Microsoft starts publicly sharing Windows 10 release notes

Microsoft today launched a dedicated page for keeping track of Windows 10’s release notes. To see the latest features, improvements, and changes the company has pushed, you can now just visit Windows 10 update history.

“After listening to feedback regarding the level of disclosure for Windows 10 updates, we decided to implement a new system for communicating updates to the operating system,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. “Today we are rolling out the Windows 10 update history site, a hub for the release notes that will accompany each update and serve as a historical record of prior release notes.”

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The “feedback” that Microsoft refers to basically amounts to complaints from Windows 10 users who wanted to know more about what the company was pushing to their devices. Going forward, each update will list a summary of important product developments with links to more details.

Because Windows 10 updates are cumulative, you may need to scroll quite a bit to find exactly when something changed. For now though, Microsoft lists just two updates (also released today, as part of Microsoft’s monthly patch Tuesday cycle) as there are two Windows 10 branches:

The July initial launch branch (build 10240), and the November update branch (build 10586). We introduced new operating system features in November after having previewed, or “flighted”, them with our Windows Insiders between July and November. Most customers have already been moved automatically from the July branch to the November branch. Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, and Education edition customers can defer the update to the November branch and stay on the July feature set longer — as long as 10 years for some Enterprise customers.

Windows 10 is a service. As we wrote in our deep dive on how Microsoft is still building Windows 10, this means Windows Insiders are getting new builds even though the operating system launched in July 2015.

But while a steady of stream of updates is always welcome, it’s about time that Microsoft actually shares what’s inside. Detailed release notes should have been available from the start, so we’re happy they’re finally here.