Like many, I've been skeptical about the whole thing. The security issues you read about, wifi password sharing and the like. We for the past few days I've been reading about the three different 'editions' and how they handle simple things like Windows Updates.
Microsoft believes that people, even in the enterprise environment, want new features and functionality faster than ever. That product life-cycles should be measures in months and not years. Not sure where that retarded idea came from but that's how it is now.
First off let's get this out, there are three editions now and they all center around how often the OS is updated with new features. You have:
Current Branch (CB)
Current Branch for Business (CBB)
Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB)
Windows 10 release types and cadences
Although Microsoft releases flight builds to Windows Insiders, Microsoft will publish two types of Windows 10 releases broadly to the public on an ongoing basis:
- Feature upgrades that install the latest new features, experiences, and capabilities on devices that are already running Windows 10. Because feature upgrades contain an entire copy of Windows, they are also what customers use to install Windows 10 on existing devices running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, and on new devices where no operating system is installed.
- Servicing updates that focus on the installation of security fixes and other important updates.
They say to expect 2 - 3 Feature Upgrades per year... which to me sounds like 2 - 3 full installs per year. But wait! there's more.
The cumulative nature of all Windows 10 releases
It is important to note that, in order to improve release quality and simplify deployments, all new releases that Microsoft publishes for Windows 10 will be cumulative. This means new feature upgrades and servicing updates will contain the payloads of all previous releases (in an optimized form to reduce storage and networking requirements), and installing the release on a device will bring it completely up to date. Also, unlike earlier versions of Windows, you cannot install a subset of the contents of a Windows 10 servicing update. For example, if a servicing update contains fixes for three security vulnerabilities and one reliability issue, deploying the update will result in the installation of all four fixes.
Great, just great. Now every Feature Upgrade really does contain the sum of every other update. Microsoft believe that every person out there has a good fat pipe to the internet, that 'It's 2016! 10mb+ broadband is everywhere!' At least that's my opinion anyway.
Don't stop reading yet, there's more news for the enterprise folks.
Windows Update use within enterprises
Although Windows Update greatly simplifies and accelerates update deployment, enterprises are not using Windows Update as broadly as consumers and small businesses. This is largely because Windows Update maintains control over which updates are installed and the timing of installation. This makes it difficult for IT administrators to test updates before deployment in their specific environment.
The role of Windows Server Update Services
To help address the concerns of IT administrators, Microsoft released Windows Server Update Services in 2005. Windows Server Update Services enables IT administrators to obtain the updates that Windows Update determines are applicable to the devices in their enterprise, perform additional testing and evaluation on the updates, and select the updates they want to install. Windows Server Update Services also provides IT administrators with an all or nothing way to specify when they want an approved update to be installed. Because IT administrators ultimately select and install most updates identified by Windows Update, the role of Windows Server Update Services in many enterprises is to provide IT administrators with the additional time they need to gain confidence in the quality of updates prior to deployment.
New Windows Update capabilities in Windows 10
To enable enterprises to manage more of their devices using Windows Update directly, Windows 10 provides IT administrators with a way to configure devices so that Windows Update will defer new feature upgrade installations until approximately four months after Microsoft first publishes them. The additional time can be used to perform testing or enable releases to gain additional time in market prior to deployment.
At the end of each approximately four month period, Microsoft executes a set of processes that require no action from enterprise IT administrators.* First, Microsoft creates new installation media for the feature upgrade by combining the original installation media with all the servicing updates published by Microsoft since the original media’s release. This reduces the time it can take to install a feature upgrade on a device. Second, Microsoft republishes the new media to Windows Update withtargeting instructions that state (in effect) “install this media on devices that are configured for deferred installation of new feature upgrades.” At this point, devices configured to defer installation will begin receiving and installing the feature upgrade automatically.
The role of Windows Update for Business
Although Windows 10 will enable IT administrators to defer installation of new feature upgrades using Windows Update, enterprises may also want additional control over how and when Windows Update installs releases. With this need in mind, Microsoft announced Windows Update for Business in May of 2015. Microsoft designed Windows Update for Business to provide IT administrators with additional Windows Update-centric management capabilities, such as the ability to deploy updates to groups of devices and to define maintenance windows for installing releases. This article will be updated with additional information about the role of Windows Update for Business in servicing Windows 10 devices as it becomes available.
* This is what I really enjoy as an SA... control being taken away.
Entire article here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt598226(v=vs.85).aspx
Granted according this article, which appears to be a constantly updated piece, is that the way things are right now I can maintain control over things like this by going with the LTSB release.
More to come.
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