In the last few years, Microsoft has been marketing the Office and Windows products as being services. Instead of buying and using them, you will get a service that is continuously updated. Now, in 2017, we’ve seen them syncing and simplifying the update schedule more and more. And it seems that we’ve reached the result of all these changes. Along with the release of the Creators Update for Windows 10, the Windows Server, Windows 10 and Office updates will be managed in the same way.

A Welcomed Change

For the moment, the Microsoft updates are split into three:

• Current Branch
• Current Branch for Business
• Long Term Servicing Branch

What the company wants to do is to combine the first two categories and create a new one, namely Semi-Annual Channel (SAC). Each of these releases will appear either in March or September. Customers will receive support for the respective update for a period of 18 months afterwards.

What’s more surprising is that Microsoft is calling the first Creators Update as the first SAC release (we are talking about Windows 10 v.1703). The Fall Creators Update will wear the label Windows 10 v.1709. The LTSB described above becomes LTSC (C for Channel).

Why All These Changes?

Apparently, Microsoft has been making all these changes for businesses. They want to offer business people all the flexibility they can when it comes to delaying certain updates. At the same time, they want to show us how should businesses use their branches. Currently, companies have the opportunity of delaying the installing of an update for maximum a year. Though it’s a great chance of evaluating the updates, Microsoft hopes companies will not take advantage of it and delay the updates.

However, it’s still a good thing that from now on it will be easier to manage the updates that will appear.