After 45 days in the unpaid beta testing phase, Microsoft surprised most of the patching world yesterday by declaring that Windows 10 April 2018 Update is ready for deployment in the enterprise. By doing so, Microsoft simultaneously raised the ire of almost everyone in the patching industry, demonstrated how out-of-touch its metrics have become, and completely destroyed the underpinnings of “Current Branch for Business.”
Win10 version 1803 entered the unpaid beta testing phase (officially known as the “Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) branch” or, previously, “Current Branch”) on April 30. Yesterday, Microsoft declared that Win10 1803 is ready for business deployment:
"Based on the update quality and reliability we are seeing through our AI approach, we are now expanding the release broadly to make the April 2018 Update (version 1803) fully available for all compatible devices running Windows 10 worldwide. Full availability is the final phase of our rollout process. You don’t have to do anything to get the update; it will rollout automatically to you through Windows Update."
The terminology has changed at least three times since Win10’s initial release, but to use the terms most familiar to patching people, Microsoft has reduced the full-on testing time – the interval between “Current Branch” and “Current Branch for Business” – significantly:
How long has it taken Microsoft to bestow the “ready for business” imprimatur?
That A.I. is gooooood, eh?Mind you, version 1803 is the one that shipped with multiple major flaws, including
Of course, Microsoft’s “A.I. approach” has made the world a better place, and folks who have to patch are now instructed to eat dirt. At this point, it looks like 1803 is going to be pushed onto most machines, very rapidly. Microsoft claims that 1803 is already running on 250 million machines, on a user base “approaching 700 million monthly active devices.”
Here's one person who doesn't care.
Haha
They need to be scared though and stop doing this mess before they convince Canonical to start a major advertising push and get deals with Dell and HP. Imagine if you will a day when hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Windows computers are replaced by Linux. All these office computers and home machines people use for internet and other light tasks using Ubuntu, Firefox/Chrome, and LibreOffice instead of Windows, Edge, and Office 365. Inherently more secure (at this time) than Windows, and with no forced upgrade push to give home users and IT managers ulcers, not to mention lacking the large costs of Windows licenses. Combine it with Wine for Windows compatibility, and the image of "Linux is for nerds and impossible for people to use" will turn into "Why the bleep am I still putting up with Windows?".