Skip to main content

Windows 11 is borrowing from the Mac in one significant way

Matching MacOS standards, Microsoft has announced that Windows will now release major updates once a year, ditching its tradition of delivering two feature updates per year. This new release cadence will be kicked off by the release of Windows 11, which was officially announced this week by Microsoft, later this year.

There have been multiple complaints about Windows 10’s updates since day one. Microsoft has been releasing two major updates every year and users have been annoyed with their frequency and quality. The company’s two major feature releases each year push the operating system to force update some of the devices that may be running on a version that’s not meeting the end of service.

Windows 11 updates are moving to once a year.
Daniel Martin/Screenshot

Many Windows 10 users have had to face inconvenience due to Windows 10 releasing updates every few months. They have long been suggesting fewer updates with better stability. If the company releases fewer updates a year, it will have more time to work on them and enhance their design and stability. In tuen, people would have to deal with fewer updates and not go through the time-consuming process of upgrading their system every few months. They’ll also face fewer compatibility issues that arise as a result of the upgrades demanding different system settings as necessary prerequisites.

Thankfully, the company has listened to these demands. It will now be shifting to the once-a-year update cycle, just like Apple does with its MacOS updates. Our hope is that Microsoft will also resolve the performance and stability issues that its updates were often plagued by. We’re also hopeful that the updates will be more meaningful after a long history of mediocre ones. Another piece of good news is that, according to Microsoft, updates on Windows 11 will be 40% smaller, which means they’ll hopefully take less time to download and install.

We can expect the new Windows 11 to ship in the second half of this year and for updates to arrive yearly around the same time. Microsoft said it will continue to update the operating system by releasing small, cumulative updates like it always has, except it will now happen yearly.

For eager users who wish to take a sneak peek at the new version of the OS beforehand, the Windows Insider Program is always ready to be installed. The program receives new builds almost every week.

Editors' Recommendations

Dua Rashid
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Dua is a media studies graduate student at The New School. She has been hooked on technology since she was a kid and used to…
macOS Sonoma public beta review: more than just screensavers
Craig Federighi introducing macOS Sonoma at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2023.

It’s that time of year again when Apple launches all of its new operating systems into public beta and invites a brave public to sift through bugs and crashes to find the nuggets of gold that Apple has been working on. With macOS Sonoma now in public beta, the big question is this: should you upgrade your Mac?

Well, this year’s update has been a rather modest one, with few truly standout features. After all, you know it’s an unexceptional update when Apple leads its list of new features in macOS Sonoma with screen savers.

Read more
Ranking all 12 versions of Windows, from worst to best
Windows 7 desktop.

You can tell a person's age by which version of Windows is their favorite. I have fond memories of XP and Windows 98 SE, so you can take a guess at mine, but I have colleagues who are much more enamored with Windows 7 or Windows 95. We all have something disparaging to say about Windows 8 though, and the less said about Windows Vista the better.

Ranking the different versions of Windows is about more than what era of computing you grew up in, though. There are some very serious duds in Microsoft's back catalog, just as there are a few wins too. With rumors about Windows 12 swirling, it's worth looking back at some of all the previous versions, ranked from the absolute worst to the very best.
12. Windows ME

Read more
How macOS Sonoma could fix widgets — or make them even worse
Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air on a desk, with macOS Sonoma running on its display.

At its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) earlier this year, Apple revealed that interactive widgets would be coming to macOS Sonoma. That probably sounds like a tiny new feature, and sure, it’s not as earth-shattering as the Vision Pro announcement. But it could turn out to be one of the most divisive new features in the Mac operating system.

In macOS Sonoma, you’ll be able to plant widgets on your desktop instead of hiding them in the Notification Center. Many widgets will be interactive, letting you tick off to-do list items without opening the widget’s app, for example. And you’ll be able to run iOS widgets right on your desktop, even if that app isn’t installed on your Mac. It’s a pretty comprehensive overhaul. Depending on how well these interactive widgets work, though, we could be left with a bunch of annoying distractions or a set of super-helpful timesavers. The way Apple handles them is going to be vital.
We've been here before

Read more