No more feature updates for Windows 10 – current version is final
- Reference: 1682708355
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/28/no_more_updates_for_windows_10/
- Source link:
Microsoft disclosed in an update to its client roadmap that there will be no further feature updates for Windows 10, and so the current version, 22H2, will be the final build of this version of Windows.
The ultimate end of the Windows 10 lifecycle has been known about for a couple of years, when the Redmond outfit [1]updated its product lifecycle pages to show that [2]Windows 10 Home and Pro , as well as the [3]Enterprise and Education editions , will all be retired on 14 October 2025 .
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But it wasn’t clear until now how long before the final cut-off deadline Microsoft would continue to deliver updates to the platform, which was first released in 29 July 2015.
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“We realize that a clear Windows client roadmap update helps consumers and organizations with planning their Windows release activities,” said Microsoft’s Principal Product Manager for Windows Servicing and Delivery Jason Leznek, announcing the update on the [7]Windows IT Pro Blog .
The good news is that all Windows 10 editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date, while long-term servicing channel (LTSC) releases will continue to receive updates beyond that date based on their specific lifecycles.
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However, Microsoft has made it clear that it would like users to “transition to Windows 11 now as there won't be any additional Windows 10 feature updates.”
This might be easier said than done, however, as Windows 11 carries hardware requirements, such as a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0 and UEFI firmware with Secure Boot, that mean some users will not be able to upgrade from Windows 10 on their existing system.
As The Register reported towards the end of last year, research found that nearly 43 percent of devices studied by asset management provider Lansweeper were [9]unable to upgrade for this reason, representing millions of systems.
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Customers have also proven less than enthusiastic about Windows 11, with only about 16 percent of online Windows users running it in November last, according to [11]Statcounter .
Windows 10 was widely touted on its release as “ [12]the last version of Windows that will ever be released ”, as it marked the unveiling of Redmond’s “Windows as a service" concept that the platform would simply be continually updated.
The “last version of Windows” bit may have been due to a misunderstanding, but it was one that Microsoft didn’t hurry to correct, at least until it was ready to launch Windows 11, of course.
Meanwhile, the regular updates have proven to be as much a curse as a benefit, with the ever-present chance that they might break compatibility with something, while user interface changes would annoy users who had just got used to the way everything worked.
“During these years, how many times did Microsoft fiddle with Win10's start menu design only to break it? And Settings app is still incomplete, we never got rid of classic Control Panel. What an underwhelming end,” [13]responded one user on Twitter in response to a Microsoft tweet about the final version of Windows 10.
[14]How fiends abuse an out-of-date Microsoft Windows driver to infect victims
[15]Microsoft mucks with PrtScr key for first time in decades
[16]Microsoft scrambles to fix Windows 11 'aCropalypse' privacy-battering bug
[17]Microsoft to give more than microsecond's thought about your Windows 11 needs
With the final ending of support for Windows 7 Extended Security Update (ESU) and Windows 8 and 8.1 on [18]January 10 this year , Microsoft is ushering many of its ageing OS releases towards that great Windows Update in the sky within just a few years of each other, perhaps making the task of software support easier for Redmond.
Microsoft said it is important for organizations to have enough time to plan for adopting Windows 11, and so it disclosed that the next long-term releases - Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC and Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC - are due to be available in the second half of 2024. More details will be revealed closer to availability. ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/14/microsoft_windows_10_end_support_date/
[2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/lifecycle/products/windows-10-home-and-pro
[3] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/lifecycle/products/windows-10-enterprise-and-education
[4] 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=2ZExCAvaS-fU6wpAlwiDkxgAAANg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%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=4&c=44ZExCAvaS-fU6wpAlwiDkxgAAANg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%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=3&c=33ZExCAvaS-fU6wpAlwiDkxgAAANg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/bg-p/Windows10Blog
[8] 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=44ZExCAvaS-fU6wpAlwiDkxgAAANg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/10/windows_11_adoption/
[10] 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=33ZExCAvaS-fU6wpAlwiDkxgAAANg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/05/windows_11_adoption_november_statcounter/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2015/07/31/rising_and_ongoing_cost_of_windows/
[13] https://twitter.com/juzuo/status/1651842878451097600
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/24/microsoft_windows_driver_aukill_ransomware/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/13/microsoft_snipping_tool_default/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/microsoft_snipping_tool_fix/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/20/microsoft_windows_11_defaults/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/09/microsoft_windows_7_8_support_ends/
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I don't know, I think both Windows 10 and [Show more options] Windows 11 are turds. Perhaps Microsoft are upping their game and we now need to skip to the third re-release.
Or really it was always the *kernel* that we wait for the second release on. The Windows kernel has barely been updated for a decade so we have been strategically updating incorrectly.
Truly, certainly not
I know there's a lot of love for Win7 on these forums, but on all the computers I run or am responsible to admin, Win10 has been far, far, far more stable and less problem-prone. Win10 BSOD are almost unheard of compared to Win7, and even the update service is more stable (note, not saying the stability and effectiveness of the updates themselves, for although I have never had problems I know there are reports of plenty) with almost no hung update installs. And rebuilding the network stack in Win10? Almost unheard of, compared to Win7.
Life is good for many people under Win10 as an update from Win7, I am quite sure the largest majority of users do not wish to go back if asked (present company of this forum excepted).
Re: Truly, certainly not
Give me windows 10 with a windows 7 START menu and I'm happy.
Re: Truly, certainly not
There are several small apps (some free) that will emulate the Win7 Start menu in Win10.
Re: Truly, certainly not
Openshell, for one.
Re: Truly, certainly not
Or Classic Start Menu
I'm thinking that Microsoft (and others) should start using complex numbers in their versioning.
You know, something with an imaginary component.
While I applaud their move to providing cloud-based services (when they work, when they are fully functioning), I think they are also pushing away a whole segment of lowly developers that targeted the Windows environment, or at least included it in their cross-platform releases.
Slowly, slowly, over the last 15+ years, I've migrated to another platform (not Apple based), and have found the tools and environment to be at least as good and much more useful for multi-platform development. Maybe that's why MS has pushed WSL, but it seems strange to have a bloated whale under a slim-and-trim OS just to try to stay on the same hardware.
[Microsoft has made it clear that it would like users to “transition to Windows 11 now as there won't be any additional Windows 10 feature updates.”]
My desktop and laptop aren't in the "Alllowed" list.
Thank $deity. No more new "features" to remove.
*sigh* my aging desktop (2nd generation i5, 16gb RAM, 512gb SSD, Nvidia 1050TI) is more than capable of handling everything I can throw at it - libre office, Lazarus, Vs code, Gimp, inkscape, several chrome's each with dozens of tabs open, visual studio community edition, various other bits and bobs.
Yes, it would likely struggle with heavy video editing, or fancy games, but that's not what I do. I object to scrapping a perfectly good PC just because it can't run Windows 11. If it's still running when 10 goes out of support, it will be getting an upgrade to Linux, distro to be decided at the time. Anything that really needs windows will be relegated to my laptop - almost new mid range gaming laptop that I rarely use.
I understand that Microsoft don't want to support legacy hardware and software indefinitely, but neither do I want to scrap a perfectly good PC. There are a LOT of home and micro business users out there who don't need or want the latest shiny toys, and who object to the expense and inconvenience of replacing a functional PC. Many of them will soldier on with Windows 10, just as quite a few are still using Windows 7 and have no plans to change. In trying to force them into buying a new PC, Microsoft is encouraging a security nightmare of unpatched Windows boxen. They really need to relax the hardware requirements for 11 to allow it to run on older hardware, perhaps with a disclaimer,but I doubt that will happen.
If only they'd stopped 5 years ago. Seriously, can anybody name one feature added since 2018 that improved windows?
Windows Subsystem for Linux?
Added in 2016. They've made improvements, but the feature was originally added 7 years ago.
It's the hardware, innit ....
So instead of a gradual uplift in hardware over time, someone at MS decides to force new hardware on everyone. Sure that is potentially a big money spinner for hardware manufacturers, but really? Is TPM 2.0 really that good and that necessary that everyone has to have one? I look after a small fleet of W11 PCs and frankly there is no discernible performance change over an average W10 PC; looks like they just rehashed the GUI.
So to meet this challenge, either Canonical and Red Hat are going to have to seriously up their game to address the business PC market, Google need to really push Chromebooks (and sort the 'sell-by date' issue), or Apple is going to be selling a lot of Macbook Airs.
Re: It's the hardware, innit ....
It allows Windows Hello, I think, and that is a nice-to-have feature.
Other than that, not really.
Err
.....update releases through that date
"Through that date". WTF does that even mean? Is this one of those stupid Americanisms? Are they trying to say "..until/up to that date", but using something that sort of sounds like it's an American phrase of some kind?
Feeling nostalgic now, we're back to the old days of skipping every second version of WIndows cos it's a turd, with the version after just being a re-branded and (mostly) fixed version of the one before.