We’ve Having Another Moment (Premium)

Heading into Windows 11 version 22H2, which Microsoft first delivered to customers in September 2022, we knew that the update rollout was speeding up, and that this version would get periodic sets of feature updates, called "Moments" internally, between each annual Feature Update (version upgrade). But with the rise of Controlled Feature Releases (CFRs), by which Microsoft can now deliver one or more new features every month, I was wondering if these Moments would give way to what I think of as "mini moments." After all, they are very clearly making this up as they go along.

Well, Moments are not going away. Microsoft still doesn't use this term publicly, though I think it's a reasonable enough term to warrant it. But they do still use it internally. And based on some recent leaks, I think we can finally see through the mist of Microsoft's public silence on the topic and understand the real Windows 11 feature update schedule. You know, until they change it yet again.

Windows used to be supported by a logical and lengthy life cycle. A major release was what I call a licensable moment, meaning that customers typically needed to pay to receive it, either with a new PC or at retail, and that release was serviced for 10 years. During the first five years, called mainstream support, Microsoft could (but didn't always) ship new features, and during the entire life cycle, Microsoft would ship security and quality updates. And because servicing Windows was difficult for so long, the software giant would occasionally release Service Packs (SPs) that acted as cumulative updates that combined all of the previously released updates into a single installable. (There was also briefly the concept for a Feature Pack, but that came and went with little notice.)

In the wake of Windows 8, which was a regrettable response to the rise of mobile computing, Microsoft gutted the team responsible for that disaster and shifted into a mobile-like "rapid release" cycle in which Windows was informally updated each year, and for free. This led to releases like Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update 1 which dramatically improved the quality of that product. And to Windows 10, which officially dropped the notion of paid upgrades and Microsoft formalized its new updating policy: Windows 10 would be updated twice yearly with so-called Feature Updates, a new name for version upgrades. The 10-year support life cycle disappeared with Windows 10: in an early indication that the Windows team was starting to just make things up as they went, Windows 10 would now be supported "for the lifetime of the device" on which it was installed, a time period that was never formalized. Microsoft adjusted the support lifecycle for each Windows 10 version as it went along as well, but to simplify things, let's call it roughly 18 months.

And then everything changed again with Windows 11, which is really just a Windows 10 Feature Update with the user interface from the doomed Windows 10X...

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