Microsoft confirms Redstone 3 in September, promises two major upgrades in an year
Year 2016 witnessed only one major upgrade, but in 2017 we would expect two service upgrades. One Creators update which is already live in public released this month and other one codenamed Redstone 3 which is expected in the end of this year.
Microsoft has now confirmed the same about the second major upgrade this year, in a blog post that it would be released in September. Here is what the Bernardo Caldas, GM said:
Windows is committing to a predictable twice-per-year feature release schedule, targeting September and March of each year, aligning with Office 365 ProPlus. The next Windows 10 feature update will be targeted for September 2017.
This quote indicates many things. The first and foremost being every year there would be two service upgrades, one in March and one in September from now on. This is in contrast with creators update, which was finalized in March and released to masses in 1st week of April. I expect the same with Redstone 3, with the software giant finalizing it to insiders in September and releasing to public in October.
The next thing to note here is Microsoft is aligning its upgrades for all of its products at once, which is September. Microsoft releases its new products like Office 365 in September as well, System Center configuration manager would also be aligned with this service model, thus making it easier for deployment.
Microsoft also has mentioned that each service upgrade would be supported for 1 and half year. Though Windows 10 version 1507 would be getting around 2 years old at the time of its end of support but it wouldn’t be the case now.
Each Windows 10 feature release will be serviced and supported for 18 months. This is consistent with our current Windows 10 approach, but adds further clarity and predictability to organizations by aligning with Office 365 ProPlus.