Newsletter Archives

• Win10 beta builds on hold for UUP

  Posted on December 3, 2016 at 08:40 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  The last beta build for the next version of Win10 (Creators Update/Redstone 2/version 1703 build 14971) was released on Nov. 17, and it was a real snore.

  What’s taking Microsoft so long to get beta builds out?

  Last night – yeah, Friday night – we found out. Dona Sarkar added this update to the Windows 10 Mobile beta release announcement:

  We are getting ready to start releasing PC builds to Insiders using UUP. To prepare for this, we are going to pause all PC builds for both the Fast and Slow rings starting this evening (Friday 12/2). We will begin flighting the latest builds via UUP starting with our internal rings first then to Insiders based on each ring’s promotion criteria. We’re excited to be able to release builds for PC to Insiders using UUP! Mobile builds are not impacted by this.

  The Unified Update Platform, you may recall, is a technology that reduces the amount of data necessary to install a new version of Win10 — for going from version 1511 to 1607, for example. Microsoft says UUP will reduce the download size by 35%. Frankly, that ain’t a big deal for me – after all, we only upgrade a couple times a year, and beta downloads are a pain anyway – but 35% reduction twice a year may be a big deal for you, and reducing the volume of bits rolling out certainly is a big gain for Microsoft.

  Anyway, Dona says we shouldn’t expect any more beta builds until the UUP framework is in place. No idea when that will happen.

  UPDATE: OK, I’m cynical about UUP (see the comments) but /r/jenmsft says the changes are exciting. You can judge for yourself.

  Windows News 14971, UUP

• The Windows Unified Update Platform, UUP

  Posted on November 7, 2016 at 15:03 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Several of you have written, asking for my take on UUP. Late last week, Bill Karagounis posted a fairly short description of the product (service?) and explained how it’s rolling out now to Windows beta testers. For now, as best I can tell, it’s only available for Insiders in the Fast Ring who are using Windows Phone.

  There’s a lot of confusion about UUP. It isn’t directed at Cumulative Updates. It’s very specifically pointed at people who are upgrading their versions of Windows 10. Says Karagounis:

  As we rollout UUP, this will eventually be impactful for PCs where users can expect their download size to decrease by approximately 35% when going from one major update of Windows to another. We’re working on this now with the goal of supporting this for feature updates after the Windows 10 Creators Update; Insiders will see this sooner.

  I haven’t given it much thought because Cumulative Updates already use differential downloads, and the number of times folks upgrade versions (RTM to 1511, 1511 to 1607) has been small – two of them, to be exact. I think it’s great that future version upgrades won’t take as long, but I reserve the right to be skeptical.

  In the past we’ve seen a lot of angst with version upgrade – changed settings, added apps, deleted apps, various shenanigans. I figure we won’t have much info about UUP until it actually rolls out in March of next year, or thereabouts.

  Windows Patches/Security UUP