Microsoft has failed to respond directly to an expert’s criticism of its Windows 10 patches, but it has issued some guidance to IT professionals. In a blog post titled ‘Windows 10 update servicing cadence’, the company’s John Wilcox offered explanations.
“I’ve heard from many of you that you’d like a primer on our monthly Windows 10 quality update servicing cadence and terminology. In response, I’d like to share our guiding principles, then dive into them further to provide context for the quality updates themselves,” he said.
He went on to describe Microsoft’s goals when it comes to Windows servicing: simplicity, predictability, agility, and transparency. He also detailed the different quality update types and their schedule, from B releases to ‘out-of-band’, C, and D releases.
An Expert’s Response
However, Susan Bradley, who penned the original criticism, argues that updates in July have not followed Microsoft’s ‘simple’ principles, nor its scheduling.
“The month of July was a study in NOT being simple,” she wrote in a comment. “The cumulative updates were not cumulative. Also in the last several months the release of the C and D patches have been very inconsistent. Sometimes we’ve had them released on Tuesday, other times it’s been Wednesdays or Thursdays. We’ve also had some Windows 10 fixes released on the A week. Consistency and release dates and times have not been simple in the era of Windows 10.”
Understandably, professionals also aren’t happy at Microsoft’s refusal to assure users this month won’t repeat itself. .NET patches began causing issues with Microsoft products soon after their release, promoting an additional four attempts in two weeks to fix the problem. There were a total of 47 known issues with Patch Tuesday, providing great frustration.
Wilcox’s blog post is unlikely to resolve that anger, but some of the advice may be useful. You can the full piece on the Windows IT Pro blog.
