[German]In addition to extended (paid) support for Windows 7 until January 2023 (see Wow! Windows 7 get extended support until January 2023), Microsoft announced a change in the Windows 10 support model. There is now 30 months of support for new Windows 10 Autumn builds. For all other new Windows 10 builds there is 18 months support – except for the old builds (and a few other limitations).
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Old: Windows as a service with 18 months support
Till now, Microsoft has granted 18 months of support for Windows 10 builds. Exceptions are the LTSC variants of Windows 10 with 10 years support. Exceptions were also granted to various builds of Windows 10, whose support cycle had to be extended by Microsoft. I would like to remind you here of the article Windows 10 support for Clover Trail machines till 2023 – and my blog post Windows EOL dates differs for clients and servers.
Already in February 2018 Microsoft announced the extension of the support for Windows 10. The Windows 10 builds should get 24 months support (see the German article by Martin Geuß).
New: Windows as a service with 30 month support
In the blog post Helping customers shift to a modern desktop Microsoft announced its new support model for Windows 10:
- All currently supported feature updates of Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions (versions 1607, 1703, 1709, and 1803) will be supported for 30 months from their original release date. This will give customers on those versions more time for change management as they move to a faster update cycle.
- All future feature updates of Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions with a targeted release month of September (starting with 1809) will be supported for 30 months from their release date. This will give customers with longer deployment cycles the time they need to plan, test, and deploy.
- All future feature updates of Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions with a targeted release month of March (starting with 1903) will continue to be supported for 18 months from their release date. This maintains the semi-annual update cadence as our north star and retains the option for customers that want to update twice a year.
- All feature releases of Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, and Office 365 ProPlus will continue to be supported for 18 months (this applies to feature updates targeting both March and September).
Future spring feature updates fall back from 24 months support (announced in February 2018) to 18 months. The following picture with the support table shows an overview of this support model.
(Source: Microsoft)
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German blogger Martin Geuß from Dr. Windows assumes that Microsoft will integrate the new features into new builds in the spring, while stability will be improved in the autumn builds. Addition: Meanwhile Microsoft has also updated the Life Cycle Fact Sheet.
| Edition | March* feature updates | September * feature updates |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 Enterprise Windows 10 Education |
Serviced for 18 months from release date | Serviced for 30 months from release date |
| Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 Pro for Workstation Windows 10 Home |
Serviced for 18 months from release date, however based on your setting, the latest feature update may be automatically installed on your device upon availability. | Serviced for 18 months from release date, however based on your setting, the latest feature update may be automatically installed on your device upon availability. |
The new 'simplified' model does not meet with enthusiasm everywhere. Susan Bradley expressed some thoughts at askwoody.com. And the following tweet says it all:
this is them trying to force everyone to a fall update pattern…it is dumb
— Brad Sams (@bdsams) 6. September 2018
Let's see what else Microsoft comes up with and how the practice, i.e. the customers, will handle that.
Similar articles:
Wow! Windows 7 get extended support until January 2023
Windows 10 support for Clover Trail machines till 2023
Windows EOL dates differs for clients and servers
