Microsoft announced yesterday that they will be committing to a predictable twice-a-year feature release schedule for Windows 10, Office 365 ProPlus and System Center Configuration Manager. Microsoft claims that a twice-a-year feature release schedules are more manageable and predictable for easier enterprise administrators.
Bernardo Caldas / General Manager, Windows Commercial Marketing states in a post on Windows blog “We’re thrilled that Windows 10 continues to be the fastest-adopted version of Windows ever, with more than 400 million monthly active devices and ever growing adoption in the enterprise. ” Caldas goes on to say, “Our customers tell us a big part of that is because Windows 10 is the most secure version of Windows ever released and they see greater economic impact of their investment.”
The twice-per-year feature releases are scheduled for September and March of each year, aligning with Office 365. The next Windows 10 feature update will be targeted for September 2017. Each Windows 10 feature release will be serviced and supported for 18 months. System Center Configuration Manager will support this new updated models for Office 365 and Windows 10, making it easier for system administrators to keep everything up today for security and reliability reasons.
Microsoft states this decision was made to make to make Windows 10 and Office easier to deploy in the business environment. Caldas also said, “The Windows, Office and E+MS teams will continue to seek more ways to make deployment easier, and we look forward to your continued feedback to help us with that process.”
Microsoft is trying to make deploying and updating easy as possible because they want widespread adoption by systems administrators who will be the ones deploying the software in the business environment. This is very evident in their move to add System Center to this post knowing that’s what many Microsoft system admins use for deployment and update management. This is another play my Microsoft to be aggressive and push adoption in the business market one of their large profit areas.