Microsoft adds features to Windows 11 monthly – managing it is your problem
- Reference: 1677738669
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/03/02/windows_11_continuous_innovation/
- Source link:
News of the change came in a February 28 [1]post titled "Continuous innovation coming to Windows 11 in March."
In the post, product marketing manager for Windows Commercial, Harjit Dhaliwal, explains that "Windows 11 will continue to have an annual feature update cadence, with a new version released in the second half of the calendar year."
[2]
But features can be added with the monthly "quality updates" to Windows. Some have already landed, such as the [3]Bing Chatbot that appeared this week.
[4]
[5]
The good news is that most of these additions won't be enabled by default – if you set the right policies.
"If your organization uses Windows Update for Business or WSUS to control which Windows updates are offered to your managed devices, you can use a new client policy to control the rollout of select features introduced via servicing," Dhaliwal's post explains.
[6]
On February 9, Microsoft [7]detailed a "commercial control for continuous innovation" that lets Windows admins define which of the features in monthly quality updates make it to managed PCs.
According to Dhaliwal, "By default, all features introduced via servicing that are behind this commercial control will be off for Windows-Update-managed devices until they are released as part of the next annual feature update."
[8]Windows 11 update breaks PCs that dare sport a custom UI
[9]Microsoft pushed 'inaccurate' Windows 11 upgrade to unsupported devices
[10]VMware, Windows 11 shafted by Windows Server 2022
[11]Microsoft switches Edge’s PDF reader to pay-to-play Adobe Acrobat
Confusingly, the continuous innovations delivered in monthly updates aren't reflected in a change of the name of each Windows release: Windows 11's current version 22H2 moniker will remain, even though it adds plenty of features across many months of monthly updates. Its successor – presumably to be known as 23H2 – will get the name change.
Dhaliwal's post also previews the additional features in the monthly quality update to Windows 11 due on March 14, which will bring:
New accessibility features – Seamless switching between Narrator and other screen readers when using braille display; voice commands work across apps and File Explorer;
Energy use recommendations – Greater control over defaults plus tips to help decrease energy usage;
Snipping Tool enhancements – Built-in screen recorder with autosave functionality;
Windows Studio Effects improvements – Find and adjust quick settings (eye contact, background blur, voice focus, and automatic framing) directly from the taskbar.
None of those are startling or dangerous – other than perhaps the autosave screen recorder.
But the post doesn't say whether those additional features will be typical, or if Windows admins will need to pay closer attention to Microsoft's continuous innovation plans.
Admins will also have experience of Microsoft's security patches regularly bringing unintended and unpleasant consequences – usually breaking third-party products. Nailing down PC fleets to ensure these features aren't automatically active therefore looks like an excellent idea. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/continuous-innovation-coming-to-windows-11-in-march/ba-p/3754057
[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=2ZACB1e6Q6Vfkb3ucgkWKKgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/01/microsoft_ai_chatgpt_bing/
[4] 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=44ZACB1e6Q6Vfkb3ucgkWKKgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZACB1e6Q6Vfkb3ucgkWKKgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] 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=44ZACB1e6Q6Vfkb3ucgkWKKgAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/commercial-control-for-continuous-innovation/ba-p/3737575
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/01/microsoft_windows_11_crash/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/windows_11_inaccurate_upgrade/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/16/microsoft_windows_server_vmware/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/10/microsoft_edge_pdf_acrobat/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Yet another reason to never upgrade from win 10.
I agree, it is exactly what I'm doing.
Did anyone ask for this?
How about producing a fairly stable, robust, easy to use OS that's good for up to 10 years without major and/or minor changes breaking it each month? You know, like XP or Windows 7? They had their issues as well, but are probably two of the best OSes ever put out by MS (just my opinion - I'm sure plenty will disagree). 10 and now 11 have been nothing but a PITA from an admin perspective to maintain with all the constant changes and almost monthly patch breakages.
Re: Did anyone ask for this?
Microsoft has forgotten all about stability. Granted MS software was never renowned for this, but XP and 7 were pretty solid platforms by MS standards. Since then, we've had the mess of Windows 10 and the various borks and broken updates, now we've got Windows 11 with Microsoft deciding they're just going to dick about with it as and when they please. Microsoft have completely and utterly lost the plot.
Saying that, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. MS has spent over a year ignoring what numerous people are asking for with Windows 11 (fix the crippled taskbar and hopeless Start Menu) and instead spends their time faffing about trying to add Bing search boxes to as many parts of the OS as possible.
Microsoft: People don't want pointless gimmicks and features forced upon them in a regular stream. What they want is for you to get your shit in order and simply produce a solid, stable, usable and reliable OS. Is that too much to ask for?
Re: Did anyone ask for this?
Windows 11 is for non-enterprise. Consumers are being used as guinea-pigs to use Windows 11 as a testbed to develop Windows 12 for Enterprise. Maybe!
Re: Did anyone ask for this?
Personally for business I think NT4 SP6a nailed it - once you'd got it working it just carried on. If they'd added USB support then that was about all it needed to run any business app people might want.
who's the users?
The typical person using windows is doing so at work and is only interested in getting their job done, not getting excited to see where Microsoft moved the tools/interface controls to this month.
Stop messing around with this
Who greenlights this BS at $MSFT?
Dictatorship by suits
Any dissenters - i.e. developers and PMs with common sense and regard for the user - have long since left the building. Probably they couldn't bear another day's work because they saw what was coming.
Re: Stop messing around with this
I reckon the greenlight is Panos Panay - an ex-Sinofsky/Windows 8 idiot. Pity he didn't get the boot along with Sinofsky.
"Continuous innovation coming to Windows 11 in March"
So, Borkzilla has officially adapted the "move fast and break things" approach to OS design.
I'm so glad for Windows 11 after all. At least all that shit won't be contaminating my work laptop.
Oh, and users can avoid things by setting the proper policies ? Don't make me laugh. Most users have trouble setting a network share, I don't see them setting policies any time soon.
And apparently neither does Borkzilla, which is why it has decided to do this.
Re: "Continuous innovation coming to Windows 11 in March"
If if they do figure out how to set a policy to avoid it then MS will probably change what's needed to ensure this in the next "Quality" update.
Wait. People actually allow their Windows machines to contact Microsoft's servers? I thought people were joking!
How do you make sure you get the *correct* updates and security fixes if you don't do it manually? Are you telling me, people just connect these things to the internet and hope for the best? That's wild!!
Isn't it fun having customers locked in?
Microsoft is clearly having a ball proving it to its investors.
The victims customers far less so..
Yet another reason to never upgrade from win 10.
I need to invest a bit more effort in getting games running reliably on linux then move permanently and totally to that platform.
And surely an enterprise platform should above all things be stable. Which business wants to have the expense and difficulty of answering mirriad "yesterday it worked, today it doesn't" queries on a monthly basis.