1903, 19H2, 1909, Oh My (Premium)

It started out so simply. And more important, so right: Windows 10 version 19H2 would be like a service pack or cumulative update instead of a full-fledged feature update. Doing so would give Windows 10 users a well-earned breather. Both from unnecessarily intrusive version upgrades and from unnecessary new features. For once, it appeared that Microsoft was doing right by Windows 10, if belatedly.

Naturally, this couldn’t last.

How Microsoft would test Windows 10 version 19H2 was confusing from the get-go, but only because it marked the first-ever change to how the different Insider Program testing rings were used. With Fast ring testers getting Windows 10 version 20H1 builds, Microsoft decided to push 19H2 builds to the Slow ring, which had always been the same as Fast but, um, slower. That took some adjusting, but it wasn’t completely untenable.

Next, the Insider Program began introducing more A/B testing in the Slow ring, meaning that some 19H2 testers got new features and some didn’t. I don’t agree with A/B testing in the Insider Program for a number of reasons, but the biggest and most obvious is easily stated: Insiders have explicitly signed up to test a particular version of Windows 10, and they should get that version. If Microsoft wants to test different things, it should ask Insiders to volunteer. Not doing so violates the very essence of the program and because it makes testers feel suspicious and betrayed, they are less likely to even bother.

Then, Microsoft escalated the A/B testing. The issue, we were told, was that 19H2 would be delivered like a monthly cumulative update, and that its few new features would be disabled by default. But with more and more of a chance that those who signed up for 19H2 testing wouldn’t even be able to test 19H2 features, the frustration only grew.

Then, this week happened. Microsoft pushed 19H2 to the Release Preview ring too. And because they’re doing A/B testing in both the Slow and Release Preview rings, there are now a minimum of four different versions of 19H2 floating around, and possibly more given the rampant A/B feature testing too. That means that no one who signed up to test 19H2 has any idea if they will actually be able to do so.

And I’m sorry, but that is ridiculous. Just like everything else that’s happening in Windows these days. It’s frustrating.

Here’s how the hapless Insider Program explains it.

“We will be delivering 19H2 to customers using our servicing technology (just like the monthly update process) for customers running the May 2019 Update (19H1).”

Windows 10 version 1903 was never called 19H1. So let’s introduce yet another name for this version of Windows, please.

“We have been testing 19H2 with Insiders in the Slow ring using the same baseline build number as the May 2019 Update but with an increased revision number like we normally use to show a build has been serviced with a Cumulative Update.”

Referring...