Major updates coming to the two products twice a year

Apr 21, 2017 05:19 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has recently confirmed that Windows 10 would get two major updates every year, and the company says that this comes as part of a plan to synchronize Windows and Office releases for easier deployment, especially for customers with Secure Productive Enterprise.

Basically, both Windows and Office will receive new feature releases twice every year, with March and September the targets for shipping these improvements.

Each Windows 10 version will thus be supported for a maximum of 18 months, after which customers are required to upgrade to newer releases to continue receiving updates and security patches.

“We are aligning the servicing models for Windows 10, Office 365 ProPlus and System Center Configuration Manager for our customers, particularly those with Secure Productive Enterprise,” Microsoft announced today.

“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.”

Predictability for the win

This new approach is supposed to add more predictability to Microsoft’s releases, thus helping organizations prepare the deployment of new solutions within their networks, though at the same time, it could also create additional problems to the company’s engineers who now need to stick with release targets for every release.

Microsoft previously avoided offering target dates for new releases (included here not only new builds but also the RTM of each major Windows 10 update), mostly because the company wanted to prevent cases when development took more than expected or when major bugs causing delays where discovered at the very last minute.

Without a doubt, having a target for shipping new OS updates would indeed help companies prepare for new releases, especially because Microsoft plans to cut off support for each major release every 18 months. Upgrading to newer Windows versions will thus be mandatory, so predictability is playing an essential role for this new approach.