Microsoft gives business users more Windows 10 upgrade details

By -

Microsoft gives business users more Windows 10 upgrade details, guidance

Summary:Microsoft has shared a few more details about how businesses will be able to get Windows 10 and to keep their users current with feature and security fixes and updates.
After providing Windows consumers with details about its planned free upgrade promotion for Windows 10, Microsoft has started providing business users with some early guidance, as well.In a January 30 blog post, Microsoft officials said users running Windows 7 Pro, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro will be eligible for the free Windows 10 promotion.
Via that promotion, users running these versions of Windows will have the option to upgrade to Windows 10 for free for the first year it is commercially available. (Microsoft officials have said Windows 10 will launch by this fall.) Microsoft will provide ongoing feature and security updates and fixes to these customers via Windows Update for the period their devices are supported by their manufacturers, Microsoft officials have said.
Exactly what constitutes that supported device period is still a bit squishy, but according to fine print on a Microsoft site:
"Some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. ISP fees m apply. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise outside of this offer. We will be sharing more information and additional offer terms in coming months."
Microsoft officials reiterated in yesterday's blog post that Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8 Enterprise and Windows 8.1 Enterprise won't be covered by the free first-year upgrade promotion for Windows 10. As Microsoft execs said last week, business users with paid Software Assurance volume-licensing contracts will, as usual, be able to upgrade to the latest versions of Windows as part of their contract terms.
Microsoft still hasn't released details about how much Windows 10 will cost or which editions it will make available when the product will be released.
Yesterday's blog post also explained how Microsoft will allow customers to update their Windows 10 deployments at different speeds.
Microsoft is introducing what it's calling "Long Term Servicing branches" for Windows 10. These branches will provide users with the latest security and critical updates, but not deliver new features for the duration of mainstream support (five years) and extended support (five additional years). Long Term Servicing branches will give users the right to use Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to have more control over delivering security updates and fixes using their existing management infrastructure, such as System Center Configuration Manager or Windows Update -- as many Windows shops do today.
Microsoft officials said they plan to deliver the first Windows 10 Long Term Servicing branch "in the same time frame as Windows 10 market availability."
Microsoft is also going to offer "Current branch for Business," which is aimed at customers who are willing to receive not just the regular security updates to Windows 10, but also feature updates "after their quality and application compatibility has been assessed in the consumer market." Users on this branch will give IT departments time to validate updates before they deploy them to their employees. Customers using this branch will have the option to receive updates automatically, via Windows Update or via WSUS.
Microsoft is advising business users to keep non-mission critical end user Windows 10 devices on the Current branch for Business with updates set to happen automatically via Windows Update.
Microsoft is expected to provide customers who take advantage of the free Windows 10 promotion with regular, free feature and security updates on an ongoing basis via Windows Update, most likely with little or no opportunity to decline or delay either.
Officials reiterated that Microsoft is designing Windows 10 to have the same overall minimum hardware requirements as Windows 7 and Windows 8, while noting that "some new features may require new hardware capabilities, and software or firmware updates from device manufacturers and ISVs."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Hacker steals data of millions of Bulgarians, emails it to local media

By -
Image
  Source of the data breach appears to be the country's National Revenue Agency A mysterious hacker has stolen the personal details of millions of Bulgarians and has emailed download links to the stolen data to local news publications. The data's origin is believed to be the country's National Revenue Agency (NRA), a department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance. In a  message posted on its website  on Monday, the NRA said it was working with the Ministry of the Interior and the State Agency for National Security (SANS) to investigate the hack. "We are currently verifying whether the data is real," said the NRA. Hours after this article's publication, the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior  confirmed the hack . HACKER STOLE 110 DATABASES, LEAKED 57 According to reports from local media [ 1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ], who received part of the data, the hacker said they stole the personal details of over five million Bulgarians, of the country's total ...
Read more

​Linux totally dominates supercomputers

By -
Image
It finally happened. Today, all 500 of the world's top 500 supercomputers are running Linux. Linux rules supercomputing. This day has been coming since 1998, when Linux first appeared on the TOP500 Supercomputer list . Today it finally happened:  All 500 of the world's fastest supercomputers are running Linux . The last two non-Linux systems, a pair of Chinese IBM POWER computers running AIX, dropped off the  November 2017 TOP500 Supercomputer list . Overall, China now leads the supercomputing race with 202 computers to the US' 144. China also leads the US in aggregate performance. China's supercomputers represent 35.4 percent of the Top500's flops, while the US trails with 29.6 percent. With an anti-science regime in charge of the government, America will only continue to see its technological lead decline. When the  first Top500 supercomputer list was compiled in June 1993 , Linux was barely more than a toy. It hadn't even adopted Tux as its masc...
Read more

Microsoft tries to stem its self-made collaboration-tool confusion

By -
Image
Microsoft is using this week's Ignite conference to try to help clarify its collaboration-tool strategy. Here's how SharePoint, Teams and Yammer figure in the mix. Choice is good. But too much choice, especially when it comes to collaboration tools, has been a problem for Microsoft. This isn't news to customers, partners or Microsoft execs themselves. But at the company's Ignite IT Pro conference in Orlando this week, Microsoft execs took a step to try to clarify the company's strategy and messaging in this area. Microsoft Office 365 Marketing chief Ron Markezich kicked off the conference this week with a slide entitled "Microsoft 365 Teamwork: Where to Start a Conversation." That slide attempts to do what  Microsoft initially attempted with a 60-plus-page whitepaper : Clarify which collaboration tools customers should use when. The slide, which features SharePoint -- and its files, sites and content storage at the center -- is broken down into t...
Read more