed.
I wonder if this is to help users who don't know what they're doing. You know, the kind that click on any link that appears on their screen, install any software no matter what kind of crap it is, and generally don't maintain their systems properly. When they have reliability problems, they call Microsoft for support, and the support agent usually just says "Reinstall the OS". Well, with these feature updates effectively doing a reinstall twice a year, that might help cut down on those calls.
Since 2013, all I wanted from Office and Windows was bug-fixes. Instead, their new "features" almost always amounted to taking some useful feature away, like how the Ribbon took away menus and truly customizable toolbars, like how the Start screen took away the Start menu in Windows 8 (ok, they fixed that, sort of), like how Settings continues to rob from the Control Panel with lesser capability, all messing up years of reliable workflow.
but the bugs remain. and File Explorer still doesn't have tabs. For what? 3-D in Microsoft Paint? There's plenty of that around already. Just fix bugs, Microsoft. Fix the damn bugs.
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
Microsoft is trying to be more like Linux now. Windows Subsystem for Linux to (poorly) run native Linux binaries on Windows. SQL Server on Linux. Haven't you heard? Microsoft Loves Linux, and Sharks Love Fish too.
Now Microsoft will have two yearly releases -- like Ubuntu has. I wonder if Microsoft will next introduce an LTS version of Windows.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
System Center Configuration Manager will support this new aligned update model
What does this mean, exactly?
SCCM has never needed to "support" an update model. Updates are published, WSUS picks them up, SCCM sees them in WSUS, and SCCM evaluates any ADRs you have set up (or you manually download updates, add them to groups, and deploy them). Later, you get a report about how compliance for a specific Patch Tuesday Software Update Group has fallen below your threshold of 99% (SCCM doesn't let you generate a report that expects 100% of your clients be up to date) because SCCM constantly forgets about a client's status for a deployment and never properly removes all the expired/superseded updates.
Will I need to update the MDT & AIK every 6 months? Will I need to update SCCM every 6 months? If so, how long will SCCM 2012 (non R2) be "supported" for whatever versions of "Windows 10"?
Setting up SCCM is a nightmare and a half and I am not going to fucking upend it every 6 months. The transition to 2012 SP2 broke all custom reports and the onyl fix was manually replication the new, unnecessary, and asinine SID translation layer they added to all the standard reports.
One of the things that "IT Pros" as Microsoft calls us have been complaining about is the unpredictable nature of updates to Windows 10 and Office. It sounds like this is a nod to the fact that not everyone is using cutting-edge software that updates at the same pace, or using common consumer applications. Corporate IT is still very different from consumer IT. Most places have started modernizing, but the reality is that big companies aren't ever going to be going at the same pace as web startups delivering a consumer phone app.
Large companies and niche users of Windows still need to deal with compatibility problems, and knowing that Microsoft isn't going to change the way the OS works randomly from month to month gives IT groups time to test applications. You might say that only LUDDITES use desktop software and that everyone is using Apps! But, even though Apps! are becoming more prevalent, companies aren't ditching every single desktop application. Some have been running for ages and don't really need Appifying, or require significant costs to Appify. Before Windows 10, Windows was all about backward compatibility and a stable platform. That changed as they were chasing the mobile phone market, but maybe they're seeing that they have to cater both the consumer and corporate user now.
If Microsoft really plans to not make money on client OS licensing for upgraded versions anymore, maybe this is also an attempt to rein in the constant stream of new feature development they must be doing. Adding features just for fun at a rapid pace is a recipe for security vulnerabilities...developers don't want to be bothered with writing something secure when something functional will do.
Can we get better naming for the windows 10 updates like windows 10.1 10.2 10.3 or even windows 10 sp1 sp2 sp3
Strip windows to the minimum and move applications (Paint, Edge, ...) to the Windows store or whatever they use as a replacement for apt-get.
And also cleanup the mess that is c:\windows\winsxs (often dozens of gigabytes for no reason)
You sound like you wish you were joking, but yes Microsoft did. They've had what they call an "LTSB".
You can't have it, though.
(I believe, a contract with them covering a minimum of 100 desktop licenses is needed, for the feature I had in Windows 98 of "don't install crap I don't want to")