Windows 10 has seen its fair share of praises, but one thing that has been met with disdain by IT managers is Microsoft's decision to require users to install cumulative updates for the new operating system, without giving them the freedom to choose which updates to install.
A petition on Change.org has been addressed to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, to change the policy as customers are looking to have a say in what they download and install as updates on their devices. With cumulative updates, new configurations released by Microsoft over a period of time are accumulated for the Windows 10 version being used by the customer.
One of the reasons why the petition is pushing for such a change is that customers are concerned that the lack of choice on what to install on their computers, may force them to download updates with bugs that affect functionalities.
However, Joe Belfiore, Microsoft Operating Systems Group corporate vice president, believes that cumulative updates for Windows 10 will work better compared to the previous model that involved users and IT managers deciding which of the updates to install.
Belfiore based the statement on discussions with IT professionals on the usage of cumulative updates. The executive also claimed that a significant number of companies and IT management corporations were involved in figuring out the implications of cumulative updates for Windows 10.
According to Belfiore, the discussions have led them to conclude that the net result for implementing such updates is better compared to the previous version of updates.
"We've seen lots of examples of situations where end users experienced lower reliability or unpredictable system performance because of a relatively untested combination of updates," said Belfiore. Microsoft is intending to improve the quality of Windows 10 for all its users, and cumulative updates will lead to the completion of such a goal.
Cumulative updates will allow Microsoft to test new updates more effectively. When users are given the leeway to choose which updates to install, different variations of Windows would run on different sets of updates, hindering Microsoft from effectively testing new updates they roll out. In addition, developers will benefit from cumulative updates, as the apps that they develop will be for an ecosystem that would be less fragmented.
Nevertheless, there is still a risk of glitches in these cumulative updates. While Microsoft has said that it will be releasing methods to reduce the damage of faulty updates, for now, users and IT managers will simply have to trust that Microsoft is releasing safe, adequately tested and bug-free cumulative updates.
