Stable Windows Builds or Yearly Releases

With Windows Servicing, Microsoft is forcing consumers and businesses to upgrade to a Windows 10 Build twice a year. Theoretically you could go for one build per year, but that forces you to upgrade to a new build within 6 months. Otherwise you will end up without support for the old build. This introduces quite some issues within both SMBs and large organizations. Recently a friend asked me about a recent printer that stopped working. The printer was 2 months old and from a large vendor. I directly checked the build of the machine and yes, it was recently upgraded to the Fall Creators Update. The printer was identified as an “Unknown USB Device”. Updating the driver of the printer didn’t help. Luckily the Technical Support was responding quickly to help, but this means manual processing of orders for the next couple of weeks. Yes I can revert the machine back to the old build, but will that fix the issue or create more issues? And because it’s not a Windows 10 Enterprise machine, Microsoft will try to update the machine later on.

Builds need to be more stable and aligned with 3rd Party vendors

3rd Party Vendors cannot keep up with the fast pace of releasing updates and drivers for Windows 10 Builds. The power of Windows is that it works with (nearly) everything. If those vendors cannot keep up with Windows, Microsoft needs to do something about it. Fix those release issues first before you set such high expectations for 3rd Party vendors. Going from a new build every 3+ years to twice a year is a big step. Therefore…

Release builds yearly for enterprises

(Large) enterprises are also struggling with Windows Servicing. For the same reasons as mentioned above: you cannot upgrade to a new build when 3rd Party vendors do not have their updates, drivers and software ready for the new build. Microsoft wants organizations to have large test groups where new builds can first be tested. When builds are not stable, it will jeopardize the daily business and cost money when people are unable to do their job. Organizations are also struggling to find people that have time, technical knowledge and most importantly want to be a tester.

Pick one Microsoft, please.

Don’t get me wrong here. I like that Microsoft is releasing smaller updates in a faster pace, but most organizations and vendors are not ready for this big change. Tell me your opinion on the new Windows Servicing model in the comments section below.