Microsoft moves Windows 10 feature updates to an annual cycle

Cal Jeffrey

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Why it matters: Microsoft is accelerating its Windows11 rollout starting today. To facilitate this, Windows 10 will move to an annual feature update cadence and will also likely see fewer significant additions since the OS has entered its end-of-life cycle. Microsoft promises support for Windows 10 until October 14th, 2025.

On Patch Tuesday, Microsoft announced it is adjusting its Windows 10 update cadence to fall in line with Windows 11. Beginning with the 21H2 patch, Windows 10 users can expect regular feature updates annually.

"We will transition to a new Windows 10 release cadence to align with the Windows 11 cadence, targeting annual feature update releases," said John Cable, Microsoft's vice president of Windows servicing and delivery. "The next Windows 10 feature update is slated for the second half of 2022. We will continue to support at least one version of Windows 10 through Oct. 14, 2025."

He also said the servicing channel, formally known as the "Semi-Annual Channel," has been renamed the "General Availability Channel," starting with today's update.

The Windows 10 21H2 patch is not that significant. It brings WPA3 H2E support for better WiFi security. It also streamlines Windows Hello for Business to allow for quicker, smoother, passwordless deployments. Lastly, the update adds GPU compute support to WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) and EFLOW (Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows). Utilizing GPU cycles should aid machine-learning deployments and other heavy workloads.

While there may be more substantial Windows 10 updates in the future, users should keep expectations in check. Microsoft is heavily focused on Windows 11, and Cable said Microsoft is stepping up its Windows 11 rollout starting today.

"Based on the positive rollout update experience and user feedback we have seen to date, we are advancing the pace of the rollout faster than we previously anticipated, and now making the Windows 11 upgrade more broadly available to eligible Windows 10 devices [sic]," says the VP.

Microsoft's accelerated Windows 11 rollout might explain its decision to end support for x64 emulation in Windows 10. This move will essentially force Surface Insiders who run x64 apps to upgrade to Windows 11, even if that means they need a newer device. Microsoft sneakily announced this today by updating a nearly one-year-old blog post about the x64 emulation preview released last December.

"x64 emulation for Windows is now generally available in Windows 11," the update reads. "For those interested in experiencing this, a PC running Windows 11 on Arm is required."

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2025 will be an interesting year. Microsoft has EOL-ed Windows versions before, but I think 2025 will be unique in having hundreds of millions of devices that are still viable for everyday use in the eyes of their owners, but no supported place to go in that they will be locked out of Windows 11 over TPM 2.0.

I'm not usually one to celebrate class action lawyers but I think they should suit up on the day that Microsoft stops providing security patches for those devices. I'm not sure Microsoft gets to wash its hands of liability for defects in previously sold products just because it wants to. That's not how it works in other product categories (at least in the US.)
 
Thank you Microsoft. Should have been this way the whole time.

Will you take just as long to fix broken updates. Or if you will even attempt a fix. Either way will promote attempt to force Windows 11 migration.
 
I think 2025 will be unique in having hundreds of millions of devices that are still viable for everyday use in the eyes of their owners, but no supported place to go in that they will be locked out of Windows 11 over TPM 2.0.

Really?

I'm running Windows 11 without TPM, on a single 32GB - MBR partition, on a 10 year old Sandy Bridge, with an old school BIOS, without secure boot and still getting updates

It was activated on a Windows 10 Pro Licensed computer and remains activated on a second machine while Windows 10 remains activated on the first machine

In fact, I had TWO copies of Windows 11 running on separate computers for a total of THREE copies of Windows fully activated and getting updates from a single License

But, yes, if you believe everything Microsoft tells you, then you're totally screwed come 2025

In fact, you're already screwed!

Enjoy
 
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I'm aware of technical workarounds that work today, but they are irrelevant to the point I'm making. Even if those hacks still work in 2025, and even if MS never follows through on its stated intent to withhold patches from devices upgraded in that fashion, Microsoft's statements that it is not supported, along with not allowing the update via normal methods, will be enough to leave most of those pre-TPM2 devices on Win 10, vulnerable, and exploited. That's what will matter.
 
Really?

I'm running Windows 11 without TPM, on a single 32GB - MBR partition, on a 10 year old Sandy Bridge, with an old school BIOS, without secure boot and still getting updates

It was activated on a Windows 10 Pro Licensed computer and remains activated on a second machine while Windows 10 remains activated on the first machine

In fact, I had TWO copies of Windows 11 running on separate computers for a total of THREE copies of Windows fully activated and getting updates from a single License

But, yes, if you believe everything Microsoft tells you, then you're totally screwed come 2025

In fact, you're already screwed!

Enjoy

Microsoft not only actively discourages people with your exact hardware and no TPM 2.0 enabled on bios (Something 99.99% of users will *never* do even if they could and were instructed to) but also claims they won't serve you updates at one point in the future.

Not sure why you get enjoyment out of doing the exact opposite thing Microsoft wants *YOU* personally to do which is NOT upgrade to 11 and remain on 10 but hey, no kink-shaming from me.
 
Not sure why you get enjoyment out of doing the exact opposite thing Microsoft wants *YOU* personally to do which is NOT upgrade to 11 and remain on 10 but hey, no kink-shaming from me.

Why do some enjoy climbing Mt Everest ?

I've been running Windows XP-SP2 online for the past 8 years without a single security update on a full admin account without a single malware or ransomware problem simply because the self proclaimed "EXPERTS" tell me I cannot do it

Why do I enjoy doing what others tell me I cannot do?

I dunno,
Maybe I just get tired of listening to the Corporate Propaganda and all their shills

It's a Real Mystery
 
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Why do some enjoy climbing Mt Everest ?
I get the challenge thing but do you know that the path to and from Mt Everest is literally littered with corpses?

Not the analogy I'd go with but hey if you like to challenge yourself, I can respect that: you tried easy mode, now try Gentoo.
 
I'm aware of technical workarounds that work today, but they are irrelevant to the point I'm making. Even if those hacks still work in 2025, and even if MS never follows through on its stated intent to withhold patches from devices upgraded in that fashion, Microsoft's statements that it is not supported, along with not allowing the update via normal methods, will be enough to leave most of those pre-TPM2 devices on Win 10, vulnerable, and exploited. That's what will matter.
Microsoft will need to figure out what to do. Should be interesting to watch to say the least.

We should expect an extension on security updates.
 
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I have a feeling that by 2025 Linux will be mature enough to be a legitimate alternative to windows for the average user. With distros like Linux mint you don't even need to touch the command line. Only reason MS got away with this crap before is that 10-15 years ago you either had to dedicate thousands of hours to learn Linux or spend $1000 on a Mac. Now, thanks to inflation, $1000 isn't that much anymore and Linux is getting easier by the day.

Frankly, if I could run OSX on non Apple hardware I would consider it over windows.
 
I have a feeling that by 2025 Linux will be mature enough to be a legitimate alternative to windows for the average user. With distros like Linux mint you don't even need to touch the command line. Only reason MS got away with this crap before is that 10-15 years ago you either had to dedicate thousands of hours to learn Linux or spend $1000 on a Mac. Now, thanks to inflation, $1000 isn't that much anymore and Linux is getting easier by the day.

Frankly, if I could run OSX on non Apple hardware I would consider it over windows.
you can... like 15 years already but this era is ending with the M1 so last chance
 
you can... like 15 years already but this era is ending with the M1 so last chance
The hackintosh requires hardware generally close to what you'd find in a Mac to work properly, my hardware choices are nowhere close to that.
 
The hackintosh requires hardware generally close to what you'd find in a Mac to work properly, my hardware choices are nowhere close to that.
ryzens are running mac os these days so what hw specifics can you have... you want to use the hw on the mac os anyway. worst case you can virtualize it on any hw. maybe the nvidia gpu could be a problem as apple dropped its support a while ago -
 
ryzens are running mac os these days so what hw specifics can you have... you want to use the hw on the mac os anyway. worst case you can virtualize it on any hw. maybe the nvidia gpu could be a problem as apple dropped its support a while ago -
>implying I haven't tried
And yes, I use ryzen+nVidia hardware. I plan on switching to AMD graphics when(if) prices on GPUs ever come down because nVidia driver support on Linux is trash. And I don't want to use macOS in a virtual machine because of performance issues. I've managed to virtualize windows with near zero performance impact, but that took weeks of trouble shooting. While I haven't looked into it, I'm sure the online support for working around these issue is likely nonexistent relative to what was available for running and gaming on windows in a virtual machine
 
>implying I haven't tried
And yes, I use ryzen+nVidia hardware. I plan on switching to AMD graphics when(if) prices on GPUs ever come down because nVidia driver support on Linux is trash. And I don't want to use macOS in a virtual machine because of performance issues. I've managed to virtualize windows with near zero performance impact, but that took weeks of trouble shooting. While I haven't looked into it, I'm sure the online support for working around these issue is likely nonexistent relative to what was available for running and gaming on windows in a virtual machine
yes nvidia is the problem otherwise you could virtualize it without performance penalties with proxmox requires a lot of work though. and gpu prices will never be down :)
 
Why do some enjoy climbing Mt Everest ?

I've been running Windows XP-SP2 online for the past 8 years without a single security update on a full admin account without a single malware or ransomware problem simply because the self proclaimed "EXPERTS" tell me I cannot do it

Why do I enjoy doing what others tell me I cannot do?

I dunno,
Maybe I just get tired of listening to the Corporate Propaganda and all their shills

It's a Real Mystery
I was wondering if you’d show up to this thread to troll your Win Xp box… please explain how it’s relevant to anyone who will need Windows 10 Support (or Win 11) over the next few years?
 
I was wondering if you’d show up to this thread to troll your Win Xp box… please explain how it’s relevant to anyone who will need Windows 10 Support (or Win 11) over the next few years?

Why I do what you and others believe is totally impossible is in no way relevant to anyone who will need Windows 10 Support (or Win 11) over the next few years

Why, did you think Dimitriid was wondering that about me or my response to him ?

Why would you think that ?
 
Why I do what you and others believe is totally impossible is in no way relevant to anyone who will need Windows 10 Support (or Win 11) over the next few years

Why, did you think Dimitriid was wondering that about me or my response to him ?

Why would you think that ?
So if it's irrelevant... why do you continue to post about it?
By the way... it's not that we think what you do is impossible - just that it's stupid to do it...
 
So if it's irrelevant... why do you continue to post about it?
By the way... it's not that we think what you do is impossible - just that it's stupid to do it...



My comments above were directly relevant to the topic being discussed

When a commenter (such as yourself) makes a comment or query to me, I am free to respond directly to said comment or query

I was "On Topic" of the comment that preceded my response, but you, as usual, were not
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Your previous comments for the past several years indicated that you did not believe that Windows XP could be secured by me in a manner that would prevent malware infections

You claimed it was impossible, yet now you say it's just stupid
You were (and are) wrong, and you did make those statements

Please re-read all your previous statements going back to 2015
 
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My comments above were directly relevant to the topic being discussed

When a commenter (such as yourself) makes a comment or query to me, I am free to respond directly to said comment or query

I was "On Topic" of the comment that preceded my response, but you, as usual, were not
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your previous comments for the past several years indicated that you did not believe that Windows XP could be secured by me in a manner that would prevent malware infections

You claimed it was impossible, yet now you say it's just stupid
You were (and are) wrong, and you did make those statements

Please re-read all your previous statements going back to 2015
I have never said it was impossible... apparently reading comprehension isn't your strength... what I've said (and continue to say) is that since the way you've made your computer "secure" is simply to make the OS read only - you can't actually DO anything useful on it... other than surf the web... and thus, your "achievement" is not only NOT an achievement - it's irrelevant to everyone else.

As to being on topic - I might remind you that this is about Windows 11... Windows XP really doesn't apply here...
 
I have never said it was impossible... apparently reading comprehension isn't your strength... what I've said (and continue to say) is that since the way you've made your computer "secure" is simply to make the OS read only - you can't actually DO anything useful on it... other than surf the web... and thus, your "achievement" is not only NOT an achievement - it's irrelevant to everyone else.

As to being on topic - I might remind you that this is about Windows 11... Windows XP really doesn't apply here...
If you change the topic from Windows 11 when commenting to me, I am free to respond and "I" am on topic to "your" comment which has nothing to do with this story

But since you have changed the subject and are clearly wrong once again, let me respond directly to you on the topic of your discussion.....

I can do anything I like on a Read Only OS
Edit Audio & Video
Play games
Run Photoshop

Why would you think the OS is somehow gimped so it could only be used for surfing the web?

It is just as useful as any Read/Write installation of XP

It is Read Only OS on C: partition and Read/Write on secondary partitions or removable drives

It does everything you could ever do with Windows XP, except get wrecked with malware
 
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If you change the topic from Windows 11 when commenting to me, I am free to respond and "I" am on topic to "your" comment which has nothing to do with this story

But since you have changed the subject and are clearly wrong once again, let me respond directly to you on the topic of your discussion.....

I can do anything I like on a Read Only OS
Edit Audio & Video
Play games
Run Photoshop

Why would you think the OS is somehow gimped so it could only be used for surfing the web?

It is just as useful as any Read/Write installation of XP

It is Read Only OS on C: partition and Read/Write on secondary partitions or removable drives

It does everything you could ever do with Windows XP, except get wrecked with malware
For the record... YOU posted first in this thread... and you included Windows XP...

Secondly... how many current AAA games can you play on your XP box? How many websites won't allow you to surf because you don't have an up-to-date version of something... hmmmmmm...
 
For the record... YOU posted first in this thread... and you included Windows XP...

Secondly... how many current AAA games can you play on your XP box? How many websites won't allow you to surf because you don't have an up-to-date version of something... hmmmmmm...
Brucek posted 1st in this thread and my 1st response did not include XP

How can you be wrong every single time you post?

Triple A games?
Don't be silly, I don't run Mac software on XP either, in case that was your next question
But, of course I can play any XP game I want
How many XP games can you play?

and how many websites won't allow me to surf because I don't have an up-to-date version of something?... hmmmmmm...?

Not many, because I can surf with Windows XP / Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 / Windows 10 and Windows 11 on the same box, along with Linux Too!

Wouldn't it just be easier to ask me instead of jumping to so many nonsensical conclusions?
 
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Brucek posted 1st in this thread and my 1st response did not include XP

How can you be wrong every single time you post?

Triple A games?
Don't be silly, I don't run Mac software on XP either, in case that was your next question
But, of course I can play any XP game I want
How many XP games can you play?

and how many websites won't allow me to surf because I don't have an up-to-date version of something?... hmmmmmm...?

Not many, because I can surf with Windows XP / Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 / Windows 10 and Windows 11 on the same box, along with Linux Too!

Wouldn't it just be easier to ask me instead of jumping to so many nonsensical conclusions?
You still mentioned XP before I posted in this thread... again... I understand reading comprehension is an issue... I guess I'll answer them for you...

How many AAA games can you play on your crappy XP box? - answer: NONE (I didn't ask how many XP games you could play - by the way, anyone can run XP games on Windows 10 or 11....

How many websites CAN'T you run on your XP box? Lots - switching OSes kind of defeats the purpose of my question...
 
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