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 * Windows 10 Drops to One Annual Feature Update Moving Forward


WINDOWS 10 DROPS TO ONE ANNUAL FEATURE UPDATE MOVING FORWARD

 * By Ryan Whitwam on November 17, 2021 at 9:40 am
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Microsoft has started the staged release of Windows 11, and you can go out and
buy a new Windows 11 PC right now. While Windows 10 will continue getting
updates as promised, it’s natural to expect Microsoft won’t want to spend quite
as much time on yesteryear’s OS going forward. Therefore, Windows 10 will only
get one annual feature update instead of two, reports The Verge. Before you get
too up in arms, this is the same schedule as Windows 11. 

Early in the Windows 10 era, Microsoft began rolling out semiannual feature
updates, previously called Creators Updates. There have been “service packs” in
some previous releases of Windows, but these only came out every few years. This
practice supported speculation that Microsoft might never release another
distinct version of Windows after 10, as did the long wait between Windows 10
and the newly released Windows 11. Perhaps it was Microsoft’s intention to keep
updating Windows 10 at first, but it’s moving on with an OS that will only get
one feature update per year. 



There’s still a pending feature update for Windows 10 in the works. After
Microsoft releases that in the next few weeks, Windows 10 won’t get another
substantive patch until late 2022. The upcoming version doesn’t add much. The
most prominent feature is GPU compute for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Windows 11 won’t get more updates, though. The plan is just to do a single
yearly feature patch for Windows 11 in the future, and we probably won’t see the
first of those for a while. 





Currently, Microsoft is focused on rolling Windows 11 out to existing compatible
devices. Unlike Windows 10, Microsoft has opted to only support newer hardware
with specific capabilities. For example, PCs need to have a trusted platform
module and a CPU from the last few years to run Windows 11. You can install
Windows 11 manually on supported devices, but if you decide to wait until
Microsoft pushes it to your system, the prompt might not appear until the middle
of next year. 



Even if you can’t (or don’t want to) run Windows 11, Microsoft won’t leave you
in the lurch. Windows 10 will get security patches through October 2025, and
those should be more frequent than once a year. Just don’t expect as many new
features as we’ve been seeing thus far. With just three or four more major
updates in the offing for Windows 10, Microsoft probably won’t want to add
anything that’s going to need a lot of support in the future. If you want the
latest and greatest, it’s probably best to hop on the Windows 11 bandwagon.

Now read:

 * New Patches Resolve AMD Issues in Windows 11
 * Microsoft Windows 11: It’s Windows, But Elevener
 * Microsoft’s Updated PC Health App Tells You Why Your PC Can’t Run Windows 11






TAGGED IN

 * microsoft
 * windows
 * operating systems
 * windows 10
 * Windows 11

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