14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 10 is projected to launch in the summer of 2015 and many believe that this could be the last standalone Windows release, with Microsoft to switch to large updates instead of separate versions rolled out every three years.
While this does make sense, it would be a significant transition from the traditional update model for Windows, but as the operating system switches to the Windows as a Service approach, delivering yearly updates in the same way Apple does appears to be the best way to keep devices running it fully updated.
Because Microsoft plans to roll out Windows updates at a faster pace, the company is also planning to keep the Windows Insider program alive and ship early builds of the operating system to registered members as soon as they’re ready.
The post-Windows 10 RTM Windows Insider program would work pretty much just like the existing one: users would get early versions of new OS builds before everyone else with the purpose of testing them and sending feedback to the company in order to fix bugs and improve performance.
This way, Microsoft kills two birds with one stone: it allows users to test new Windows features almost at the same time as its own engineers, while also testing them on more computers to reduce the possibility of rolling out buggy updates to everyone.
Large update coming in late 2015
Windows 10 is expected to see the light of day in July or August, but Microsoft is reportedly already working on a large update that could launch in late 2015.
Details on this are scarce right now, but people close to the matter suggest that it could include features that weren’t ready for the RTM version of Windows 10, so Microsoft decided to take a little bit more time to make sure that everything works as expected.
This update could be tested with the help of Windows insiders, so even though Windows 10 will be alive and kicking, testers will still have new features to try out until the end of the year.