Windows 10 Will No Longer Auto Install Feature Updates Twice a Year (windowscentral.com)
Microsoft has announced that starting with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update, which will hit general availability late next month, users will no longer be forced to install new Windows 10 feature updates as they become available. From a report: This comes after feedback from users who have had countless issues with updates breaking programs, losing files, and installing at inconvenient times. Microsoft has been working hard to improve Windows Update, and while the system is better than it was at launch in 2015, it's still not perfect. Now, users will have the option to not have to deal with feature updates when they are released.
What Microsoft is doing here is splitting Windows Update in two. The normal "check for updates" button will now only function for security and monthly patches. Feature updates now get their own area in Windows Update where the user can initiate the download and install process for the latest feature update available. If the user doesn't want to initiate that process, they don't have to. The user will be alerted that a new feature update is available every now and then, but at no point will the user be forced to install that update, as long as the version of Windows 10 they're currently running is still in support.
What Microsoft is doing here is splitting Windows Update in two. The normal "check for updates" button will now only function for security and monthly patches. Feature updates now get their own area in Windows Update where the user can initiate the download and install process for the latest feature update available. If the user doesn't want to initiate that process, they don't have to. The user will be alerted that a new feature update is available every now and then, but at no point will the user be forced to install that update, as long as the version of Windows 10 they're currently running is still in support.
How about they change and allow the user FULL control over what updates they do or do not want?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
My guess that it was attempt to cut costs on MS part. If nearly everyone is on the same version you no longer need to devote massive resources to test every possible combination prior to releasing.
This is after they shortened it.
Windows releases used to be good for **10 YEARS** (mainstream plus extended). IMO, this was one their few big advantages in the server market over linux options, where even LTS linux distros only tend to be good for 3 or 4 without forced updates.
Now, even in the best case, you only get two years, and that's after they extended Fall (H2) releases up from just 18 months.