This is Susan Bradley for CSO Online. Recently the Microsoft online tech conference called Microsoft
Ignite they had a session that reminded me how much windows 10 has changed over the years i've
often seen enterprises indicate that they are on a certain version of windows 10 or a feature release
and they haven't moved on to that or they've decided to roll out long term servicing branch
and they've never revisited that decision if you're like many in tech you kind of hover on the
the advantages of certain releases and you don't really remember over time how much windows 10 has
changed so let's give a little refresher of how what windows 10 has done over the years
and i want you to ask yourself why are you on the version that you're on
20h2 is out and i don't want you to have to justify while you're on that one because i don't
think you need to be on that one quite so soon but if you're still in the 1800s or 1903 is there
a really good reason that you're on that older version so let's do a little bit of a history
lesson 1507 you remember way back when when the windows 10 was first released to manufacturing
that had windows defender windows hello the first password list login microsoft edge yes the old one
device guard bitlocker and smart screen technology it included support for in-place upgrades cortana
and it's still under support for enterprises and internet of thing enterprises long-term
service branch edition 1511 added mobile to device management group policy settings for the windows
update for business as well as azure active directory join 1511 is no longer serviced and i
hope no one is on that version 1607 which is still under support for enterprise and internet of thing
enterprise long term service branch edition added windows information protection windows hello for
business and hybrid azure active directory join now we're up to the first quarter of 2017. how
many years ago was that 1703 ad windows defender advanced threat protection one of my favorite
features and windows defender security center 1703 at this time is no longer under support
1709 third quarter of 2017 added windows defender exploit card system guard application guard and
application control it is unsupported as of october 13 2020 for enterprise and internet
of things enterprise long-term service branch additions so now we're not to 1803 1803 added
fixes for spectre and meltdown do you remember those vulnerabilities in the bios updates it also
added windows delivery optimizations windows defender advanced threat protection automatic
remediation conditional access based on windows defender advanced threat protection device risk
threat analytics emergency outbreak updates advanced hunting cloud credential guard
and windows 10 enterprise and s mode i'll go over s mode in a future edition of cso online
1803 is supported through may 11 2021 for enterprises and internet of thing enterprise
long-term service branch editions we're now up to the third quarter 2018 we started off with
windows update packages being reduced in size in order to speed up the servicing and installation
1809 added microsoft defender advanced threat protection new attack surface reduction controls
investigation and remediation across office 365 advanced protection microsoft edge added web
authentication and windows hello added support for fido 2.0 microsoft edge added kiosk mode
1809 drops out of support for home pro pro education pro for workstations and internet
of things core on november 10th of 2020 so that's your drop dead date for 1809 november 10th of 2020
if you're still on that version for those editions ask yourself why did you wait so
long you should be off of those by now it's still under support for enterprise internet of thing
enterprise long term service branch edition and will be supported through may 11 2021.
we're up to first quarter of 2019 we added microsoft defender advanced threat protection
enhancements attack surface reduction enhancements next generation protection enhancements
tamper proofing capabilities windows sandbox and application guard enhancements many of these
you need a e5 subscription in order to see the benefits of them 1903 also added the
ability to sign on with passwordless microsoft accounts delivery optimization was also improved
for those of you running home pro pro education pro for workstation
and internet of things core the support goes through december 8th 2020 so keep that
in mind you've got two end of life dates coming pretty close to one another they got pushed off
because the pandemic so you've got a november drop dead date and a december drop dead date
november drop dead is 1809 december drop dead date is 1903 just recently in 1909 the release
introduced bitlocker key rolling support for tls 1.3 this release is supported through may 11 2021
for home pro pro education pro for workstations and then also supported through may 10th of
2022 for enterprise and internet of things enterprise long-term service branch additions
now then i challenge everyone if you are on 1909 right now and especially if you're on
windows 10 pro you need to be in your final stage process of rolling on to at least 2004
you might even want to test out 20h too because remember you can skip additions now we're up to
the first quarter release for 2000 2020 i should say this introduced application guard for edge
and office delivery optimization powershell commands and introduced windows autopilot
as your active directory join with virtual private networking very handy for those of us doing work
from home and connecting in the pandemic this release is supported through december 14 2021
for home pro pro education pro for workstations and internet things core as well as enterprise
and internet of things enterprise long-term service branch edition
now comes the new kid on the block 20h2 that's the new naming you need to get used to it means
the second half of the 2020 release if you have an e5 subscription you get extra goodness
with microsoft defender application guard which also supports office more windows hello options
modern device management and it combines the servicing stack update and the latest cumulative
update in one release now for the bad news if you made the decision years ago to roll out long-term
servicing branch on your workstations for whatever reason there is no in-place upgrade path from
long-term service branch to the normal release of office excuse me the normal release of windows 10.
you must start over and redeploy and rebuild the machines windows autopilot can make it
easier for you to roll out these windows 10 to machines but i really want you to question
why are you choosing long-term service branch and also question why are you holding
back on an older release look at all the key features that you've lost out on along the way
the servicing stack updates the ability to do better protection for your workstations
advanced threat protection has come a long way since it was released windows defender
is much much more powerful and especially as the attackers are going after us much much more
so it's time to step back ask yourself why did you choose the version you're on why did
you choose long-term servicing branch why did you choose that certain feature release
take the time to reevaluate and see why it's still a good decision to make today
i hope i've given you some things to think about there's lots more things to research and look at
on the igg tech talk youtube channel join me next time this is susan bradley for cso online