After confirming one update per year strategy for Windows 11 in a recent support document, Microsoft has also revealed when the rollout is supposed to take place.
The company has set sights on the fall window to roll out the feature updates for the OS, meaning that technically, they should be flying off servers to eligible users all through the winter — much like how the Windows 11 launch is shaping up to be.
An October arrival, with rollout to take place through the winter this year and next.
That is, of course, unless you live some place Down Under where calendars are reversed. In that case it will be smack in the middle of summer for you fine folks.
Let’s get straight down to what Microsoft says on the matter:
“Windows 11 will have an annual feature update cadence, a change from the semi-annual cadence of Windows 10. Windows 11 feature updates will release in the second half of the calendar year and will come with 24 months of support for Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Pro Education editions.
Windows 11 will come with 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions, continuing to provide additional time and flexibility for the validation and at-scale deployments common on those editions. The change to an annual update cadence and slightly longer lifecycle versus Windows 10 is based on user feedback and our overall update approach.”
A very welcome change, then, from the bi-annual release cadence of Windows 10, which usually caused more harm than good due to how hectic things became in terms of development and testing.
At this point, you can expect Windows 11 and its yearly updates to be finalized sometime in September, followed by a round of testing leading up to the release in late October or early November, followed by a rollout in stages.
Obviously, Insiders will get access to these bits first.
But winter is where all the action will happen from here on out.
