Microsoft Releases Yet Another Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Mobile 1511

Just when you thought that Windows 10 Mobile had hit its stride, we get two bits of (what I think is) related news: Microsoft has released yet another cumulative update for version 1511, which you may recall is the initial, shipping version of Windows 10 Mobile. And it has announced that existing customers on Windows Phone 8.x will not get this upgrade until sometime next year.

Put simply, it just ain’t ready yet.

Brad already covered the Windows Phone 8.x upgrade news in the accurately-titled Windows Phone 8 Users Won’t Get Windows 10 Mobile Until Early 2016.

My take? Disappointing, but not surprising. And since Microsoft can’t play the same game with carriers that it did with 10586.29 on the Lumia 950/950 XL/550, this one needs to be reliable and working before it can even ask carriers to consider rolling it out.

So let’s look at the new cumulative update for Windows 10 Mobile version 1511, which brings the build number up to 10586.36.

Nothing to see here, folks.

Yes, Microsoft has tried 36 times to get this one working properly: Hence the .36 at the end of the build number now. Yes, this update addresses feedback, from both Windows Insiders on whatever phones they’re using, as well as those who recently purchased the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. No, we have no real idea what’s changed.

Gabe Aul vaguely notes that Microsoft has continued to “improve the upgrade experience and this update has some improvements to that experience.” So improvements to the improvements, apparently. 🙂

And going forward, Microsoft will obfuscate what’s new in future cumulative updates by only publishing that information in the Insider Hub app on Windows 10 Mobile. That will keep away those bloggers and journalists that don’t have a Windows phone on the Fast Ring, I guess.

On a related note, Aul has also confirmed that Microsoft will be taking the rest of December off to spend time with their families over the holidays. Which frankly is understandable: It is Decemberr 17, after all.

“The engineering team will be running at a slower pace and many of our key people who drive our flighting process will be out … between now and the end of 2015 (including me),” he explained. “This means we won’t be releasing any new builds to Windows Insiders until January, for both PC and mobile.”