Since Windows 98, the second Tuesday of every month has seen Microsoft issue a slew of updates to eager users. With Windows 10, those days are going to come to an end: Microsoft will become a 24/7 update machine.
Once (or sometimes twice) monthly updates make a lot of sense: make it easy for users to update their PC once a month, the logic goes, and people are more likely to apply the critical patches. But thanks to background updates — and more importantly, hackers who aren’t going to sit around a wait for Microsoft to stick to a schedule — the company is moving to a 24/7 update cycle with Windows 10.
At the Ignite conference, Microsoft announced its change to an update system that will push patches to users as soon as they’re ready. There will still be two options — a slow ring, which gets patches in a few consolidated bundles, and a fast ring, which receives patches as soon as they’re available. But either way, Microsoft retains the ability to get the more important security updates (and bug fixes) to its users in a timely way. And, it might just have killed Exploit Wednesdays. [PC World]