Here it is. We’ve waited through multiple releases of Windows 8 for a version of Windows that can truly replace Windows 7. Meet LTSB.
Microsoft has gotten super serious about their release cadence lately. You’ve seen it with Office 365, you’ve seen it with System Center, and we’re going to start seeing it with Windows 10 as it’s more widely adopted within business. Microsoft is transitioning away from a product generation-based release cycle to a more release-ready cycle. What does this mean for us as IT admins? It means regular new features, but also regular interruptions as Windows 10 updates its build, and also potential operational issues.
How often does Microsoft update Windows 10? The answer is in typical Microsoft fashion: “well, it depends..”. There are currently four public branches to Windows 10:
Insider Preview – gross, don’t even consider this for production.
Current Branch – The build that every regular consumer gets.
Current Branch for Business – The build that you get when you check the “defer upgrades” check box - regular people can get this too.
Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) – The Holy Grail, Mack Daddy, Big Kahuna, end all be all most awesomest Windows build for business. Only us IT professionals can get this because we're way cooler than everyone else.
Why is it so awesome? First of all, support. Microsoft has updates separated into two categories: Feature Upgrades and Servicing Updates.
Feature upgrades are the big upgrades, like the Windows 10 Anniversary Update due out next week, that contain all the shiny new features that Microsoft hypes up.
Servicing Updates are the security and OS patches we’re used to. These will continue to be released on Patch Tuesday (Microsoft wants me to call it update Tuesday instead) for builds of Windows that are still in support.
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Still in support.. I know what you’re thinking. “I thought Windows 10 would be continuously supported since it’s continuously updated!”. This is where it gets weird.
Here’s Microsoft’s support lifecycle for the Current Branch for Business build of Windows 10:
Yep. This means that you effectively have MAYBE a year’s worth of support before you have to update your devices. It could be more, it could be less, depending on how often Microsoft releases their Feature Upgrades. They guarantee a minimum of 8 months of support.
Here’s Microsoft’s support lifecycle for the Long Term Support Branch build of Windows 10:
10 years. There’s really not much more to say than that.
LTSB (technically Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB, as of 7/29/16) also leaves out a majority of the “Modern” Windows functionality, such as the app store and most built-in Modern apps (like the Edge browser). You may still side-load Universal Windows Apps via powershell or MDM such as System Center Configuration Manager or Windows Intune.
You do have to be licensed for Enterprise editions of Windows to use LTSB; though this may get a lot easier with the introduction of Windows Enterprise as a Service, available from Cloud Service Providers (like the amazing people at Dalechek Technology Group) soon.
Microsoft suggests that there are “few, if any, scenarios where an organization would use LTSB for every PC”. Over the months of deploying LTSB, I’ve worked with many IT professionals that are crazy excited about deploying LTSB verywhere, when they would never consider deploying Windows 10 CBB.
I’ll fully admit that LTSB definitely isn’t the best choice for tablet devices such as Surface. On those platforms your users will definitely want regular new features and full-screen Modern App functionality. However, for the remainder of your regular workstations and business-critical Windows clients, consider LTSB. Hit me up in the comments if you’re as stoked as I am.
Now get out there and play with LTSB! See you next time.