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Windows 10 after two years: Was the upgrade worth it?
In the first year after releasing Windows 10, Microsoft seemed hellbent on pushing its new operating system onto every device it saw.
That strategy turned out to be counterproductive, with some customers howling in pain over forced upgrades that caused compatibility problems. The blowback from a German consumer agency was serious enough that Microsoft issued a rare formal apology and promised never to do it again.
To add insult to injury, that aggressive approach still left the Windows 10 installed base short of its ambitious goal of 1 billion devices.
For the big Windows 10 feature update that arrived in mid-2016, Microsoft adopted the same aggressive approach, and the result was once again far from problem-free. The initial rollout of the Anniversary Update caused some PCs to freeze after completing the upgrade, resulted in reboot loops for others, and broke an important enterprise feature.
Those negative experiences apparently led to some soul-searching and some much-needed process changes in Redmond.
As Windows 10 enters its third year, Microsoft is taking a far more deliberate approach to delivering feature updates.
Exhibit A is Windows 10 version 1703, the so-called Creators Update. Although it was officially released in April, Microsoft has been rolling it out in much more measured fashion. On two test devices in my office, for example, I wasn’t offered the Windows 10 Creators Update until early September.
That’s no accident. The new goal for Windows 10 feature updates, according to people involved directly with the Windows Update infrastructure, is to roll them out “as fast as is safe.”
Windows Update for Business: A hands-on look at how to take control [Tech Pro Research]
The end result is that Microsoft is being far more selective about the rollout process for the Creators Update and its successor, the Fall Creators Update.
John Cable, Director of Program Management for Windows Servicing and Delivery, told me the goal for both of 2017’s feature updates is to use Microsoft’s telemetry information and an expanded regimen of testing with OEMs to sort PCs into groups based on their likelihood to upgrade properly.
“We won’t roll out [a feature update] until we are certain you will have a positive experience,” Cable told me.
Problems arise because the universe of Windows PCs is so diverse that it’s literally impossible to test every combination of hardware and software to identify issues.
Using telemetry data, Cable said, “We can tell which apps, hardware drivers, and firmware will cause certain issues.” Armed with that knowledge, Microsoft can prevent an update from going to certain machines until that issue is resolved.