Dive Brief:
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Microsoft announced Thursday its commitment to a twice-per-year feature release schedule for Windows and Office 365 ProPlus. The company will target September and March for the releases each year.
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Committing to a twice-per-year feature release schedule is designed to make updates "more manageable and predictable for easier enterprise deployments," wrote Bernardo Caldas, General Manager, Windows Commercial Marketing in a Microsoft blog post.
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Caldas said System Center Configuration Manager will support the aligned update model, thereby making both Office 365 ProPlus and Windows 10 easier to deploy and keep up to date.
Dive Insight:
Microsoft wants its customers to feel like they know when updates are coming, rather than have them hit unexpectedly. With Windows 10, one of the biggest complaints was large updates came out of nowhere, rendering a user's machine inoperable until the updates were complete.
Knowing when to expect the updates can help IT workers schedule their time more effectively. IT systems administrators can roll out the updates on a schedule, keeping up with the latest feature and security updates. But this also helps Microsoft keep up with the competition, offering new feature updates between large release cycles.
