{"id":8175,"date":"2015-05-01T10:36:18","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T14:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=8175"},"modified":"2015-05-01T10:36:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T14:36:18","slug":"windows-forever-windows-10-builds-will-continue-even-after-microsoft-ships-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/05\/01\/windows-forever-windows-10-builds-will-continue-even-after-microsoft-ships-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows forever: Windows 10 builds will continue even after Microsoft ships it"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh, you thought those Windows 10 preview builds would end when Microsoft shipped the operating systems? Nope. At a press event during Microsoft’s Build 2015 conference in San Francisco, Joe Belfiore, the corporate vice president of the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, said users will still have the option of continuing to test new features as Microsoft rolls them out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of what Microsoft is now referring to as \u201cWindows as a service\u201d\u2014the notion that Windows is an ongoing product, constantly updated, with both patches and new features added on over time. And it will depend upon the feedback of users like you and me, via the Windows Insider program.<\/p>\n

Microsoft hasn\u2019t said officially when Windows 10 will launch, save that it will happen sometime this summer. AMD CEO Lisa Su suggested it will happen in late July, but Belfiore said that Microsoft wasn\u2019t prepared to release the final date quite yet.<\/p>\n

Why this matters: This is an an entirely new way for Microsoft to develop and release software, more like Google’s ongoing Chrome builds than anything else. Microsoft has already established this model for Office, but the same questions hold: What happens if you don’t subscribe to Windows? Does something break? Will businesses sign on? And will we end up in a world where virtually every user is up-to-date, or a massively fragmented computing environment with incompatibilities all over the place?<\/p>\n

An ongoing process of development<\/p>\n

Internally, some Microsoft employees refer to Windows 10 as \u201cthe last Windows.\u201d Based on the company\u2019s strategy of perpetual Windows builds, the concept of a single, fixed \u201crelease date\u201d seems less and less important. According to Belfiore, Microsoft\u2019s goal with Windows is to keep evolving: \u201cadjust dynamically to the real world and to real people, and sometimes that\u2019s subjective feedback, and sometimes it\u2019s quantitative analysis, on how we build Windows, how we deploy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of a wave of benefits that starts in the summer, and increases through the fall,\u201d Belfiore said.<\/p>\n

Some Windows 10 features are, in fact, scheduled to ship after Windows 10 is officially released to the public. For example, the extensions support for the Edge browser won\u2019t be available on the launch date, just \u201ca little later,\u201d Belfiore said. The Win32 apps that Microsoft will sell in the store (and will make available in a virtualized, sandboxed mode to prevent compatibility issues) will arrive a little later, too.<\/p>\n

Gabe Aul, who oversees the Windows 10 Insider program, said that Microsoft has several directions\u2014none of which have been finalized\u2014in which the company could go as it continues developing Windows.<\/p>\n

Windows 10 is basically following the example of Office, which has since morphed into the ongoing Office 365 subscription service and has an ongoing public roadmap of features that are being evaluated, tested, and deployed. Microsoft\u2019s Windows 10 rollout has not been nearly as systematized: Aul simply communicates new features from various channels, including the Insider Feedback app, Microsoft\u2019s user forums, Twitter, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

What seems clear, however, is that Microsoft is prepared to increase the pace of the builds on the so-called Fast Ring: once every two weeks, maybe even weekly. There could eventually even be daily Windows 10 builds, though that’s more theoretical than likely.<\/p>\n

An endless series of builds also brings up the issue of cost structure. At Build, executives said on stage that Windows will be a free upgrade \u201cfor the first year\u201d for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users, which implies you\u2019ll be paying for these features at some point. But Microsoft hasn\u2019t said how much, nor whether you\u2019ll receive some sort of credit for helping the company essentially test out its software. According to Belfiore, 3.7 million people are now registered as Insiders, testing out the builds.<\/p>\n

But as Microsoft continues to roll out new Windows builds, it looks increasingly clear that it\u2019s not just \u201cuniversal\u201d Windows we\u2019re talking about. It\u2019s Windows forever.<\/p>\n

via Windows forever: Windows 10 builds will continue even after Microsoft ships it | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, you thought those Windows 10 preview builds would end when Microsoft shipped the operating systems? Nope. At a press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,10,11],"tags":[1215],"class_list":["post-8175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft","category-technology","category-windows","tag-windows-10"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-27R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6247,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/19\/microsoft-pulls-its-august-windows-update-after-users-report-crashes\/","url_meta":{"origin":8175,"position":0},"title":"Microsoft pulls its August Windows update after users report crashes","author":"NCCT","date":"August 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft has pulled its August Update for Windows after users reported crashes and issues restarting their systems. The company is currently recommending users uninstall the update. Microsoft said that it discovered issues relating to four individual updates associated with the August Update: 2982791, 2970228, 2975719, and 297533. The updates addressed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8796,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/12\/31\/whats-ahead-for-windows-10-needed-upgrades-forced-updates-and-developer-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":8175,"position":1},"title":"What’s ahead for Windows 10: Needed upgrades, forced updates, and developer love","author":"NCCT","date":"December 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By Blair Hanley Frank | PCWorld Windows 10 was the biggest news story out of Microsoft in 2015, and looking forward to the coming year, it\u2019s slated to continue as one of the pillars of the company\u2019s business. To recap: Microsoft first announced its new operating system in late 2014,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8678,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/10\/22\/microsoft-says-edge-browser-extensions-will-arrive-in-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":8175,"position":2},"title":"Microsoft says Edge browser extensions will arrive in 2016","author":"NCCT","date":"October 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Microsoft has never said when to expect extension support for its Edge browser, but now we have a timeframe: 2016. 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Once the operating system is finalized, Microsoft will ship a release\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8708,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/11\/05\/new-windows-10-beta-build-is-all-about-bug-fixes\/","url_meta":{"origin":8175,"position":4},"title":"New Windows 10 beta build is all about bug fixes","author":"NCCT","date":"November 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Blair Hanley Frank | PCWorld Microsoft on Thursday launched another beta build of Windows 10 to public testers that's crammed full of bug fixes and performance improvements. 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