Let’s go through a typical conversation I end up having
Me: What version of Windows are
you using on your desktop?
You: Windows 10
Me: What VERSION of Windows 10?
You: Do you mean Pro or Enterprise?
Me: No. What Windows 10 version
number, like a build number?
You: Build number? Who cares?
I’m no developer. It’s just
Windows 10
Me: Au contraire mon capitan!
There are 4 different Windows 10
versions, 5 as of October 17, 2017.
You: WHAT?
Me: And the first version no longer
receives updates, with the second
version stops in October of 2017
You: Are you #$@% kidding me?
Even though Windows 10 has been available for over 2 years, many people are unaware of the servicing cycle of Windows 10, and it isn’t surprising. We’ve all been used to the Microsoft desktop OS cycle being measured in years. We would roll out Windows XP and thought nothing more about it for 5-10 years until it was time to move to Windows 7, wait 5-10 more years and move to Windows 10.
But with Microsoft turning Windows into a service, we must start measuring the Windows 10 cycle in terms of months and NOT years. Look at the history of Windows 10.
| Windows 10 Version | Name | Release Date | Branch | End of Servicing/Support | Update Count |
| 1507 | Windows 10 | July 29, 2015 | CBB
LTSB |
May 9, 2017
October 13, 2020 |
30
32 and counting |
| 1511 | November Update | November 12, 2015 | CBB | October 10, 2017 | 37 and counting |
| 1607 | Anniversary Update | August 2, 2016 | CBB
|
TBD (March 2018)
October 12, 2021 |
20 and counting
20 and counting |
| 1703 | Creator’s Update | April, 11, 2017 | CBB | TBD (September 2018) | 3 and counting |
| 1709 | Fall Creator’s Update | October 17, 2017 | Semi-Annual | TBD (March 2019) | |
| (TBD) 1803 | March 2018 | Semi-Annual | TBD (September 2019) | ||
| (TBD) 1809 | September 2018 | Semi-Annual | TBD (March 2020) | ||
| (TBD) 1903 | March 2019 | Semi-Annual | TBD (September 2020) |
For anyone using the CBB (Current Branch for Business), which is being renamed to Semi-Annual, we are able to skip 2 updates (that’s good) before reaching the end of servicing timeframe where we will no longer receive security fixes (that’s bad). And with each CBB/Semi-Annual release running on a roughly 6 month cadence (that’s good), this requires us to perform a major update every 18 months (that’s bad).
Each release provided significant improvements in the overall user experience. We received new functionality, plugins for Edge. We had better performing apps, like Edge. We could integrate newer technologies, like IoT. But each release changed the operating system by including new default apps, services and scheduled tasks; impacting user logon time and overall system resource consumption.
In order to follow best practices, we need to optimize appropriately to achieve the best combination of user experience and resource consumption. Each time we have a major feature upgrade for Windows 10, we need to repeat our optimization
- Optimize default apps
- Optimize Windows services
- Optimize scheduled tasks
- Optimize user interface/runtime
Daniel (Follow on Twitter @djfeller)
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