Windows 10 to hang on for five more years with 21H2 update
- Reference: 1626465910
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/16/windows_10_21h2/
- Source link:
It's a little confusing, because the current preview of Windows 11 also calls itself 21H2. It wouldn't be a Windows update without some attempt to baffle users. And goodness, thanks to the hardware requirements of Windows 11, there are going to be rather a lot of Windows 10 users still out there.
Indeed, [1]in a memo announcing the W10 update John Cable, veep of program management for Windows Servicing and Delivery, highlighted the more than 1.3 billion monthly active Windows 10 devices out there, many of which will not be eligible for the new shiny in the latter part of this year.
[2]
While Windows 10 21H2 will continue the theme of what Microsoft is calling "a scoped set of features," and what users might call "almost no features," that has been a mainstay of Windows 10 of late, it is a significant release. As well as the usual 18 and 30 months of servicing on offer to Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education customers, 21H2 will also be the basis of the next Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) edition of Windows 10, which will get five years of servicing.
[3]
This, in turn, means LTSC users have a tricky decision to make. Stick with the existing Windows 10 2019 LTSC, [4]which lasts until 2029 because it was released before [5]Microsoft decided that LTSC wasn't forever , and certainly not the 10 years of old (unless one was using the IoT version.) Or upgrade, knowing that support for this Windows 10 LTSC will end in 2026.
By which time the kindly software giant doubtless hopes users will have made the move to Windows 11 or signed up for a [6]Windows 365 subscription .
[7]It had to happen: Microsoft's cloudy Windows 365 desktops are due to land next month
[8]Visual Studio 2022 Preview 2 adds C++ build and debugging in WSL2 distributions
[9]Microsoft extends security updates for Windows and SQL Server 2012 and 2008
[10]Microsoft adds cloud enablement to 1970s Altair 8800 tech
As for the update itself, Windows Insiders on the Release Preview channel (moved from the Beta channel due to hardware incompatibility with Windows 11) will start receiving the new 21H2 builds.
While the rounded corners and controversial Start Menu of Windows 11 is not on the cards, users can expect Wi-Fi security improvements, Windows Hello for Business and GPU compute support in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows (EFLOW) deployments. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2021/07/15/introducing-the-next-feature-update-to-windows-10-21h2/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPIBfvGEyvtSAN2hx@IksgAAAMo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPIBfvGEyvtSAN2hx@IksgAAAMo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-2019-ltsc
[5] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/the-next-windows-10-long-term-servicing-channel-ltsc-release/ba-p/2147232
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/windows_365/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/windows_365/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/vs2022_wsl2_c_plus_plus/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/microsoft_extends_support_for_windows_server_2012_and_2008/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/16/altair_redux/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
okay...
So with Windows it's almost impossible to choose which version to go with whereas with Linux you spend the rest of your life hopping from distro to distro and desktop to desktop. Is the Apple world any more straightforward? If so, it might start looking nicer.
Re: okay...
Linux Mint does all I need, used it for nearly a decade now. The one Windows 10 computer left in the household belonging to the Mrs will likely be upgraded to Mint too before long the way Windows is going. She's always moaning about how slow it is to start and the amount of time it takes installing updates.
Re: okay...
I don't think that's correct about Windows or Linux. There's just 10 or 11 for Windows, and you spend about ten minutes deciding what license you need. For Linux, there are plenty of options to choose from, but you can decide on one and just stick with it. If you like Ubuntu, for example, you can probably bet on it sticking around for a long time. For Apple, I would say things are similarly easy except I don't understand your complaints. You choose a machine and run their OS, updating it every year unless you have something that doesn't update quickly. In any case, it's not a lot of work unless you want to really optimize things by repeatedly changing to something marginally better. If you want to pick something and not change it, you will probably be fine with a variety of options.
They will have to support Windows 10 for longer than five years
Given that some PCs only a few years old won't be able to run Windows 11 due to the TPM 2.0 requirement.
And don't tell me about "oh there's a slot where you can insert the TPM" because the average consumer is not going to open their PC and install something. Even the ones that are firmware upgradeable won't help unless Windows 11 does it as part of installation procedure.
Otherwise there will be a billion vulnerable PCs in early 2027 with another 5-10 years of useful life.
I suspect that Stardock
is prepping a fresh version of their Object Desktop that will mimic the round-y bits of Windows 11....................