Microsoft acknowledges Windows 10 19H2 delay, but denied the existence of deadlines

[The AchieVer]

Microsoft acknowledges Windows 10 19H2 delay, but denied the existence of deadlines

 

With today being the official start of summer many Insiders have started complaining that Microsoft has not started distributing Windows 10 19H2 to Insiders.

The issue stems from a promise Microsoft made in February when they said they would “begin to release 19H2 bits to Insiders later this spring”:

 

While it is widely acknowledged that Windows 10 19H2 will be a very minor update, Microsoft is once again being accused of miscommunicating to their enthusiast community.

 

 

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[The AchieVer]

Windows 10 19H2 falls behind schedule as Microsoft fails to hit spring target for testing

Microsoft's second Windows 10 feature update for 2019 is nowhere to be seen as Microsoft falls behind schedule for testing.

 

It's officially the start of summer, and Microsoft still hasn't begun previewing the next Windows 10 update, codenamed 19H2, that's expected to roll out later this year. This is because Microsoft has fallen behind schedule with its plans for this release. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would begin testing 19H2 in the spring.Spring is now over, and Microsoft still isn't ready to start previewing or talking about its plans for 19H2.

 

Frustratingly, as is ever the case with Microsoft, the company has communicated this delay poorly. It has given no reason as to why there has been a delay, only that there is one. While I can't comment on why the delay has happened, I think now is a good time to talk about what Windows 10 19H2 is all about, and why it doesn't matter that 19H2 isn't in testing with Insiders yet. Simply put, 19H2 is not a major feature update like 19H1, or previous Windows 10 feature updates have been.

 

I'm unsure if Microsoft will ever admit this, but Windows 10 is not getting two major feature updates this year. Windows 10 19H1 is the only major feature update rolling out in 2019, with Windows 10 19H2 being a much smaller cumulative-type update that will essentially sit on top of 19H1. Microsoft has done this kind of thing before with Windows 8.1, releasing smaller "roll-up" updates with minor new features, OS changes, and overall system performance and stability improvements that apply to the current Windows OS release.

Why even have a 19H2 release?

So, if 19H2 is just a normal roll-up update with maybe a couple of minor features, why even mark it as a feature update with a codename like 19H2? It's to keep support cycles in check and to keep with the overall twice a year update cadence that Microsoft has so stubbornly kept to. The "H2" update for Windows 10 every year is the one that most businesses are interested in updating to because it has an extended support cycle of up to 30 months. The "H1" release of the year is only supported for 18 months.

 

Businesses like to remain on a version of Windows 10 for as long as possible, so the H2 updates of the year are essential for enterprises, and indeed Microsoft, who are continually encouraging said businesses to update. So, Microsoft will likely playoff 19H2 as just like your other Windows 10 feature updates, but on a technical level, it's nothing like them at all. It's more like an old school service pack update for 19H1.

This is good news. Many have called for Microsoft to move to a tick-tock type update cadence, with one update being major, and one being minor, every year. Now this year we're only getting one major feature update, with the second one being a service pack that fixes issues and touches up things where necessary. I'd call that a minor update.

 

So that's why it's not a big deal that 19H2 isn't in testing with Insiders yet, because there's not going to be an awful lot to test. It's unclear if this new way of doing two updates a year is something that Microsoft will carry into 2020 and beyond. As far as I know, this year's H2 release is only like this because platform work schedules didn't line up. Assuming all goes to plan, next years H2 release should be back to normal.

 

Hopefully, Microsoft will find the time to begin talking about 19H2 on an official level in the next few weeks. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on 19H2 being a smaller service pack type update?

 

 

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[The AchieVer]

Where the heck is Windows 10 Insider 19H2? Some thoughts on this first day of summer 

 

Earlier this week, Zac Bowden, who’s apparently been intently watching the calendar and lying in wait, posted his countdown to when Microsoft’s promise of more news about Windows 10 Insider version 19H2 coming “later this spring,” would be, well, late:

 

 

 

 

 

 

To recap, Microsoft has been in a cadence of twice per year updates to Windows 10, but recently has been coy about any discussion of the second release for 2019, known as 19H2.  Instead, Microsoft has been charging ahead with updates for 20H1, the first of two releases scheduled for 2020. In a post on Windows Central, Bowden contends that “Microsoft has fallen behind schedule with its plans for this (19H2) release.”

 

Bowden goes on to state the obvious, that “Windows 10 is not getting two major feature updates this year,” and contends that Windows 10 19H2 will be “a much smaller cumulative-type update that will essentially sit on top of 19H1.”

There are multiple reasons for that, including as Mary Jo Foley posted back in February, that Windows isn’t its own org anymore, it sits with Azure, and some adjustments in release cycles need to happen:

 

In addition, enterprise clients have been clamoring for a revamping of Microsoft’s twice yearly update pattern, with many calling for a single release per year, at most. Microsoft has steadfastly refused to back off the twice yearly cadence, but did make changes to the licensing agreements, extending H2 updates to 30 month coverage while limiting H1 releases to 18 months. This, along with the lagging appearance of 19H2, strongly suggests that Microsoft is looking at a major/minor release cycle each year.

 

To say that 19H2 development is “delayed” suggests that there is some kind of technical issue or new feature not quite ready that’s slowing down an announcement of what’s happening with the next release of Windows. We’re not sure at all that’s correct.

 

Instead, with some 14 million Windows Insiders who are clamoring for new builds and new stuff every week, a new message, and perhaps even a new way of running the Windows Insider program needs to be crafted. What happens when, for half the year, almost nothing new is introduced? (What’s happening now, is that 20H1 testing is being stretched out over the whole year). Has Microsoft handled this messaging poorly, as Bowden says, or is this delay in communication both embarrassing or a disservice to customers, as Paul Thurrott says in his (premium) post this morning? Well, yes and yes.

 

Microsoft, it appears, is shifting to a cadence more closely aligned with Azure, more in line with a once per year major release, and that’s going to be good news for the enterprise and not so good news for Insiders. Why the company can’t just come out and say that is baffling, and leads to the kind of public hand-wringing we’re seeing coming out of the likes of Thurrott and Windows Central. But what’s delayed is not work on 19H2, only the messaging.

 

Happy summer to the northern hemisphere!

 

 

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[Ryrynz]

Wouldn't be surprised if they just ended up just taking small things non breaky things from 20H1 deemed stable, hence the delay.. In fact this might be just the way things go now.
All dev work goes into XXH1 and then whatever they deem fit for a bug fix touch up that H2 has now become gets added in later in the year.