Including for the Redmond software giant itself, that is

Aug 14, 2020 14:46 GMT  ·  By

Windows 10 feature updates are more or less major releases that lots of users are super excited about, but on the other hand, there are also people who aren’t too keen on installing them due to the likelihood of bugs and the big number of new features.

While it sounds odd for someone not to be excited about a Windows 10 feature update because of the big number of new features, this is something that’s really happening, especially among those who just want to stick with a familiar working environment.

This is also the reason some users who are still running Windows 7 don’t plan to upgrade to Windows 10 anytime soon, mostly because of the modern experience that includes a Microsoft Store, Cortana, an Action Center, and everything.

One way to make the most of feature updates and become more familiar with the changes that they bring to Windows 10 users is to actually provide those who install it with a very detailed look at what’s new.

And this is exactly what Microsoft is planning to do right now. The most recent Windows 10 Insider build comes with a new post-update experience that’s powered by the Tips app. Microsoft explains:

“We know that it doesn’t always feel clear what changed with a major update, or even how you can learn about and try out new features and improvements. This means that updates can feel time consuming without real benefit to you, and we want to change that. We’re introducing a new first run experience via the Tips app that highlights the most exciting changes on your PC after a major Windows 10 feature update is installed. After installing this build, Insiders will see the Tips app is launched highlight some of the most recent new features from the latest Insider Preview builds in the Dev Channel.”

So basically, after you install a new feature update, you should see the Tips app launching and providing you with a detailed look at the new features that are included.

The same approach could be used by Microsoft for every single new build and feature update, as this is something that’s more important than it looks at first glance.

Rumor has it that Microsoft is changing the update strategy beginning with 2021, as Windows 10X is supposed to show up in the spring of the next year. So technically, with Windows 10X going live in the first quarter, Microsoft wants to use the spring of each year for feature update for this particular OS version, which means that Windows 10 releases are moved to the fall exclusively.

What this means for Windows 10 in the long term is that the operating system is transitioning from two updates per year to just one update every 12 months. So instead of a spring and a fall feature update, we’ll only be getting the latter.

If it’s not obvious already, just one feature update going live every year means a more significant update, with bigger changes under the hood. As a result, users would have even more to discover in every single Windows feature update, which makes a post-update experience quite a welcome improvement.

So yes, Microsoft is doing the right thing here, especially when looking at the company’s long-term strategy. Bigger updates mean bigger changes, and bigger changes aren’t the thing that everybody is interested in.

A new post-update experience that would help every single Windows 10 user discover what’s new in a feature update is a smart improvement that should have been there from the very beginning.