Microsoft is now encouraging PC users to update to Windows 10 as quickly as possible, because the latest version of its flagship OS will no longer be free to download after July 29 of this year.
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However, the rollup is not technically a service pack itself.
Microsoft is now building the next major update to the operating system, referred to as the Anniversary Update, and it is expected to be made available to all Windows 10 users in/around that one year anniversary in July. That means it covers literally hundreds of bug-fixes and security updates, dramatically hardening what would be a very insecure base SP1 install. Users of Windows 7 who have decided not to make the shift are in for nice surprise from the company in form of an update dubbed, the convenience rollup.
What’s that? You like Windows 7 better?
Less helpfully, however, Microsoft will stop publishing individual update packages on the Microsoft Download Center.
Microsoft recently announced the availability of the Windows 7 SP1 convenience roll-up. The first such roll-up for Windows 8.1, which will likely appear in June, would, by definition, include all the individual fixes released since that edition’s October 2013 debut. Microsoft will be offering monthly rollups that let you install a bunch of cumulative non-security updates all in one go. Manual downloads will also be made available via the Microsoft Update Catalog – which will soon be updated to support web browsers other than Internet Explorer. That will not be an option. Instead, they’ll use the Microsoft Update Catalog.
I know this sounds like yet another story where Microsoft attempts to ram Windows 10 down your throat, but it’s not (apart from a potential interpretation of the last paragraph). Nearly 23 percent of Windows 10 Mobile handsets in use came with that version of the OS, so 77 percent of Windows Mobile 10 users are on upgraded handsets (which originally ran Windows Phone 8.1). Try to update a Windows 7 system the naive way and you’ll still be faced with the tedium of multiple reboots and update cycles.
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CNET reports that for some users of Windows 7 and 8, Windows is auto-scheduling a date and time to upgrade to Windows 10. The new monthly roll-ups will be available via Windows Update.
