Microsoft
made two important announcements today regarding the future of its Windows operating system. In the first, Microsoft revealed that it would not release
any feature updates for its Windows 10 operating system anymore.
The last feature update for Windows 10, Windows 10 version 22H2, was released at the end of 2022. Going forward, Microsoft will only release security updates for the Windows 10 operating system. In other words, Windows 10 won't receive any new features anymore.
Windows 10 Home and Pro editions continue to be supported until October 2025, the month support ends officially. Microsoft made no mention of the possibility to extend the lifetime of Windows 10 through ESU, Extended Security Updates.
The company
introduced the program for Windows 7, so that Enterprise and business customers could extend the lifetime of the operating system by up to three years.
Windows 11 LTSC
Microsoft confirmed in the second announcement that it is going to launch Windows 11 LTSC, Long Term Servicing Channel, editions in 2024.
When Microsoft launched Windows 11 at the end of 2022, it did not launch LTSC editions. While there were Enterprise, Education and IoT editions, none of these were LTSC editions.
Customers who relied on LTSC editions of Windows had to use Windows 10 LTSC editions, which Microsoft released regularly over the years.
Microsoft announced that the following two Windows 11 LTSC editions will be released in 2024:
- Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC
- Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC
Both Windows 11 editions will be released in the second half of 2024. Microsoft has not revealed additional information about the two LTSC editions. The company did reduce the lifecycle to 5 years for the Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC releases of 2021.
The Windows 11 LTSC releases of 2024 will therefore likely be supported until 2029. Whether Windows 11 will have reached its end of life by that time remains to be seen, as rumors
hint at a Windows 12 release in 2024.
Microsoft recommends that Enterprise customers start their testing on regular non-LTSC Windows 11 releases in preparation of the 2024 release of the LTSC version.
