The Windows 10 October 2018 Update (1809): Let's Try This Again
by Brett Howse on November 14, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Software
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Back on October 2nd, Microsoft announced general availability for the latest update to Windows 10, the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. The new naming is improved over what they’d been doing in the past, where updates were called Creators Update or Fall Creators Update, and hopefully this continues. As a version, this update is Windows 10 1809.
But of course, the October 2018 Update wasn’t really available in October after all, since shortly after it was released for users to install manually, several serious data loss bugs were discovered that had slipped through testing, and the update was then pulled. There’s been plenty of discussion online on how this happened, and why it’s happened, but regardless, it’s caused a rather sizeable delay in the actual rollout of this second update for 2018.
This is unfortunate on a number of levels, with the first being that these bugs were actually reported during the preview releases to the Windows Insider Program, but they weren’t actioned, and second, as Windows 10 has matured since it first came out in 2015, the hope has to be that with fewer major feature changes in each update, updates should be less intrusive and cause fewer issues, but clearly Microsoft is not quite there yet. They’ve made some changes to the Insider Program, but time will have to tell if that helps or not.
| Windows 10 Version History | |||||
| Version | Version Number | Release Date | |||
| Windows 10 Original Release | 1507 | July 29, 2015 | |||
| November Update | 1511 | November 10, 2015 | |||
| Anniversary Update | 1607 | August 2, 2016 | |||
| Creators Update | 1703 | April 5, 2017 | |||
| Fall Creators Update | 1709 | October 17, 2017 | |||
| April 2018 Update | 1803 | April 30, 2018 | |||
| October 2018 Update | 1809 | October 2, 2018 | |||
We’ve not heard of any changes to the current servicing model of two updates per year, although with both of the 2018 updates having major issues causing them to halt deployment, there’s still some concern over whether the current method is sustainable for Microsoft, and of course for the millions of business customers who have to test and maintain the OS in their companies.
But with the preamble out of the way, there are still quite a few new features for Windows 10 in the October 2018 Update which should make workflows a bit easier to manage, as well as plenty of smaller updates which we’ll go over as well. Microsoft has been focusing more on productivity features for Windows 10, which fits in well with where the operating system is most used, but they continue to improve security, privacy, and accessibility as well. Let’s dig into some of the new features coming with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update.
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DominionSeraph - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
Calling the data loss a software bug isn't really accurate. After the users moved their user directories, the old ones should've been unused and ready for cleanup. Some users continued to stuff files into the old locations as well as the new ones, causing the ones in the old location to be deleted when the cleanup occurred. This isn't a bug, just the convergence between design choice and a fraction of the user base's use.If Microsoft made a smartphone with buttons on both sides of the case, decided in a refresh to switch it to right-side only, and people came out of the woodwork saying, "I masturbate with my right hand so those buttons on the left were useful," and Microsoft added them back in, is that saying that all smartphones that only have buttons on the right side are bugged?
If we're calling design choices bugs then MacOS is literally nothing but a bug for its lack of legacy support.
timecop1818 - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
Yep, 100% this. After i researched the data "loss" conditions, I was surprised it was called such a big deal.I actually DO move Known Folders to another drive due to space/management reasons, and i would never think to continue using users\documens etc locations for other files after the move.
There's not even a quick way to access those after transfer is there? the documents explorer pin will go to new location, and you'd need to drill down to c:\users\username\documents to get to old place manually. so if anyone lost data after knowingly moving Known Folder and continuing to use old one, it's 100% their fault and not Microsofts.
GreenReaper - Thursday, November 15, 2018 - link
No, it's fair to call it a bug, because the assumption (the directories are empty, or contain no valuable data, so it's safe to remove them) was incorrect. This may have been partially the fault of third-parties not handling shell paths correctly, but the fact remains: Microsoft was the one to delete user data.timecop1818 - Thursday, November 15, 2018 - link
No, user moved their data to another location. That was the end of microsoft involvement.If you use lunix and store shit in /tmp and it disappears on reboot, do you blame lunix or yourself?
bill44 - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
After 3 years and lots of promises, proper color management has yet to be implemented.ayunatsume - Friday, November 16, 2018 - link
Windows has had color management since... Windows XP? You can find it in the control panel and you can install ICC profiles by double-clicking them. I work in a printing press and use CM for RGB and CMYK jobs. I use it with Adobe's suite of programs from acrobat to photoshop, illustrator, and indesign. What were you looking for in color management?pjcamp - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
I'll wait a month to see if anything else surfaces. Luckily, I know how to disable forced updates. This is exactly the sort of catastrophe I feared from that policy.leexgx - Friday, November 16, 2018 - link
windows 10 pro set to none targeted +100 days delay (+15 delay on normal updates as you cant even trust them as they have pulled them in the past when a broken update has broken PCs)Makaveli - Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - link
This build finally works for me as an in place upgrade on my Sony Vaio Z laptop 1803 would fail every time. Which means I can upgrade my main desktop tomorrow.BurntMyBacon - Thursday, November 15, 2018 - link
The early worm gets the ... bird?