Windows Update changes
Microsoft has announced the availability of the November 2021 Update for Windows 10. The release of the update, in addition to bringing some news, marks an important change: from now on Windows 10 will be more similar to Windows 11 and will receive the most substantial updates (the so called Feature Updates) once a year.The company has therefore abandoned the semi-annual model used so far, which provided for the release of two Feature Updates each year. The next big update of Windows 10 is therefore scheduled for the second half of 2022 and not by June, the date by which it was usually released.
Microsoft is keen to point out that it will support at least one version of Windows 10 until as of October 14, 2025, the date on which Windows 10 will “retire” and will no longer be supported. To give an example, Windows 10 (both Home and Pro versions) updated to the November 2021 Update will be supported for 18 months, while the enterprise and Education variants will receive support for 30 months.
Introducing Feature Update annual rather than half-yearly is positive: not only does it give Microsoft and Insider members the ability to test updates more thoroughly, in the hope of further reducing the number of bugs and issues encountered with the large-scale rollout of nearly every update. Windows 10, but also gives IT technicians in schools and businesses more time to test the update and check for any incompatibilities, before providing it to students and employees.