When should you move on to the next Win10 version?

UPDATE: See Computerworld Woody on Windows.

Just got a note from Noel Carboni:

Let’s say I’m a small business owner and further let’s say I’d like to use Windows 10 Pro because Enterprise licensing doesn’t fit my business model…  Pro is, after all, the variant that Microsoft claims should suit the needs of small business.

The question is this:

When should I adopt each new Windows 10 release?

Back a year or two ago there was the concept of Current Branch for Business (CBB).  Promotion of the current “version/build” of Windows 10 to CBB status was essentially the time when Microsoft admitted, “The most important feedback from all the unpaid beta testers of Windows 10 has been applied to the current version/build of Windows 10, and we’ve gotten it functional and stable.”  Of course there were still some glitches, but the various Windows 10 builds we’ve seen actually did get reasonably stable and usable at the time of CBB.

Problem is, the “CBB” terminology is now long gone, yet as much as ever the need remains.

So, assuming I’d like to install “CBB quality” builds to replace prior installs…

Is there a way we can identify when Windows 10 becomes good enough for serious use?

Specifically, I mean a time when we can go download a specific ISO file that would represent an upgrade from the previous “version/build” of Windows 10 to the next stable, usable version, already patched to the current level, without having to nurse it through all the problematic updates?

I have a glib answer, but it’s not sufficient for most people — including me. When Microsoft announced that 1709 hit “Semi-Annual Channel” that was supposed to be analogous to declaring 1709 CBB.

Traditionally, though, I’ve waited beyond CBB before installing a new version, just to see if anything crawls out of the woodwork. Only when I’m sure the version is stable and getting updated properly will I move on to the next version (and, along the way, urge others to do the same).

We’ve never hit that point with 1709 — the problems with the Delta updates only seem to hit 1709, and I’m just not comfortable with it. So I’m sticking with 1703, until we have a pretty clean month of updates.

Here’s the key question: Are the benefits of a new version worth the potential headaches of upgrading. With new Win10 versions arriving every six months, you don’t have a whole heck of a lot of time to answer that question reliably.

In the case of 1709, I see very, very few useful improvements. Are they worth the potential problems of upgrading? For me, I say no. But I may change my tune in the next month — after which it’s a mute point, as a version upgrade after mid-April will land you in 1803.