Microsoft today revealed that Windows Insiders in the Fast ring will soon be testing a new version of Windows 10. The issue? It’s not the next version of Windows 10, called 19H2. It’s the one after that. Called 20H1.
Windows Insider says whaaaat?
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“With the Windows 10 May 2019 Update being shared to the Release Preview ring soon, we’re planning to move Windows Insiders in the Fast ring forward to 20H1,” a Microsoft post to Insiders reads. “We will also be merging the small group of Insiders who opted-in to Skip Ahead back into the Fast ring. We are looking to make this change in the coming weeks.”
What this means is unclear.
For one thing, the end of the Magic Window, that time period during which Insiders can safely un-enroll PCs from the program and resume normal updating along with the rest of humanity, is coming soon. So if you want to do that, now is the time.
But pushing Fast ring testers forward two versions of Windows is a first. Microsoft previously did this, and only once, with those in Skip Ahead.
So let’s speculate.
We know that 19H2 is still happening. So Microsoft must have some plan for testing it. Mary Jo believes this change means that 19H2 will be a minor update, and I think she’s right. I’ll further guess that 19H2 will only be tested in the Slow ring, which is interesting on a few levels. Most notably that Microsoft forgets that the Slow ring even exits for months at a time. I guess that will have to change.
When you combine this news with this week’s cataclysmic retreat on Windows as a Service, it seems that Microsoft is serious, finally, about making Windows 10 servicing less intrusive for all of its customers, individuals and businesses alike. I had always believed such a thing was inevitable, but watching it happen this suddenly and quickly is almost breathtaking. It’s like watching the Berlin Wall come down.
PeterC
<p>So I'd wager these windows release periods cover the period of time Microsoft will publicly re-align Windows 10 towards its Enterprise offering and MS release Windows LITE or whatever it ends up being called. WIN 10 Enterprise will be an annual update release cycle with user controls as to what you update and when etc, while LITE OS (?) remains the constantly updated product maybe as part of a consumer services/security/hardware subscription model.</p><p><br></p><p>To be clear 20H1 is in my opinion the first quarter of this more Enterprise focussed offering, ie 1st half 2020. Lite OS gets launched later this year? and Surface hardware revamps will launch with both Win 10 Enterprise and LiteOS products in mind.</p><p><br></p><p>Well thats what I saw in my tea leaves this morning. </p>
dontbe evil
<blockquote><em><a href="#418845">In reply to bluvg:</a></em></blockquote><p>paul likes always to exaggerate ((in a bad way) when comes to MS</p>